Mike Kaplan, an associate research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), will be spending two months in Punta Arenas, at Universidad de Magallanes’ Centro de Investigación Gaia Antártica (CIGA). This visit is supported by Chile’s National Commission for Science and Technology (CONICYT), which provided an award to CIGA’s director Juan Carlos Aravena in the context of a program to support short-visits for foreign scientists, researchers and professors.
During his time in Punta Arenas, Kaplan will teach undergraduate and graduate students and will work on researching themes related to geosciences, including Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic landscapes and how glaciers and climates changed in the past (paleoclimate). Kaplan and his colleagues seek to understand the natural variability of glaciers and climate in Patagonia and Antarctica before the human impacts occurred in the 20th Century. Also, they will discuss future goals that involve continuing to teach about Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic natural resources and geosciences and looking into opportunities for Chilean and US joint graduate research.