How can ice formations underground create major impact on the environment and economy above? With in-class research and scientific field experience in Daring Lake, Northwest Territories, under her belt, Caitlin Worona, winner of the Gzowski Northern Scholarship, is ready to return north to complete her thesis and find out.

“It is a great honour to win this award although it would not be possible without support from my supervisor, Dr. Peter Lafleur of Trent’s School of Environment, and the N.W.T. Geological Survey,” said Ms. Worona, a third-year Geoscience student. “It is very flattering and humbling to consider my love of the North in the context of Peter Gzowski's admiration for our country.”

The Peter Gzowski Northern Scholarship, named in honour of Trent’s eighth chancellor, is awarded annually to an academically outstanding undergraduate with a demonstrated interest in northern and polar studies and who has engaged in northern research as part of his or her undergraduate studies.

Next summer Ms. Worona will gather data on ice-wedge polygons in the Slave Lake Region of the Northwest Territories. She will use drilled samples and a geographic information system (GIS) to describe these formations and examine changes over time.  According to Ms. Worona, they can disrupt and deform roads, impacting future growth and mining operations that fuel the local economy.

“The low arctic and continuous permafrost contain amazing soil formations,” reveals Ms. Worona. “They are fascinating to study as we influence them by warming the climate that they form in.”

To prepare, she spent weeks researching the formations and honing investigative techniques in-class. Additionally, recent field assistant experience maintaining equipment to measure interactions of greenhouse gases and northern permafrost, enabled her to assist with vital research and get ready for what lies ahead.

With plans to pursue a master’s degree, Ms. Worona wants to contribute to science to make lives better. She believes there are many crucial reasons to perform academic research in the North.

 “We are not only impacting the North through climate change, it in turn has the ability to impact us.”

Learn more about the prestigious School of the Environment at Trent.