Jenny Baeseman is an American

polar Polar may refer to: Geography Polar may refer to: * Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates * Polar climate, the c ...

researcher who studies the survival mechanisms of bacteria in cold environments. She is the founding director of the

Association of Polar Early Career Scientists The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) is a worldwide association of early career scientists (undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty) interested in the polar regions and the cryosphere generally. ...

(APECS), executive director of the

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean. SCAR's scien ...

(SCAR), and was previously the executive director of the

World Climate Research Program The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) is an international programme that helps to coordinate global climate research. The WCRP was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Inter ...

(WCRP) Climate and Cryosphere.

Early life and education

Baeseman grew up in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, where she earned a B.S. in water resources and chemistry from the

University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point The University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point (UW–Stevens Point or UWSP) is a public university in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Established in 1894, it is part of the University of Wisconsin System. UW-Stevens Point grants associate, baccalaureat ...

(UWSP). There she began research looking at nitrogen in streams. She received an M.S. in civil engineering from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and a Ph.D. in civil engineering with an environmental emphasis from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

. She then completed postdoctoral research in geosciences at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Career

Baeseman is the executive director of the

(SCAR). Previously, she was the executive director of the

(WCRP) Climate and Cryosphere, and the founding director of the

(APECS). Baeseman's research concerns the survival mechanisms of bacteria in cold environments and possible applications of their biochemistry. She has published in the fields of

microbial ecology Microbial ecology (or environmental microbiology) is the ecology of microorganisms: their relationship with one another and with their environment. It concerns the three major domains of life—Eukaryota, Archaea, and Bacteria—as well as viru ...

, polar and

climate science Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stud ...

, and education and communication of polar science. She has spent three summer seasons in the

McMurdo Dry Valleys The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby ...

of Antarctica and periods living in

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

, Alaska and

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

, Norway. She also participated in a

Students On Ice Students on Ice Foundation (also known as SOI) is a Canadian charitable organisation that leads educational expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic for international high school and university students. Its mandate is to provide youth, educators and ...

Antarctic University expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula.

Awards and honors

Baeseman is a Distinguished Alumni at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. She was included in the 2007 '' Who’s Who in Science and Engineering'' and in the 2006-2008 ''

Who’s Who in America Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

''. In 2006, Baeseman received the Editor's Excellence in Review Citation from JGR Biogeosciences. As an undergraduate, Baeseman received the 1996 and 1998 UWSP Chancellor's Leadership Award, the 1997

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, and was AWRA's 1995 Student of the Year.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baeseman, Jenny Living people Scientists from Wisconsin University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni University of Colorado University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point alumni American women scientists American Antarctic scientists Women Antarctic scientists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women scientists