Kelly Jemison is an American academic geologist specializing in Antarctic diatoms. She studied at Florida State University, participated in the ANDRILL (Antarctic Geological Drilling) Project, [1] [2] [3] and in 2011 was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal. [4] She currently works as a Geologist for Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in Anchorage, Alaska. [5]
She attended Florida State University from 2003-2012 acquiring a Bachelors of Science Degree in Geology in April 2007. She then acquired a Masters of Science Degree in Geology studying microfossils in August 2012. [6] [7] [8]
Jemison worked as a Laboratory assistant in from May 2005 to December 2007 for the Florida State University National Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility. She worked on core descriptions and sampling, data entry, core imaging and scanning. [6]
From October 2006 to January 2007 Jemison took part in the ANDRILL (ANtarctic geologic DRILLing) project. A project meant to drill into Antarctic ice on the McMurdo Ice Shelf to determine past Antarctic's climate. [9] She was one of two undergraduate students from Florida State University in a group of 6 researchers. She was an assistant to the curators Matt Olney and Matt Curren. Accompanied by visiting post-doctorate fellow Davide Perisco, graduate student Steve Petrushak, and companion undergraduate student Charlie King. [3] [1] Jemison and her curatorial teams goal was to transport drill sediment cores from the drill site to McMurdo Station then split, photograph, maintain, and prepare them for safe travel back to the FSU research facility. [3] [6] [10] The trip was reported as "a wonderful success". [1]
After her work in Antarctica Jemison returned to Florida State University and in 2009 became a teaching assistant in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric sciences. She assisted multiple classes, prepared and graded coursework. [6]
In May 2011 she began the position of Intern Geologist at Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Then in May 2012, she earned a position of Geologist for Department of the Interior, BEOM. In November 2016, she transitioned again to the role of Supervisory Minerals Leasing Specialist at BEOM. Until 2016 when she commenced again as a Geologist for BEOM in New Orleans. Finally she transferred to the position of geologist in Anchorage, Alaska for the BEOM where she currently resides. [6]
The Antarctica Service Medal; awarded by the United States Government. This distinction recognizes both military service personnel and civilians that served in Antarctica either for research or defense purposes benefitting the United States of America. Those in service at measurements of 60 degrees South latitude in endeavors and equally as civilian participants may also qualify. [13] [12]
Palmer Station is a United States research station in Antarctica located on Anvers Island, the only US station located north of the Antarctic Circle. Initial construction of the station finished in 1968. The station, like the other U.S. Antarctic stations, is operated by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) of the National Science Foundation. The base is about as distant from the equator as Fairbanks, Alaska.
Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of 1,610,000 km2 (620,000 sq mi), it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th century.
The United States Antarctic Program is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the Antarctica continent. Founded in 1959, the USAP manages all U.S. scientific research and related logistics in Antarctica as well as aboard ships in the Southern Ocean.
Sherwood Wise is an American academic geologist and currently a Professor of Geological Science at Florida State University, he also serves as co-director of the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility and participates in the ANDRILL project. He is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Timothy Raymond Naish is a New Zealand glaciologist and climate scientist who has been a researcher and lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington and the Director of the Antarctic Research Centre, and in 2020 became a programme leader at the Antarctic Science Platform. Naish has researched and written about the possible effect of melting ice sheets in Antarctica on global sea levels due to high CO2 emissions causing warming in the Southern Ocean. He was instrumental in establishing and leading the Antarctica Drilling Project (ANDRILL), and a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (2014).
ANDRILL is a scientific drilling project in Antarctica gathering information about past periods of global warming and cooling.
Peter John Barrett is a New Zealand geologist who came to prominence after discovering the first tetrapod fossils in Antarctica in 1967.
Edwardsiella andrillae is a species of sea anemone that uniquely lives anchored to the underside of sea ice offshore of Antarctica. It was discovered in December 2010 during a test run of an undersea robot by a team of researchers associated with the Antarctic Geological Drilling (ANDRILL) Program. The newly discovered anemone was named for the aforementioned program.
