Date

Dr. Christian Fritsen appointed Program Director
Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems
NSF Division of Polar Programs


Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Christian Fritsen as
Program Director for the Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems Program in
the Antarctic Sciences Section of the Division of Polar Programs. Dr.
Fritsen is a Research Professor in the Division of Earth and Ecosystem
Sciences at the Desert Research Institute (DRI). He also served as DRI's
Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs, is a member of the
graduate faculty in Hydrology and Environmental sciences at the
University of Nevada, Reno, and has served as Director of both the
Nevada Space Grant Consortium and Nevada NASA Experimental Program to
Stimulate Competitive Research.

Chris earned his Bachelor's degree from Montana State University in 1990
and PhD in the biological sciences with an emphasis in oceanography from
the University of Southern California in 1996. His interest in marine
biology and oceanography dates from his childhood when he spent time fly
fishing the rivers of Montana and reading about the oceans and its
inhabitants in books, such as Shark Stories.

Dr. Fritsen's leadership of algal and systems ecology research has
spanned more than 15 years. His systems ecology perspective has included
studies on organismal survival and growth as well as energy transfer and
material cycling processes in a range of polar habitats (e.g. frozen
lakes, glaciers, snow, sea ice, subglacial lakes) as well as habitats in
the Great Basin of Nevada.

His first research in Antarctica entailed work from a floating ice
station for several months. Along with U.S. and Russian colleagues,
Chris conducted biological, chemical and physical oceanographic studies
of the western Weddell Sea. His broad polar ecosystem interests
continued to develop during subsequent research in the McMurdo Dry
Valleys and through interdisciplinary research along the western
Antarctic Peninsula. These diverse activities led to an interest in
serving the polar research community.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Fritsen to the Division of Polar
Programs and the GEO team. Chris began serving on an intermittent basis
on 15 June and so has been coming up to speed. He will begin a full-time
appointment as a rotator on 14 July.

Scott Borg
Head, Antarctic Sciences
NSF/GEO/PLR


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