From the Seafloor to the Stars
40+ Years of Studying Earth, Oceans, and Space

Elizabeth (Liz) Burakowski is a research associate professor at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at UNH. Her research focuses on winter climate change in the northeastern United States, including what changes we’ve seen in the past, what we can expect for the future, and the associated impacts on ecosystems and society. Liz learned to ski at Saskadena Six in the late ’80s, picked up snowboarding in the early ’90s, and has been backcountry splitboarding for over a decade. Liz has also served on Protect Our Winters Science Alliance since 2016, to advocate for clean air, water, and a healthy planet. Burakowski holds a master’s degree in Earth science (UNH, 2007) and Ph.D. in Earth and environmental science (UNH, 2013). 

 

Joseph Dwyer is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UNH as well as the Peter T. Paul Chair in Space Sciences.  He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1994 and worked at Columbia University and the University of Maryland before joining the faculty at the Florida Institute of Technology in 2000. He served as head of the physics department at Florida Tech before moving to the University of New Hampshire in 2014. Over the last 20 years, Dwyer has played a leading role in establishing and advancing the field of high energy atmospheric physics, making important contributions to our understanding of thunderstorms and lightning. He received the 2014 Karl Berger Award for distinguished achievements in the science and engineering of lightning research from the International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) and the Award for Excellence in Research at UNH in 2021. He became a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2019 and was chosen to give the AGU Franklin Lecture that year. His work in public outreach includes articles in Scientific American and appearances in numerous television documentaries and news articles. 

 

Chris Hunt is a research associate professor in the Ocean Process Analysis Lab (OPAL) at UNH. His research focuses on the exchange of inorganic carbon at the margins between land, the coastal ocean, and the atmosphere, and the related phenomena of coastal ocean acidification.  Along with his OPAL colleagues, Chris operates monitoring sites along the Seacoast of New Hampshire as well as in the broader Gulf of Maine. A son of the Seacoast, he grew up in Dover along the shores of the Cocheco estuary where he collected razor clams as a kindergartener. When he is not in the lab or the field he can be found skiing, coaching, cycling, or helping on his family farm.