Talking Shop Science Seminar Series

Toolik residents listen to a science lecture

Toolik Talking Shops are held weekly during the summer field season at Toolik (typically May-August).  At each seminar, one or more speakers share their research with the Toolik community. The following day, speakers are then encouraged to have dinner-time mentor chats with undergraduate students at the station. This is a great way for anyone — from students to senior career scientists to visiting artists — to share your research and gain experience presenting in a friendly environment. ​In late summer, undergraduate students at the station are invited to present their research in the Undergraduate Student Showcase.

Past Talking Shop speakers and topics are listed below.

 

 

 

 

Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
5/28/2025 TBD  
6/4/2025 Simon Zwieback & Go Iwahana Permafrost landscape changes
6/11/2025 Mark Urban and Linda Deegan What the Heck is an Evome?
6/18/2025 Klara Maisch Sense of Place: Connecting Through Art and Science
6/25/2025 TBD  
7/2/2025

Austin Routt

 Rock glaciers in the Brooks Range 
7/9/2025

TBD

  

7/16/2025

 TBD  

7/23/2025

 Steve Oberbauer Vegetation responses to warming

7/30/2025

Undergraduate Showcase

 TBD  

8/6/2025

 Jenny Watts & team Carbon flux
8/13/2025 Rachel Badzioch

Anaktuvuk River Fire recovery
8/20/2025

Ruby An

 Shrub expansion
8/27/2025

Lorenzo Tonin

 
9/3/2025

Sarah Evans

 Permafrost hydrology
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/12/2024 Rose Cory The ‘Iron-y’ of Arctic Photochemistry
6/19/2024 Klara Maisch Painting in the Arctic art show
6/26/2024 Sally MacIntyre Under the Ice Dynamics
7/3/2024

Marcel Vaz

 A Long Day's Night - What Puts Arctic Plants to Sleep
7/10/2024

Tori Hebert & Adam Hensley

 Bruce Springstream - Ecology and Natural History of Arctic Streams

7/17/2024

 Roxaneh Khorsand It’s getting hot up here! The Effects of Experimental Warming on Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Floral Rewards.

7/24/2024

Undergraduate Showcase
Adam Chavez
Lela Forester
Caleb Edwards
Diego Sanchez
Frances Cohen
Amelia Harris
Ian Hauver-Radloff
Davide Ieffa & Gabriele Terzoli
Kaden Cusak
Lauren Best
Emma Ferm
Trevor Stamp
Eden Fisher
William Aepli
Rio Baran

 
TFS GIS
TFS EDC
Tundra plant phenology
AON ITEX
Arctic LTER
Arctic LTER
ITEX pollinators
Insubria
Hydrology of water tracks and gullies
Hydrology of water tracks and gullies
Hydrology of water tracks and gullies
AON Carbon Flux
Alder C & N
What's up with the growing season?
What's up with the growing season?

 

7/31/2024

Visiting K-12 teachers

Who are we, and why are we eating your food?

 

8/2/2024

 Sophie Binder Artist-in-residence: Two Wheels, a Sketchbook, and the World

 
8/9/2024 Chelsea Smith

From Surface to Sediment: Investigating the Spatial Variability of Carbon Stabilization in Toolik Lake
8/14/2024

Amanda Barker

 Metals on the Move
8/22/2024

Kazem Bakian Dogaheh &  Jinyang Du

Local Scale Heterogeneity of the Permafrost Active Layer Soil Properties
8/28/2024

Helen Chmura

Arctic Ground Squirrel Monitoring

 

Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
5/31/2023 Dennis Wasserman Safety Talking Shop - calling in injuries
6/7/2023 Randy Fulweber Droning on about the Arctic and more
6/8/2023 Frank Rack  NSF 101
6/14/2023

Greg Levandoski & Fred Beaudry

 Counting Birds at 70 degrees North (more or less)
6/21/2023

Marwan Wartes

 Geology of Northern Alaska

6/28/2023

 Mauro Guglielmin INSUBRIA Project

7/5/2023

 - Viewing of "Slash/Back" and discussion

7/12/2023
Anna Eichert

Manpreet Kohli

Jessica Ware
Stoneflies in the Arctic
Polar Dragonflies
Dragonflies in general

 

