CRREL Researcher Selected Chair, U.S. Committee for the International Polar Year

14 Apr--Hanover, N.H.--Dr. Mary R. Albert, a senior research mechanical engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, has been named Chair of the U.S. National Committee for the International Polar Year (IPY).

The IPY Committee, formed by the National Academy of Sciences, is organizing the U.S. research effort, which is part of a large internationally coordinated effort scheduled for 2007-2008.

The U.S. IPY homepage states, "IPY 2007-2008 will include research in both polar regions and involve strong links to the rest of the globe. It will be multi- and interdisciplinary in scope and truly international in participation."

"The Arctic ice cover is melting, ice shelves in Antarctica are crumbling, glaciers in temperate regions are disappearing, some ecosystems are changing, and permafrost thawing is causing a collapse of roads, buildings and pipelines," said Albert in a recent Science editorial. "Are we witnesses to an extreme in natural variability, the threshold of an abrupt change, or something more subtle?" she asked. "How will changes first seen in polar regions affect us all?"

A similar event, the renowned International Geophysical Year (IGY), conducted about 50 years ago, involved scientists from 67 nations and led to significant scientific accomplishments. The IPY is being modeled after the successful IGY. The IPY is currently in the planning stages.

Since 2002, Albert has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Polar Research Board. The Polar Research Board is a government agency that serves as scientific advisers to Congress and the President.

A resident of Norwich, Vt., Albert is also an adjunct professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Her current research interests include snow-air interactions and their impact on ice core interpretation of climate change, and upon the dynamics of atmospheric chemistry.

CRREL is one of seven laboratories that make up the ERDC. The ERDC is the premier research and development facility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with more than 2,000 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities, and an annual research program exceeding $700 million. It conducts research in both military and civil works mission areas for the Department of Defense and the nation. CRREL is the only Department of Defense laboratory addressing problems and opportunities unique to the world's cold regions. Located in Hanover, N.H., CRREL also has field offices in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska.