Search Speaker Bureau
The Speakers Bureau is a directory of arctic researchers and experts that are available to visit organizations, communities or schools to give presentations. The directory contains names, addresses, science specialties, and presentation experience.
We encourage organizations and communities applying to the Arctic Visiting Speakers Series to use the Speakers Bureau to select a visiting speaker. If a particular subject or speaker is not listed, please contact Judy Fahnestock at avs [at] arcus [dot] org, for suggested speakers.
Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff
About:
Larry Merculieff has almost four decades of experience serving his people, the Aleuts of the Pribilof Islands and other Alaska Native peoples in a number of capacities. His reach has been broad and varied—a few of the positions he's held include: City Manager of St. Paul Island, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development, President and CEO of Tanadgusix Corporation, Chairman of the Board of The Aleut Corporation, and General Manager of the Central Bering Sea Fishermen's Association (one of the six Community Development Quota groups created by Congress to receive fish allocations in Alaska).
In 2007, Merculieff received the Environmental Excellence Award from the Alaska Forum on the Environment for his lifetime achievements on environmental issues, as well as the Buffet Finalist Award for Indigenous Leadership. He is featured in a book published by Second Story Press entitled "Native Men of Courage." Merculieff also co-authored a book published by Les Intouchables in October 2009, called "Aleut Wisdom: Words of an Aleut Messenger." The book is written in French.
From 2000–2003, Merculieff served as the Director of the Department of Public Policy and Advocacy in the Rural Alaska Community Action Program. As Director, Merculieff led the largest subsistence rights march in Alaska's history and emceed the subsistence rally after the march. The march was instrumental in protecting Alaska Native subsistence rights, which were legally contested by the State of Alaska, to fish for salmon along Alaska's rivers. He also successfully led a four-year effort to gain federal and state recognition of Alaska Native subsistence rights to catch and eat halibut throughout coastal Alaska.
Merculieff is co-founder and former chairman of the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals; former chairman of the Nature Conservancy, Alaska chapter; former co-director of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, Alaska chapter; as well as co-founder of the International Bering Sea Forum, the Alaska Forum on the Environment, and the Alaska Oceans Network. He served as chairperson for the Alaska Sanitation Taskforce and co-chair of the Federal/State Taskforce on Rural Sanitation to bring support for running water and flush toilets to over one hundred Alaska Native communities. Merculieff served on the National Research Council Committee on the Bering Sea Ecosystem and was one of four Native Americans to present at the White House Conference on the Oceans during the Clinton administration. Merculieff was selected by Aleut leaders to be part of a one-hour Discovery Channel documentary about the history and spiritual aspects of Aleuts, which aired in 2001. In 2004, he received the Alaska Native Writers on the Environment Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation and, in 2006, he received the Rasmuson Foundation Award for Creative Nonfiction.
Close to Merculieff's heart are issues related to cultural and community wellness, traditional ways of living, Elder wisdom, and the environment. Having had a traditional upbringing, Merculieff has been, and continues to be, a strong voice advocating the meaningful application of traditional knowledge and wisdom obtained from Elders in Alaska and throughout the world when dealing with modern day challenges. As the Coordinator for the Bering Sea Council of Elders, Merculieff works with some of the most revered Elders from seven regions throughout Alaska focusing on the health of the Bering Sea ecosystem and the viability and health of the coastal and river cultures dependent on it. Merculieff has shared Elder wisdom locally, nationally, and internationally, and his writings and interviews have appeared in such publications as the Winds of Change, YES, Red Ink, Alaska Geographic, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and Kindred Spirits. Merculieff was featured in National Wildlife an "American Hero", having called national and international attention to major adverse changes in the Bering Sea ecosystem.
Ming-ko Woo
About:
Dr. Woo has worked in the Arctic for 30 years and is a professor in the School of Geography and Geology at McMaster University in Canada. His primary research interests are in snow and ice, permafrost hydrology, statistical hydrology, and modeling. Dr. Woo currently leads theMackenzie GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment) Study that investigates the cold climate processes, including the modeling of large-scale atmospheric-hydrologic phenomena in the cold region. Dr. Woo is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and of the Arctic Institute of North America. He is on the editorial board of several journals including Nordic Hydrology, Physical Geography, Canadian Geographer, and Geographie physique et Quaternaire. In addition, Dr. Woo has published over 150 articles in refereed journals and over 100 other papers and reports in hydrology, earth sciences, geography, and other fields.
Dr. Woo is available to participate in the Arctic Visiting Speakers' Series from 15-30 June 2005 and is interested in speaking to academic audiences and at graduate seminars.
Representative lecture titles include:
- hydrology and hydroclimatology of snow
- climate change and northern hydrology
- water and climate in Canada's vast Mackenzie region
- roles of organic soils in permafrost hydrology
Dr. Woo would like the opportunity to discuss scientific issues of common interest and hopes that sharing information will lead to a mutually improved understanding of the arctic environment.