7/19/2023

 Abigail Rec & Amelia Grosse Arctic Rios

7/26/2023

 Laura Gough, Jennie McLaren, Rebbecca Rowe,  Team Vole over the years

8/2/2023

Undergraduate Showcase
Anna Eichert
Helen Brush
Isaac Aguilar
Jackson VerSteeg
Luca Keon & Zach Ginn
Rachel Harris
Sunniva Sheffield

 
Impacts of Megafire on Aquatic Insect Communities in Central Utah
What is up with the growing season?
Monitoring Biodiversity with Environmental DNA in the Sierra de Manantlán, México
Longitudinal Flight and BDOM Study
Plants and Pollinators of the Low Arctic: Investigating Community Response to Climate Change
Potential talik development along continuous permafrost hillslopes on the North Slope of Alaska, USA

An Experiment Comparing Biochar Effects on Root, Shoot,and Fruit Production in Beans, Tomatoes, and Willows
8/9/2023
Abigail Jackson
Mary Stack

Advancing OCS as an independent atmospheric tracer for global photosynthesis through quantification of microbial-mediated sources and sinks in soils 
8/16/2023

Brian Barnes

 Small mammal hibernation in the Arctic
8/21/2023

Kristin Link

Artist-in-residence
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/1/2022 George Kling Decision making in the face of Arctic change: Equity and inclusion for Indigenous People in co-producing knowledge
6/8/2022 Sarah Evans & Sarah Godsey Oh Gully! Water tracks and complex
6/15/2022 Tom Glass  Wolverines in the Arctic
6/22/2022

 

Nicole Williamson
Lexy Salinas

 

 

Monitoring Arctic Tundra Vegetation Using the Mobile Instrumented Sensor Platform (MISP)
Arctic plant phenology and controls at the SOS and EOS

 
6/29/2022

Haley Dunleavy

Who can SciComm? You can!

7/6/2022

 Kevin Griffin Arctic LTER VII Renewal Proposal

7/13/2022
Sara Ansbro
Caroline Brose
AON ITEX Berries
Phylogenetics

 

7/20/2022

 Marwan Wartes A Brief History of Geological Exploration in Northern Alaska

7/27/2022

 Alex Huryn Arctic spring streams - aufeis ecosystems

8/3/2022-

Undergraduate Showcase
Anna Eichert
Helen Brush
Isaac Aguilar
Jackson VerSteeg
Luca Keon & Zach Ginn
Rachel Harris
Sunniva Sheffield

 
Impacts of Megafire on Aquatic Insect Communities in Central Utah
What is up with the growing season?
Monitoring Biodiversity with Environmental DNA in the Sierra de Manantlán, México
Longitudinal Flight and BDOM Study
Plants and Pollinators of the Low Arctic: Investigating Community Response to Climate Change
Potential talik development along continuous permafrost hillslopes on the North Slope of Alaska, USA

An Experiment Comparing Biochar Effects on Root, Shoot,and Fruit Production in Beans, Tomatoes, and Willows
8/10/2022

Jana U'Ren & Rosin Comme

Advancing OCS as an independent atmospheric tracer for global photosynthesis through quantification of microbial-mediated sources and sinks in soils 
8/17/2022

BrandoYokley

Hydrology of watertracks and thermoerosional gullies
8/24/2022

Bathsheba Demuth

Artist-in-residence
9/7/2022

Heidi Golden

Arctic LTER Grayling
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/16/2021 Jenn Guerard Contaminant Fate and Transformation in the Arctic: Chlorinated Pesticides and Brominated Flame Retardants
6/30/2021 Mike Weintraub What controls tundra soil carbon responses to environmental change?
 7/7/2021 Marwan Wartes   Introduction to the Geologic evolution of the Brooks Range, Northern Alaska
 7/13/2021

 

Jeremy May 
Jess Richert

 

