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Experiences in the Antarctic

by Paul Ulrich '00. Paul is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia.  He writes about his life after Houghton and his experiences at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

“Do you know Mark van der Haar?” Rebecca asked as our skis slid across the snowy road. Know Mark! How could I not remember Mark from my time at Houghton? After all, he arrived one morning at Dr. Bressler’s Western Lit class dressed as if he were searching for David Livingstone in Africa, a garish umbrella with a jungle design bobbing above a safari hat perched on his head. But even more astonishing than Mark’s entrance to Dr. Bressler’s class was where Rebecca posed her question. She and I were cross-country skiing on the Ross Ice Shelf near McMurdo Station, Antarctica!

Though global human population has grown beyond 6 billion, our social networks are remarkably intertwined. But Houghton College seemingly reduces the degrees of separation far more than larger institutions. Should I have been startled when, over Sunday brunch at McMurdo, a friend recalled, “One of the teacher’s assistants in my marine education program was from Houghton. Her name was Rachel Johnson”? Rachel Johnson! She and her husband Doug Graham (2000) are among my closest friends from Houghton!

Until I met Ken Boon, I intended to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. Dr. Boon himself was a member of my father’s own graduating class (1969) at Houghton, and his name was a familiar one in our household. I enrolled in Ken’s invertebrate biology course my first semester at Houghton College. His enthusiastic lectures, laden with anecdotes and tangents, captivated me. Dr. Boon impressed upon me the huge diversity of forms that dominate the tree of life. Sea spiders, protozoa, octopus, clams, leeches, insects… During my final year at Houghton, Ken suggested that I conduct independent research to further explore a project initiated by Dr. Jim Marcum. This study on the familiar chowder clam opened the door to graduate research in marine biology and I soon dispensed with my aspiration to become a veterinarian.

On a cold spring Saturday morning in the half-light of the Bresslers’ basement apartment, I picked up the phone, stilling its raucous ring. “Paul, this is Adam Marsh at the University of Delaware. I’d like to offer you a research position in my laboratory as a graduate student.” Admission to graduate programs in the sciences relies heavily on personal networking with researchers. I found selection of science graduate programs difficult with my background in a liberal arts college. Though I had performed independent research at Houghton, my exposure to academic research circles was very limited. God, however, has plans that exceed our wildest dreams. In the fall of 2000 I began research at Delaware. I studied oyster diseases, clam physiology, and rapidly adopted a disdain for the “charismatic megafauna” of the oceans, the dolphins and penguins and whales that steal the public’s attention from their more interesting invertebrate cousins. Once again, should I have been surprised to find someone with connections to Houghton at the University of Delaware’s College of Marine Studies? Among my fellow students who entered the marine program in 2000, I met Cindi Hoover. Cindi’s parents, David and Barbara Hoover, graduated from Houghton in the early 70’s! I subsequently met them over dinner and we soon were chatting about Shenawana Hall and campus life.

Graduate research in marine biology eventually took me to the Antarctic to study animals that thrive in one of the most extreme environments in the world. Above the sea ice that perennially covers the surface of the ocean is a bleak polar desert. But below the ice, life abounds. Soft corals grace the bottom and carpets of sea urchins graze upon algae on the rocks. Within cathedrals of ice crystals that hang from the frozen ceiling, fish swim high above the reach of huge carnivorous worms that move about on the seafloor. Here world’s coldest water forms, flowing in from surrounding oceans, cooling to 29°F, and sinking to the depths of ocean basins. And here, delicately balanced at the freezing point of seawater, all animals must cope with extreme cold and the constant threat of freezing.

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