Student Presentation Development
From Interactive System for Ice sheet Simulation
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.
Contents |
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