 

Monitoring Arctic Tundra Vegetation Using the Mobile Instrumented Sensor Platform (MISP)
Winter Snow Depth and Caribou Forage Quality

 
7/21/2021
Daniela Aguirre
Olivia Cronin-Golomb
Deciduous shrub encroachment effects on tundra soil properties
Modeling benthic solar irradiance to inform seagrass habitat suitability in the mesotidal PIE

 

7/28/2021-

Undergraduate Showcase
Alex Jennings
Asha Kaliappan
Cameron Jones
Caroline Brose
Jansen Nipko
 Danny Weldon

 

Pollination Ecology and Experimental Warming
Soil & Iron
PhIr
An Introduction to Phylogenetic Analysis of the Goodeniaceae
ArcticRIOS - Arctic Watershed study
Tussock Packing Factor
8/4/2021

Toolik Community Discussion

Toolik Field Station DEI Talking Shop
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
5/28/2019 Adrian Rocha  Why ecology matters: insights into the inner workings of globally important biogeochemical systems.
6/4/2019 Kim Hageman, Jenn Guerard, Jeff Perala-Dewey, Ginna Quesada  Pumping water through foam, Drying stuff in the sun, and walking on thin ice
6/11/2019 Amanda Young  Between snow and shade:importance of high light on the forest floor
6/18/2019 Helene Angot  The Mystery of nocturnal ozone depletion and the big red balloon
6/26/2019  NEON  
 7/3/2019 Marwan Wartes   Introduction to the Geologic evolution of the Brooks Range, Northern Alaska
 7/10/2019

 

Jeremy May & Steven Unger
Hayes Henderson & John Fiegelson

 

 

MISP and Moss: raiders of the moss Arc
Everything you wanted to know about plant sex, but were too afraid to ask

 
 7/17/2019  Alex Michaud & Remi Masse  The rusty cryosphere: Why microbes love iron
7/24/2019  Roxaneh Khorsand  From the Amazon to the Arctic: why plant reproductive biology matters in a changing environment.
 7/31/2019  Scott Filippone Hemodynamics 101: how to keep blood inside of you

 8/7/2019

REU

  
Daison Weedop
Emily Reast
Abigail Rec
Cailee Peterson
Shannon Harney

 

Characterizing the Stream Fish Community Within an Open Lake System
Water holding capacities of arctic mosses around Toolik Field Station
Nutrient Diffusing Substrata: nutrient limitation and spatial variation in Arctic stream systems
The Quest for the Quantification and Quality Content of Caribou Candy
Quantifying disturbance i Siberian Alder Stands
 8/14/2019  Thomas Hartman  YtoY: Yellowstone to the Yukon Photo journal
 8/15/2019  Crystal Glassburn  
8/20/2019
Brandie Brooks
Brandon Cobb
The Brooks Range Float
Climate and Energy Security in Alaska
 8/21/2019
Ian Klupar
Jessica Richert, Kaj Lynoe, Heidi Becker

 
How can fire change the productivity limitations of the Tundra?
Caribou Nutritional Landscapes
 8/28/2019  Alex Huryn  Alabama Caves, North Slope Springs, and Icelandic Geothermal Vents
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/12/18  Ben Abbott & Ariel Shogren The permafrost climate feedback: biggest terrestrial tipping point or potential carbon sink?
6/19/18  Dan White  I Am Lakes. So Can You.
6/26/18  Sally MacIntyre  What's Happening Under the Ice?
7/3/18  Anne Giblin  Rising Seas and Coastal Marshes
7/10/18  Nick Barrett  Arctic Lake Warming...and beyond
 7/17/18  CPS Safety Training  
 7/23/18  Ken Tape  Beavers North of the Brooks
 7/31/18  Reiner Giesler & Johann Olofsson  P-availability in tundra ecosystems: effects of vegetation, elevation and herbivory
 8/1/18 Detlev Helmig  Chasing the Elusive Nessie from Toolik Lake
 8/7/18  Mindy Brugman  Arctic Weather Forecasting: Analysis and Prognosis of the "New Normal" During a Period of Dramatic Climate Warming
 8/10/18  Crystal Glassburn (BLM)  Cultural/archaeological history of the Brooks Range with Q & A

