Over my career, I’ve come to appreciate that one of the most important things that we can do is to empower others to envision and effect change – and that’s what I've designed my teaching to do.
My PhD is from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. While my dissertation focused on the dynamics of glaciers and Arctic oceanography, I later switched to studying Arctic sea ice – where it forms, how it drifts, and where it melts. As so often happens, my professional interests connect with my personal ones – I grew up in upstate New York, where we skied in our backyard and sailed small boats on the Hudson, so researching the Arctic from ships seemed like a natural transition.
While I was working on this seemingly remote area of the world, climate change emerged as a pressing issue and the Arctic began changing first and fastest. This made me want to raise awareness about the problem of climate change and also promote policies that would combat it. I worked for the US House of Representatives Science Committee as a staff scientist, holding hearings and drafting legislation. This led to working for the Environmental Defense Fund as scientific coordinator of an exhibition on climate change in partnership with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The exhibition opened way back in 1992, and I’ve been interested in innovative approaches to education ever since, now including the use of Virtual Reality for teaching, as some of you will experience in my current courses.
I’ve had a lot of experience teaching, both in person and online, including courses in global futures, Arctic futures, climate systems and responding to climate change, BS and MS capstone/thesis projects, innovation in science communication, museum exhibition design and implementation, leadership and polar exploration, environmental data analysis, oceanography, and energy resources.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the chance to have adventures: taking off in helicopters from icebreakers and landing on drifting sea ice, snorkeling in a dry suit among ice floes, touching the paw of a [sedated] polar bear, spending months on icebreakers and having the chance to actually steer an icebreaker through the ice, getting to within 3 degrees of the North Pole, flying to Antarctica and standing at the South Pole, being in the cockpit when a ski plane landed on a sea ice runway, diving in a submersible to the bottom of the ocean, living in Norway and Germany and learning those languages, visiting the last home of the Vikings in Greenland, creating several exhibitions in partnership with the American Museum of Natural History, designing games including one that won a Parent’s Choice award, flying in Airforce Four on US Congressional delegations to Israel, Italy, and Ireland, and staffing congressional hearings and writing speeches on subjects ranging from nuclear medicine, ocean incineration of hazardous waste, and arid lands agriculture, to contraceptive technology for the developing world.
Through my teaching, I hope to bring a sense of wonder of how the world works, and a sense of adventure and possibility that you can navigate your own way into the future and make it work better for others.
The course introduces the climate system and climate change, covering definitions, causes, evidence, consequences, and societal responses through a sustainability lens. It prepares students for further academic training and equips them with the knowledge and skills to engage in the (often contentious) discussions about the causes, impacts, and feasible responses to climate change. The course does not assume that students have any prior training on the various aspects of climate change.
How can we co-produce – with the Planet – thriving futures? Travels back in time to understand how we got to where we are, and forward in time to define scenarios where well-being is attainable for all. Uses virtual reality, simulations, design challenges and other innovative approaches to consider system interdependencies and reciprocity, legacies of past values and decision-making, envisioning and designing alternative futures, and evaluation of implications.
This course explores innovative ways to teach about global futures, including use of virtual reality, simulations and other media. Considers complex systems including interdependencies and reciprocity, legacies of past values and decision- making, and envisioning scenarios of alternative futures and their implications. Students will engage in development of lectures, VR elements, design challenges, and supporting resources within a universal classroom framework.
Explores the Arctic, where we are seeing the first, and most dramatic, impacts of climate change. Examines navigating the new Arctic through responses to changes in social systems, the natural environment, and human-designed and natural infrastructure. Addresses multiple perspectives, including mitigation, adaptation, and communication; field based observations and modeling; community practice and academic knowledge.
Preparation of a supervised applied project that is a graduation requirement in some professional majors.
One challenge for sustainability leaders is the translation of an idea to an actionable project or program which can lead to sustainable outcomes. Sustainability leaders must be able to collectively leverage their teams, resources, partners, and project management expertise if they are to address the complex sustainability issues that our society faces today, whether in business, public service, non-profit, entrepreneurial settings, or any other field.
This first capstone prep course will guide you through the initiation and planning stages of a sustainability project. Through this course, you will learn to connect, network, leverage, test, adapt, and plan implementation of a sustainability solution.
Workshop course focuses on applying science knowledge and communication skills in "real world" settings. In partnership with Kahoot!, ASU students develop a sustainability solutions campaign for public release in April, with special Earth Day promotion.
See CV for previous teaching