Elizabeth Marchant Truswell is a former Chief Scientist at the Australian Geological Survey Organisation and is known for her application of recycled palynomorph distribution as an indicator of sub-ice geology.
Christina Riesselman is an American paleoceanographer whose research focus is on Southern Ocean response to changing climate.
Carlota Escutia Dotti is a Spanish geologist, best known for her work on the geologic evolution of Antarctica and the global role of the Antarctic ice cap. Escutia is based at the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Granada and the High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).
Christina Hulbe is an American Antarctic researcher, and as of 2016 serves as professor and Dean of Surveying at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She was previously Chair of the Geology Department at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She leads the NZARI project to drill through the Ross Ice Shelf and is the namesake of the Hulbe glacier.
Lois M. Jones was an American geochemist who led the first all-woman science team to Antarctica in 1969. They were also the first women to reach the South Pole. Jones was well regarded for her contribution to geological research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the few ice-free areas of Antarctica, and published many papers and abstracts.
Louise Tolle Huffman is an American teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience with many years focused on polar science and climate studies, and has written educational outreach books and articles on Antarctica. She is the Director of Education and Outreach for the US Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO), responsible for outreach efforts highlighting IDPO scientists and their research results.
Christine Siddoway is an American Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on the geology and tectonics of the Ford Ranges in western Marie Byrd Land. Other discoveries relate to preserved records of continental-interior sedimentation during the Sturtian glaciation, Cryogenian Period, in Rodinia, and evidence of a reduced Pliocene extent of the West Antarctic ice sheet, based upon investigation of clasts transported to/deposited in deep water by Ice rafting in the Amundsen Sea.
Bruce Peter Luyendyk is an American geophysicist and oceanographer, currently professor emeritus of marine geophysics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work spans marine geology of the major ocean basins, the tectonics of southern California, marine hydrocarbon seeps, and the tectonics and paleoclimate of Antarctica. His research includes tectonic rotations of the California Transverse Ranges, participation in the discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, quantitative studies of marine hydrocarbon seeps, and geologic exploration of the Ford Ranges in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
Anne Grunow is a senior research scientist at Ohio State University in the Byrd Polar Research Center. She is also the current director of the Polar Rock Repository. Grunow is a geologist specializing in Antarctic tectonics, with her research using methods from geochronology and paleomagnetism.
Amelia E. Shevenell is an American marine geologist who specializes in high-latitude paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. She is currently a Professor in the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. She has made notable contributions to understanding the history of the Antarctic ice sheets and published in high-impact journals and, as a result, was awarded full membership of Sigma Xi. She has a long record of participation in international ocean drilling programs and has served in leadership positions of these organizations. Shevenell served as the elected Geological Oceanography Council Member for The Oceanography Society (2019-2021).
Richard Levy is a New Zealand glacial stratigrapher and paleoclimatologist with expertise in microfossil analysis. As a principal scientist at GNS Science he has been involved in international and New Zealand environmental research programmes focussing on the evolution of the Earth's climate and building an understanding of the role of greenhouse gases in causing anthropogenic climate changes, in particular those impacting global sea levels. He has had extensive experience in scientific drilling, leading major projects, including the ANtarctic geological DRILLing (ANDRILL) Program in Antarctica. Since 2018, Levy has co-led the government funded NZ SeaRise programme.
Robert Murray McKay is a paleoceanographer who specialises in sedimentology, stratigraphy and palaeoclimatology, specifically gathering geological evidence to study how marine-based portions of the Antarctic ice sheet behave in response to abrupt climate and oceanic change. He has been involved in examination of marine sedimentary records and glacial deposits to show melting and cooling in Antarctica over the past 65 million years and how this has influenced global sea levels and climate. This has helped climate change scientists overcome uncertainty about how the ice sheets will respond to global warming and how this can be managed effectively in the 21st century. He has participated in international projects including ANDRILL and the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), led major New Zealand government-funded research teams and has received several awards in recognition of his work. Since 2023 McKay has been a full professor at Victoria University of Wellington and from 2019, director of the Antarctic Research Centre.