Commencement speaker Baeseman’s words of wisdom: “Polar bears don’t eat penguins”
The Pointer
ajuhn217@uwsp.edu
Traveling all the way from “The Pairs of the North” or Tromsø, Norway, Jenny Baeseman a 1998 undergraduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, is the commencement speaker at both graduation ceremonies on Saturday, May 16.
Baeseman received her Bachelor of Science in water resources and a minor in chemistry from UW-SP. Currently, she is researching the survival mechanisms of bacteria in the “coolest” environments on Earth and how humans can use the unique biochemistry to benefit society.
While at UW-SP, she started her research on nitrogen in streams under the direction of the late Dr. Bryant Browne and was heavily involved in the Student Government Association as well as many other organizations.
She has also remained active in the UW-SP community by serving on the Alumni Association Board of Directors since 2006. This is not the first time Baeseman has been asked to speak on campus, either. She has given several presentations on her research to UW-SP students and has been a keynote speaker at Homecoming.
In conjunction with the College of Natural Resources faculty, she is working to create opportunities for UW-SP students to participate in summer school on the Antarctic Peninsula.
After her graduation from UW-SP, Baeseman’s training continued at the University of Minnesota with a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in civil engineering with an environmental emphasis from the University of Colorado, and postdoctoral research in geo-sciences at Princeton University.
Outside of her intense involvement at UW-SP, she is working with Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, in his efforts to educate society on climate change and the science behind it.
As the founding director of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, she is helping to give young researchers career opportunities on an international level. More than 1,800 researchers from more than 40 countries are part of APECS, working in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The organization trains people to communicate their research with society and policy makers to develop a strong network concerned about the impacts of climate change on the melting polar regions.
Additionally, Baeseman has been a leader in the efforts enriching international science cooperation through the International Polar Year by helping to enrich the training experiences of Indigenous Peoples, researchers in Africa, Russia, China and South America.
The IPY is a large scientific program that focuses on the Arctic and Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. It brought together 50,000 scientists from 63 countries working on 260 international and interdisciplinary research and education projects to increase our understanding of the 14 percent of the globe known as the polar regions.
Baeseman’s personal goal is to make sure everyone she meets knows that polar bears don’t eat penguins. They live at different ends of the planet.
