The objective of the REU Site: Arctic and Antarctic Project (AaA-REU) with Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Component, was to promote the professional development of women and underrepresented students through their participation in polar science research. The program consisted of 91 undergraduate students; each student was assigned to a specific research team, where they worked closely with the faculty and staff. In addition, virtual and onsite seminars, and social functions were organized to facilitate interaction across sites. The project was conducted for eight weeks each summer, with on-line mentoring and follow-up during the academic year. Students were placed at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), The University of Kansas (KU), Indiana University (IU), and Pennsylvania State University (PSU). 

Broader impacts:  The program also included a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) component, which involved pre-service STEM education majors.  Women made up 42% to 63% and minorities made up 58% to 93% of the program participants.  A significant number of the participants came from outside the host institutions including 12 minority serving institutions and 11 non-MSIs.  RET students were STEM education majors placed at ECSU and at KU where there was significant education activity.  Haskell Indian Nation partnered with the RET component of the AaA to send 5 Native American Indian participants to design Ice, Ice Baby Lessons; study glacial striations; and consequences of sea level rise on metropolitan coastal cities in America.

Intellectual merit:  REU students under the direction of Dr. Malcolm LeCompte and Dr. Linda Hayden at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) conducted a research project to quantify ice margin changes in the Amundsen Sea region using LIMA as a benchmark. They discovered an ice shelf that had gradually shrunk from 1972 to 2003 and has failed to reform.  The feature is a former ice shelf occupying an embayment along the southern side of Canisteo Peninsula 12.5 miles north of Suchland Islands and approximately 20 miles north northwest of Cranton Bay. The feature was named by the US-Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN) Board of Geographic Names (BGN) for Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The ACAN recommended Elizabeth City State University Bay for approval to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The name Elizabeth City State University Bay was been approved for use on maps and other products of the Federal government. The name was approved officially at the meeting of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and was entered into the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the nation's official geographic names repository.

Other AaA student researchers calibrated a radar to use on the Greenland ice sheet; analyzed the stability of a remote controlled aircraft for use in Antarctica; designed and built a sled to help measure ice layers in Greenland; debugged wireless communications for collecting data on the ice sheets; calculated Antarctic snow accumulation using radar data; and learned about ice streams speeding up and ice shelves collapsing.

The AaA REU program, which developed out of the NSF STC Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) led by Dr. Prasad Gogineni, received supplements to pilot Glacier Exploration experiences.  AaA-GEX provided students with a polar field experience (in the Juneau Ice Field and in Norway), augmented by mentoring and sustained engagement with the polar community.  The predecessor to AaA was NSF Arctic and Antarctic (AaA) REU Award PLR-1263061 2013 – 2015.

Last Modified: 11/14/2017
Modified by: Linda B Hayden