The 2014-2015 ANSMET field team has been selected and is busy preparing for the trip to the ice.  Johnny and the assistant mountaineer will go down to McMurdo in Mid-November to start preparations and the rest of the team will follow about two weeks later.

ANSMET field teams are made up of a mix of leadership personnel and volunteers, both veterans and new folks.  There are eight team members in the field at a time and we sleep two to a tent.  This year we have an even mix of male and female personnel.

This year’s team includes…

Ralph Harvey from Case Western Reserve University, the PI, field team leader and veteran of 23 previous seasons;

John Schutt from Case Western Reserve University (and Blaine, WA), our mountaineer and field safety officer since 1980;

Brian Rougeux, a mountaineer with several Antarctic seasons under his belt (not with ANSMET), will serve as the “ANSMET mountaineer-in-training” this season, learning all of the ins and outs of our project from Johnny;

Ryan Zeigler, the Apollo samples curator at NASA Johnson Space Center, and a veteran of the 2010-11 season;

Shannon Walker, a NASA Astronaut also at Johnson Space Center and an ANSMET newbie;

Christine Floss, a Research Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, also a first-timer;

Devon Burr, a planetary geomorphologist at UT-Knoxville, another newbie;

Vinciane Debaille a FNRS research associate at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium.  This is her first time on an ANSMET trip but she is a veteran of a couple Antarctic meteorite search seasons with the Belgian program.

And myself, Jim Karner, Co-PI on ANSMET and a research scientist at Case, a veteran of six seasons.

So in summary, this year’s team is made up of two mountaineers, an astronaut, and six planetary scientists.  The scientists on the team conduct a wide variety of research, from studies of Antarctic (and non-Antarctic) meteorites, the history of the Moon and Mars, processes on icy planetary bodies and the origins of the solar system.  We hope all will be adept at finding meteorites among thousands of terrestrial rocks!

Folks interested in volunteering for a future ANSMET expedition should read the blog’s FAQ section on that topic (read carefully…applications are ONLY accepted ON PAPER, no emails please).

-Jim Karner,  from Case Western Reserve University

The 2014-15 ANSMET team