Ross Powell: There’s a huge honor to get
this award, being the most prestigious award
at the university. All of could think of was
the gratitude I have for a lot of the students
that I worked with because they’ve certainly
help in terms of producing the excitement
and also the pay-offs in terms of scientific
research.
Dr. Reed Scherer: Well to be a Board of Trustees’
professor at NIU you have to represent the
best that the university has to offer, and
Ross clearly does that. From the early days
in research as a graduate student, even as
an undergraduate student he was already influencing
the field understanding how ice sheets are
effected by climate change.
Ross Powell: I do research in the Polar Regions,
and I’m a geologist. I’m interested in
the history that the ice sheets have had based
on the changes in the climate that the poles
have experienced in the past. I’ve taken
students far and wide. I’ve taken students
to the Arctic, as well as the Antarctic. Primarily
in the Antarctic we’re based in the McMurdock
sound area which is the main area of U.S research
interest. Up in the Arctic we’ve been into
the Canadian arctic up in Baton Island. We’ve
been to the Norwegian Arctic most recently
up in Svalbard, and I’ve done a lot of work
in Alaska as well.
Dr. Scherer: Ross’s contribution really
comes in interpreting the geologic record
that comes from ice sheets and that’s really
become even more important now than when he
was first doing it; because now we know the
link between climate and ice sheet changes.
Ross Powell: Also involved in my research
with traveling to the poles and taking students
away, and that puts a lot of strain on my
family and I really appreciate the work that
my wife does and keeping the kids happy and
in line and enjoying life.
