Student Presentation Development

Students: Please email Ken Mankoff the Lat/Long of your institution and study area by the end of the day. (You can click 'email this user' in the lower left toolbox from his user page.

Roundtable 1: Study regions

• Antarctica. 6 students: Matt, Adam, Ken Mankoff, Fiona Seifert...
• Greenland. 6 students: Kristin, Toby...
• Mountain glaciers. 4 students: Surendra, Mauro, Erin,yuanxiang..
• Other/Global. 2 students: Flo, Jeremy

Greenland

• We need better communication between modellers & data-collectors, with feedback.

Antarctica

• Basal processes are the hot ticket.

Mountain glaciers

• We Heart Valley Glaciers
• Simple models are all you need....... for a valley glacier

Other/Global

• Is it just sea level change that's of interest to glaciologists?
• Are rapid changes large changes?
• Surprise: surges

Possible discussion questions:

• What questions are the climate change community pressuring us to answer?
• What do we know now that would have been a big surprise 10 years ago?
• How important is field data to your research? If you could collect any field data/observations to progress your work, what would it/they be?
• What is the holy grail of our subfield?
• What areas should we avoid trying to answer at this time due to complexity?

...

Roundtable 2: Background

• Geology. 5 students: Toby, Flo,Jeremy..
• Physics. 5 students: Adam, Kristin, Mauro,yuanxiang...
• Math(s). 4 students: Fiona Seifert, Erin
• Engineering/CS/Other. 4 students: Matt, Ken Mankoff, Surendra...

Geology

• There exist opportunities to work in the private sector
• Taking classes, reading papers outside the discipline (e.g. math(s), physics)
• Flexibility!

Engineering/CS/Other

• Interesting research is at the boundary of disciplines, but the hiring is at the core... one's career is a balance game (NICE)
• Building personal relationships
• Predisposed to become pigeonholed as Endnote teachers / website writers

Physics

• Best background to have for glaciology, we have no regrets.
• Glaciology is presently a tiny field compared to its importance / focus on by IPCC
• Planetary ice is a new frontier that might blow up
• Building personal relationships with which to muddle through funding
• Career moves: at each transition, choose a new problem, institution, and even country.

Math(s)

• Physics may be better, but math is pretty good.
• We may have a disconnect between equations & physical space
• Dealing with the naysayers: fearmongering vs. reassurance

Possible discussion questions:

• Given your background in XX, what have you done/would you do outside of your area of expertise to make yourself a better cryosphere scientist?
• Why have we come to glaciology, over the other careers / topics available to people with our background?
• Glaciology is 'hot' now... how hot will it stay? What are possible exit ramps once it cools down?
• Will data gaps between the current and next generation of satellite sensors affect what work can be done?
• What should we do immediately post-PhD? travel, stay at home institution, ship off to postdoc abroad, ...
• How can I continue to deal with people who say, "Oh, you study glaciers, huh? Better hurry up, hohnk hohnk"
• Are there areas of cryosphere study that are better studied with strong math tools?

...

Feedback on the exercise

• Interaction led to more learning than 1-by-1 speaking to the classroom
• Making connections is important to doing work
• "Yes" - Jesse
• "Great" - Christina
• "You're a jerk(?)" - Olga
• Future workshop: turn into one afternoon session, more time to delve into issues
• Icebreakers (Jesse's blocks/dinosaurs) in groups organized by background might be interesting and telling
• Group randomization / integration: learn outside your discipline. Add a third "grab bag" session for this.
• One-on-one interaction
• This exercise could have used more detailed instructions, facilitation within discussion groups

Other Ways to Sort Ourselves