Steve Brooks

Between the ages of 15 and 19, Steve assisted his father in mapping of Greenland and Antarctica.  He received the Navy Arctic Ribbon for service at the navy ice camps for weather forecasting and sea ice services.  He has also received the Navy Antarctic Medal for services on the Antarctica continent.  He has been a private pilot since 1982 and is an emergency medical technician. While earning his PHD and job searching, a previous professor was drafting people for geographic specialties.  Steve was a perfect match for the NOAA research program.  At present, Steve is an atmospheric scientist with NOAA/Atmospheric Turbulence & Diffusion Division. He received his PHD in Atmospheric Physics at the Catholic University of America and has made 100 plus trips to the Arctic and Antarctic. He has spent the last twelve years conducting atmospheric studies between Antarctica and the Arctic.  During the summers, he continues this work on the Gulf of Mexico.

Brenda Mulac

I’ve had an interest in science since I was a kid.  My dad is an engineer and scientist, so science was a major topic of conversation in my household while I was growing up.  I think all areas of science are really interesting, and as a kid I was always breaking rocks to see what they looked like inside or catching insects of all sorts and keeping them in jars (much to my mother’s dismay…).  I eventually became more focused on engineering (my dad was a big influence) as a career path and entered Michigan Technological University in 1991 to earn a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. I went on to work on a PhD in metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines, where I got as far as my MS degree.  I was studying defects that occur while welding different types of metals.  It was fun and interesting, as I got spend time in the lab playing with welding equipment and stuff, but after a while, I began to loose interest in metallurgy as a career path.  I ultimately quit the School of Mines and joined the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado to pursue a PhD there.  I have since found the closest thing to a “passion” yet, in my studies of our atmosphere and how it interacts with the ocean and land to drive our climate.  My studies have allowed me to spend time above the Arctic Circle in Barrow, Alaska, where I have helped deploy unmanned aviation vehicles (UAVs), called Aerosondes, carrying different instruments that measure basic weather variables as well as photograph the ice, measure sea surface temperature, and measure cloud properties.  As a result of these experiences, I am now working for Aerosonde North America full time while continuing my atmospheric research

Joe Liebezeit

Joe Liebezeit is project manager for the Arctic Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).  He grew up in suburban New Jersey where there is not much wildlife.  He has always been interested in any wildlife he could find.  In 1990 Joe received his BA in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire.  After that, he worked in a variety jobs.  He was a fishery observer in Alaska where he would go on domestic fishing boats measuring amounts of fish caught to make sure the quota of fish was not exceeded.  He also did field work with birds as a research assistant in Maine, Alabama, New Mexico, and Hawaii.  In 2001 Joe received his Masters in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. He was hired by the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2001.His assignment is working mostly with birds, mainly shore birds and waterfowl.  He spends a lot of his personal time hiking.  Through August and September 2003 Joe hiked the complete John Muir Trail in California!

Steve Zack

 Steve Zack, PhD is coordinator of the Pacific West Program, for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).  He grew up in Oregon. Steve earned a BS from Oregon State University and a PhD in Biology from the University of New Mexico.  His studies took him to many places around the world including Kenya, Venezuela, and Madagascar.  He was a professor of Ecology, Biology, and other field sciences for five years at Yale University.  After teaching at Yale, Steve moved to the west coast and a married man.  He was hired by WCS as part of their new North American Program.  He has built up the Pacific West Program to include California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska.  The Pacific West Program works with the park service, the forest service, private ranchers, and oil companies to find the best solutions to protect wildlife and conservation.