PolarTREC Teachers Celebrate Antarctica Day in Two Separate Events, One Live From the South Pole

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Posted November 28, 2017

Educators affiliated with the NSF funded PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) this week will participate in two separate events to commemorate Antarctica Day, which falls on Dec. 1.

Antarctica Day commemorates the signing of the Antarctic Treaty on Dec. 1, 1959. The Treaty sets aside the continent "forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes... in the interests of all mankind." The U.S. was one of the 12 original signatories to the Treaty.

On Dec. 1, Armando Caussade, a PolarTREC alumnus, will host the first-ever Antarctica Day celebration in Puerto Rico. Caussade was able to obtain approval from Metropolitan University to hold a three-hour event on Friday geared towards a small number of graduate students. The event will feature a talk on the Treaty, short documentaries on Antarctica and Antarctic science, plus Caussade’s own experience with PolarTREC. There will also be a round-table discussion with students.

On Dec. 4, Lesley Anderson, who teaches 11th-grade biology and environmental science at High Tech High School in Chula Vista, Calif., will give a live presentation from NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The presentation will focus on the history of the Antarctic Treaty and how it relates to science conducted at the South Pole, in particular with the search for neutrinos, elusive subatomic particles, by the NSF funded IceCube Neutrino Observatory.

The event is free-of-charge, but registration is required: https://www.polartrec.com/polar-connect/register

Learn about Anderson’s PolarTREC project here: https://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/icecube-and-the-askaryan-radio-array