8/14/18

REU
Amy Li
Allie Pankoff
Ryan West
Classifying Arctic Shrubs via Remote Sensing
I-1 and I-2 Stream Characterization
Population Structure and Diet Composition of Fishes in Two Headwater Lakes
 8/21/18  Jade Lawrence  Blood Falls, Antarctica
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/6/2017  Sal Curasi  Water track distribution and effects on carbon dioxide flux in an eastern Siberian upland tundra landscape
 6/13/2017
Ryan Stephens
Juliette Funck
Pulsed resource availability changes dietary niche breadth and partitioning between generalist rodent consumers
Creating RODEmap

 
 6/20/2017  Alex Huryn & Josh Schimel  
 6/27/2017  Jeremy May  Temperature events and their impacts on plant phenology
7/4/2017  Adrianna Trusiak  Seeing Red in Blue waters and Snow! The role of Iron in liberating CO2
 7/12/2017  Tracie Curry  Paths toward Shared Understanding in Transdisciplinary Knowledge Processes
 7/17/2017  Matt Irinaga  CPS Arctic safety
 7/18/2017  Diane Benson  Living in Extreme Conditions: A Woman Truckers Perspective of Construction Days in Toolik, Coldfoot and the Pass
 7/25/2017  Gus Shaver  Forty years of change at Toolik Field Station and in moist acidic tundra
8/1/2017   Tom Glass  Tracking wolverines in the greater Toolik area

8/8/2017

REU
Quinn Gavin
Thomas Hafen
Erynn McNeill
 REU Presentations
Sagwon Bluffs Soil and Vegetation Assessment
Exploring the differences in fish populations between open and closed systems
How herbivory affects the growth of Siberian Alder
 8/15/2017  Go Iwahana  Quantification of Thermokarst and Carbon Release
 8/22/2017  Ned Fetcher  Cottongrass Ecotypes
 8/29/2017  Breck Bowden  Effects of Climate Warming on Stream Metabolism: A Continental Perspective
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/7/2016  Tom Glass  Trails and Travails: Tracking the Elusive Wolverine
 6/14/2016  Will Longo  Molecular fossils from northern Alaskan Lake sediments record 16000 years of climate change
 6/21/2016  Jesse Krause  White crowned Sparrows
 6/28/2016  Christie Haupert  Arctic Field Training
 7/5/2016  Greg Hill & Tracy Ruthkoski  Arctic Grayling & UAVs
 7/12/2016  Kimberly Maher  Permitting for Science on Alaska DNR land
 7/19/2016  Christine Hedge  Mercury dynamics of an arctic tundra ecosystem in northern Alaska: a mass balance
 7/26/2016  Steve Oberbauer  Glaciers, frogs, and cushion plants
 8/3/2016  In a Time of Change Artist group  Visiting artist group presentation 

 8/9/2016

REU
Gina Lupo
Megan Christie
The Effect of Bryophyte Presence on Kuparuk Community Composition
Nutrient Use Efficiency Patterns of Moss in the Kuparuk River
 8/16/2016  Adrianna Trusiak  Ironing Out the Arctic Carbon Cycle
 8/23/2016  Ben Abbott and Jay Zarnetske  Permafrost Carbon Feedback and Pulsing Carbon Fluxes
 8/30/2016
Agata Buchwal
Mike Gooseff
Shrubs
The McMurdo LTER
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
6/2/2015  Rose Cory  Radical carbon cycling
 6/9/2015  Jesse Krause  Birds and stuff
 6/16/2015  CPS  Arctic Field Training
 6/23/2015  Sally MacIntyre  I Can't Shake the Lake: My 16 Years of Struggle at Toolik Lake
 6/30/2015  Byron Crump  Biogeography of bacteria in streams and rivers: influence of environmental conditions and dispersal
 7/7/2015
Brie Van Dam
Tracy Ruthkoski

