Jillian Worssam grew up in suburban Connecticut but considers herself a child of America. Ms. Worssam has traveled to every state, and it was through this exploration that she fell in love with nature and became fascinated with the diversity of all living systems. After attending an alternative outdoor educational school in Vermont, she moved to Montana where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Forestry. This newfound knowledge prompted her to become a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines, which in turn showed her the power of education. Upon returning to the United States, Ms. Worssam became a professional educator and earned her Master’s Degree in Bilingual/Multicultural Education. Ms. Worssam has now taught in Arizona and internationally for over 14 years, and today teaches all curricular subjects to at-risk middle school students for the Flagstaff Unified School District. Thanks to support from NOAA, Ms. Worssam is participating both as a PolarTREC teacher and as a NOAA Teacher at Sea in this expedition.

Raymond Sambrotto is the chief scientist on the Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) cruise and studies marine plankton ecology and global nutrient cycles. Dr. Sambrotto has worked from small boats in the Caribbean to major oceanographic programs in the Arabian Sea. He has worked extensively in high latitude regions at both poles using icebreakers and submarines to traverse these difficult environments. An important part of Dr. Sambrotto’s research is determining how marine populations will fare under changed climate conditions, and how these changes will affect the larger global environment.

The team will be traveling on the USCGC Healy in the Bering Sea. The Bering Sea lies to the west of Alaska and to the east of Russia. The team will depart from and return to the port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, the most productive fishing port in the United States.