Meet Kristin Poinar
Kristin Poinar
Graduate Student
Polar Science Center
Applied Physics Lab
University of Washington
Role in the expedition?
I will be helping out with the field work: retrieving instruments and downloading data.
Why I do what I do?
I didn't always know I wanted to study glaciers. In second grade I wanted to be an astronaut, but my teacher told me that "the sky is the limit," an expression I didn't know, so I think I gave up on that dream sooner than most kids do. The next year, I happened to do a school project on Antarctica, and years later, when it was time to choose a graduate school or a "real" job, I remembered how excited I was about that. I knew I wanted to study something physical about the outdoor world, too, and glaciers' huge size and uniform composition allow us to represent them pretty well mathematically. It was a good match for me. So here I am - still on Earth, but in a neat place nonetheless.
Where did I grow up?
I have lived 99% of my life in Ohio - I grew up in Akron and went to college in Cleveland.
What were my favorite and least favorite things about school?
I liked something different every year - especially in grade school, it seemed to depend mostly on the teacher. I usually liked science and math, and sometimes I liked social studies. I almost always hated English class, though. One of my English teachers said that she became a teacher so that she would learn to like public speaking. This didn't make any sense to me until I was in college, where I realized that I had liked English all along. I immediately made it my second major and learned how confusing grade and high school could be.
What do I do to procrastinate?
Jigsaw puzzles.
