The Council represents PEI members who step forward to volunteer their time and talents in a leadership role for a limited period of time. Council members are active leaders representing PEI in many ways, such as at international conferences and meetings, and are recognized as experts by senior leaders in many fields. Read More
Together we serve as representatives of an international polar education community, maintaining our connections with partner organizations, and seeking out new relationships to strengthen our network.
Kimberly is a PhD student at the University of Tasmania, Australia, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Read More
Ebru has a diverse academic background which nourishes her during her interdisciplinary studies. Read More
Dr. Jebunnessa Chapola is a settler and a woman of colour who is trained as a decolonial, anti-racist, feminist activist scholar and practitioner. Read More
Jill studied anthropology at the universities of Frankfurt (Germany) and Uppsala (Arkhangelsk). Read More
Julia’s polar experience began as an ARISE Educator with ANDRILL in 2007 on the Southern McMurdo Sound project and on the Mackay Sea Valley Seismic Survey Team. Read More
Sylvia is a professor at Federal University of ABC (Santo André, SP, Brazil). Read More
Marta is a science and mathematics teacher in the second cycle of basic education in Agrupamento de Escolas Professor Ruy Luís Gomes (Almada, Portugal), Read More
Dr. Anne Farley Schoeffler teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth grade science near Cleveland, Ohio, USA and has been doing so for 20 years. Read More
Jeane de Fatima Moreira Branco is a master’s student, STEM teacher, pedagogue and neuroeducator. Read More
Louise is currently Director of Education and Outreach for the US Ice Drilling Program at Dartmouth College, but works remotely much of the time from home in Florida. Read More
In the 2002-03 Antarctic research season, Louise was a TEA (Teacher Experiencing Antarctica) on the “Stream Team” in the Dry Valleys. She also spent the 2007 research season at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, coordinating the ANDRILL/ARISE educator program. She served as the Chair of the Formal Education Subcommittee of the International Polar Year EO Committee, and the Chair of Theme 6 of the IPY Oslo Science Conference. She was a founding member of PEI, served as president, Executive Committee member, and is currently a member of the Council again. She was one of the original creators of the Master Class series of professional development for the dual audience of polar educators and researchers and hopes to continue helping PEI grow as an international leader of polar education.
Katie has been a classroom high school science teacher for over 30 years. Currently, she teaches at St. Joseph’s Academy: an all-girls, Catholic high school in the midwestern US. (St. Louis, Missouri) Read More
Participation in the PEI Iceland workshop in April 2022 reinvigorated her goal to aid students of any age in understanding the importance of forging cross curricular and cross-cultural connections in order to be good stewards of our earth. It is time to recognize (or elevate) the role that indigenous science plays in building an awareness of climate change, and in creating community action plans to combat climate change.
Wendi Pillars, National Board Certified Teacher BCT and US Army veteran, has been teaching multi-lingual learners and a variety of content areas for nearly 3 decades; Read More
Larry lives with his wife and family in FL, a bit of weather change from the Polar Regions! His high school, college and adult life revolved around the hospitality industry. Read More
Within the last year he and his wife experienced both Polar Areas. He joined the American Polar Society as well as The Antarctican Society because of his personal interest in the Polar Areas. Since then he was asked to assume the editorship of The Polar Times the journal of the American Polar Society; his first issue was published earlier in 2023. As a result of becoming the editor, Larry has joined many online blogs and groups to seek authors and article ideas for the journal. One of the groups is Polar Educators International. These online groups have been extremely helpful in his position as editor.
Regarding his educational experience and participation, he retired from the local school district after 27 years. He has been a clinical instructor for student interns in the field of physical therapy. He has also retained active membership in his alumni associations. Larry’s philosophy is that a person is never too old to learn.
Karen’s work as an author, illustrator, science comics creator, and science communicator has taken her to the Arctic and Antarctic Read More
Soy un profesor que ha recorrido por más de 50 años cada recoveco de mi territorio en Chile, Read More
Professor Jaswant Singh, male, environmental scientist, post graduated from Lucknow University, Lucknow, India in the year 1983, and awarded doctoral degree in the year 1987. Read More
I have attended the Education and Polar Science in Action”, Cambridge, UNITED KINGDOM. and presented the paper on UV-Absorbing pigments in plants growing at Polar Regions. April 8-12, 2019. PEI 2019.
I have participated in the 22nd (2002) and 24th (2004) Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, to carry out research on Influence of UV-B radiations and survival mechanism of flora of Schirmacher Oasis at East Antarctica. and Indian Scientific Expedition to Arctic (North Pole) (2018), sponsored by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. Of India, New Delhi.
Valeria comes from Italy and is a math-science teacher in a middle school. Read More
Alex Thornton is an interdisciplinary marine ecologist and educator, currently working as the Summer Course Coordinator Read More
Deisi is a Ph.D. research student at the Department of Rural Tourism at Hólar University in northern Iceland. Read More
Betty spent 35 years teaching elementary school, with her last 27 years teaching fourth grade in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Betty earned her M.S. in science/outdoor education Read More
For 20 years Betty has had a teacher exchange program with educators in Lulea, Sweden. Exchanges have focused on environmental education and building cooperation between cultures. She joined ANDRILL colleague Matteo Cattadori and high school students from Italy, on a science and educational expedition to Arctic Svalbard in 2016.Betty has been awarded the Presidential Award for Elementary Science Teaching, named a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Illinois, and Outstanding Young Alumni of Northern Illinois University. In her “retirement” she remains active as a world-wide educator and guest speaker.
Ram has been in the field of education for the last 16 years leading content development, teaching and training as well as Read More
Over the last ten years his focus has been towards the environment, climate change and the polar regions. His passion for nature and wildlife and the need to observe/document them has taken him to the Arctic (Greenland, Svalbard, the North Pole, Arctic Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands) and the Antarctic (the peninsula and the Ross Sea region).
He has an Engineering degree in Computer Science and a Masters’ in Business, though he feels that there is a lot to be learnt whether through volunteering, courses or conferences. Some of his recent learning experiences have been a Post Graduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies (New Zealand), The Changing Arctic (online) by Dr. Terry Callaghan, Ecology of the Polar Bears (Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Canada), Endangered Species Recovery (Durrell Conservation Academy, Jersey, UK), the COP23 (in Bonn) and the PEI Conference (Cambridge, UK).
Having traveled to over 90 countries, and observed pedagogy across regions and cultures, his focus has been on contextual learning (outside) and effective use of innovation and technology (inside the classroom) and he hopes to continue to do so.
Deniz is a highly skilled researcher who possesses a deep passion for permafrost research. Read More
Deanna was a PolarTREC teacher in 2009 and 2012 in the Arctic studying beneficial organisms in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Seas. Read More
Steve’s first experience of polar research was in 1973 when he joined the British Antarctic Survey Read More
