Cool learnings - extending and communicating polar science to students and the community.

Why should scientists incorporate education and extend communicate the results of their research to the general public? - Because it is the right thing to do; it is easy, fun and usually effective; can feedback to strengthen and improve research; and from an environmental science perspective - badly needed as evidenced by some of the very strange and ill-informed decisions society is making that will affect future generations for many years to come. This presentation focuses on two case studies that extended the research activities from a relatively young and small university research lab to two minority student and community audiences. The first case study focuses on the educational and outreach experience gained by minority graduate and undergraduate students and teachers participating in an Antarctic system Science study abroad course. Students completed an online class, visited with NSF and other federal agencies in Washington DC, and experienced Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula on a month long capstone field course. Participants also visited the classrooms of over 750 students in El Paso, Texas before and after their trip to Antarctica, and prepared a museum exhibit that has now been visited by thousands of people. Most participants have progressed to graduate school or careers in the sciences and several have already acquired substantial funding for research - largely because of their demonstrated capacity to link research, education and outreach. The second case study describes several instances where the provision of scientific data, information and other resources were extended through cyberinfrastructure to the community of a relatively small Inuit village in northernmost Alaska. Here science data products have been used to enhance town planning and other decision making, and improve the safety of hunters participating in traditional activities such as the Spring subsistence whale harvest. This takes place on sea ice that is more dynamic and does not 'behave' in the same way as elders pass on orally to the younger generation due to the impacts from climate change.