Appearance of terrestrial habitat change in post-glacial sediments in Glacier Bay, Alaska

I will be aboard the Research Vessel Thomas G. Thompson from March 15th– 26th with 24 other undergraduate senior Oceanography majors. We will leave Seattle, WA and proceed to Glacier Bay, Alaska for our primary research. Glacier Bay, Alaska is an area of the most rapid glacial retreat known which began sometime after Captain Vancouver's 1794 observation of the glacial extent near the mouth of Glacier Bay (W. S. Cooper, 93-8). Its ecosystem has the potential to be highly sensitive to climate change because of its high latitude location (J.E. Kutzbach, 727). Because Glacier Bay, Alaska has deglaciated very recently and during a period of climate change unlike any others previously, the revegetation of this area is likely to contain signals of this climate change compared to prior time periods. The Glacier Bay area experienced a glacial retreat several thousand years ago which lasted long enough for forests to grow. These forests were then covered by advancing glaciers and preserved over time until present day. These forests were not mineralized and became exposed as the glaciers retreated and the sediment burying them eroded away (W. S. Cooper, 104-25). Lignin from these exposed trees is sure to be washing into Glacier Bay where I intend to extract them from kasten core samples, identify their three species of origin using Gas Chromatography and compare them to tree species of today. Making this comparison may hopefully reveal insightful differences in the weather and climate of Glacier Bay, Alaska which will lead to a better understanding of climate change and global warming impacts on high latitude ecosystems.

The National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) is an organization which recognized students, faculty, staff and others who make a positive impact on the Residence Hall community and on-campus living. NRHH also strives to give back through community service and encourages scholastics through educational anitiatives. NRHH is a part of the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, Inc. (NACURH, Inc.).

The Kristen Harrell of NRHH chapter is the UWs local chapter. I was inducted as a member in June 2005, served as its Associate Director of Publicity from June 2005 to June 2006 and as its Director from June 2006 to June 2007.

NACURH is the largest student run organization in the world and provides many leadership opportunities to member schools through conferences, organized regional and national initiatives, access to resources, documents and records as well as support from regional and national officers, networking with other students/schools, access to professional organizations, fundraising organizations and much more.

The Residence Hall Student Association (RHSA) is UWs Residence Hall Student Organization which is recognized by Housing and Food Services as the official voice of the Residence Hall student population. RHSA provides many leadership opportunities in individual hall councils, in the RHSA General Council, RHSA Committees, ASUW Senator positions and its Executive Board. RHSA also programs indipendatly and collaboratively (with Resident Advisers, NRHH and other organizations) to promote a happy, healthy and safe community with social programs, educational programs and more! I have been actively involved in RHSA since the beginning of my freshman year.

The Pacific Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls (PACURH) is a region of NACURH and is made up of Alaska, the Yukon Terretories, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Hawaii and Australia. PACURH's mascot is Jeremiah T. Frog and is home to some of the best student leaders in the country (in my opinion anyways). I am currently serving as the Regional Associate Director of NRHH/Recognition for PACURH. I sit on several national committees, Training & Transitioning as well as the NRHH Board, and have contributed to the regional and national newsletters, the PACURH Wave and NACURH Link.

Lambert House is a non-profit GLBT youth community center on Capitol Hill serving all youth up to 22 years of age. Lambert House provides many services to GLBT youth including housing services, meals on certain days of the week, leadership opportunities, a drop-in center, regularly scheduled outdoor activities, a computer lab with internet, discussion groups and much more! I began at Lambert House just before Pride '06 in June and am now interning at Lambert House. I have planned, organized and currently run an 8 month GLBT Youth Activist Leadership Seminar series (Lambert YALS). Lambert YALS is the first of its kind at Lambert House and strives to promote youth activism through access to resources, discussion, guest speaker presentations and activities.

I am receiving UW credit for this internship through the Becoming Citizens program. This is a program offered through the Office of Communication & Civic Engagement which was created and is run by a partnership between the Communications and Political Science departments.