 
Tropospheric O3 in the Arctic
Cool gadgets for science
 7/14/2015  Heidi Golden  Fishscape: A Journey Through Time & Space
 7/21/2015  Anne Giblin  Lake Fertilization: Who Wins and Who Loses?
 7/28/2015
Gus Shaver
MBL Journalists
Scaling up from Toolik to the Arctic
Science Journalism

 8/4/2015

REU
Levi Simmons
Kate Yuhas
Structure of Fish Populations in Toolik-Area Lakes
Electron Donating Capacity in Natural Waters
 8/11/2015  Jeremy May  A, Andrew, and the Arctic
 8/18/2015  Helen Chmura  Bird Nerds on the Tundra
 
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
 6/3/2014  Tracy Ruthkoski  Arctic Glass plus Amazon Web Services (AWS)
 6/10/2014  Werner Eugster  What fluxes out of Toolik Lake and the wetlands, and how we measure it
 6/17/2014  Annesofie Norn Another windless day in space looking down at drifting landscapes
 6/25/2014  David Hoekman and Yuri Springer  The National Ecological Observatory Network: From big picture to bugs
 7/1/2014  Joe Tuck and John Brown (BBC)  Everything you always wanted to know about natural history filmmaking but were too afraid to ask
 7/7/2014  Morten Rasch  Something strange is happening in the Arctic", plus overview of Zackenberg Research Station and North Greenland expedition
 7/15/2014
Stephen Klobucar
Yo Chin
 
A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work
Persistent Organic Pollutants in Polar and Alpine Environments
 
 7/22/2014  Steve Oberbauer  Cold season physiology of tundra plants
 7/24/2014  Hans Loescher and Russ Lea  NEON Overview and Q&A session
 7/29/2014
Tyler King
Ashley Asmus
 
Heat fluxes in Arctic Rivers
Arthropod Community Responses to Fertilization and Fire
 
 8/5/2014  Nathan C. Healey  A mobile instrumented sensor platform for long-term terrestrial ecosystem analysis: An example application in the Arctic Tundra

 8/12/2014

REU
Christine Pardo
Jamie Goethlich
Michell Rasmussen
Zach Osterhlz

 

 
Fun with phenology
Diet composition and size structure of slimy sculpin (Coltucognatus) in fertilized and unfertilized lakes
Quantifying lateral inflows in Arctic beaded streams
Hyperspectral analysis of photosynthetic greening following tundra fire
 8/19/2014  Emily Voytek  Visions of the Deep: Subsurface Characterization Of Water Tracks
 
Date Speaker(s) Title(s)
 5/22/2013  Jeffrey M. Welker  The Mixing of the Modern and Ancient C Cycles in the High Arctic-Examples from NW Greenland and Svalbard
 6/4/2013 Shahid Naeem  The Consequences Of Biodiversity Decline
 6/11/2013 Kathleen Hunt  Whale Poop & The Meaning Of Life
 6/18/2013    LTER Poster Presentations
 6/25/2013 Jonathan Perez  "The effects of Methimazole on development of vernal migration in white crowned sparrows"
 7/2/2013 Cory Williams  Keeping Time Under the Midnight Sun: Circannual and Circadian Rhythms of Arctic Ground Squirrels
 7/9/2013  Sarah Page  .OH, The Places You'll Go
 7/16/2013 Lee Vierling  Lasers, Ecology and You
 7/23/2013
Water Tracks Group
Erik Hobbie
An Introduction to the Water Tracks Team
Do Squirrels Eat Mushrooms?
 
 7/30/2013 Donie Bret-Harte  The Great Pluck of 2013
 8/6/2013 Cleo Davie-Martin  This is Flaming Retarded! A Tale of Wayward Contaminants.
 8/13/2013  REU Presentations  REU Presentations
 8/20/2013 Jeb Timm  Snow Transects via Trans-Alaska Snowmachine Adventure
 8/27/2013  Chad Diesinger  Climbing the West Ridge of Mt. Hunter