2026 Polar Libraries Colloquy Presenter Bios
Beth Crowner
The Ohio State University
Beth Crowner is the Records Management Coordinator for Ohio State University, where she works with updating retention schedules, programming OnBase retention, and creating training for records compliance. Previously, she has worked as an archival description assistant at OSU. She obtained dual degrees in History and Japanese from Ohio State University, lived in Hokkaido for several years, and later earned her Master’s in Archives and Records Management from Simmons University.
Beverley Ager
British Antarctic Survey
Bev is the librarian at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, and the current Chair Elect of the PLC Steering Committee. The BAS library is primarily research-focused, providing services and support to scientists onsite and South, and is also the point-of-contact for Open Access publishing.
Candace Carlisle Vilas
The University of Texas at Arlington
Candace Carlisle Vilas is a PhD candidate at The University of Texas at Arlington in their Department of History and Geography and has previously completed an MA in Art History from TCU. Her research explores how scientific expeditions have historically been underwritten in the polar regions through a variety of funding streams including advertising, publishing, and public lectures. She recently completed a Davidson Family Fellowship at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas examining Eliot Porter's photographs of Antarctica and financially supported by the National Science Foundation.
Cecilie Møldrup Pedersen
Polar Library / University of Copenhagen
I am the main librarian at the Polar Library under the University of Copenhagen. I am a historian by education and have been a part of The Polar Libraries Colloquy for 9 years. I work mostly with the relationship between Denmark and Greenland.
Chas Cowing
Elisha Kent Kane Historical Society, NYC
Chas Cowing has been, on and off, the Chairman of the Elisha Kent Kane Historical Society for over 30 years. He attended the Hotchkiss School, Colby College and the Yale School of Drama. He is a Past Master of Kane Lodge #454, Grand Lodge of the State of New York. For 22 Years, he was President of Access Talent, Inc., a Voice Over talent agency. He is the proud father of Grayson Cowing, and, despite it all, a survivor.
Chelsey Miller
University of Minnesota Kathryn A. Martin Library
Chelsey Miller is a Marketing and Communications Professional at the University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library. Additionally, she serves as the library's Sámi Collection Bibliographer and Coordinator of the Sámi Cultural Center of North America. Her presentation, “The Gift of Cultural Exchange,” tells the story of how a library in Minnesota, far from Europe’s officially recognized indigenous peoples, holds a substantial collection of Sámi materials.
David Elliot
Byrd Center and School of Earth Sciences, OSU
Geologist, first with the British Antarctic Survey and since 1966 with the US Antarctic Program.
Erica Maletic
Polar Rock Repository
Dr. Erica Maletic studied noble gas and trace element geochemistry of the West Antarctic Rift System for her PhD at the Ohio State University. After a few failed attempts to get funding for an Antarctic field campaign, Erica met with Anne Grunow from the Polar Rock Repository who spent quite a bit of time helping her find the right samples within the collection for her research. Upon graduation, she learned that Anne was looking for a post-doc and jumped at the opportunity. She has since become the full-time curator after Anne's retirement.
Haylen Scott
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
Haylen Scott is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University and has worked as a student graphic designer at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center in Education and Outreach for the past four years. Through this role, she has created a wide range of educational and visual communication materials that help translate complex scientific concepts for audiences of all ages. Her work focuses on making research more accessible, engaging, and impactful through design.
Joë Bouchard
Laval University
Joë Bouchard has held a position as a librarian at Université Laval for over 15 years, where he is notably responsible for Geography and Northern Studies. He is currently pursuing a PhD in geographical sciences, focusing on the relationships between Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Quebec through the archives of the Quebec state.
Matthew Birkhold
Ohio State University
Matthew Birkhold is a professor of Germanic Studies and law at The Ohio State University, where he researches and teaches cultural history, Native American law, and environmental humanities. He is currently at work on his fourth book, The Melting Sublime, which examines the intersection of aesthetics and environmental law in the Arctic.
Paul Arthur Berkman
Science Diplomacy Center, Inc. (SDCI) / International Science Council / Harvard Law School
Professor Paul Arthur Berkman is a Fellow of the International Science Council and Fulbright Specialist 2024-2027 with the United States Department of State. He founded the Science Diplomacy Center, Inc. (SDCI) nonprofit in the United States in 2022. He is a Faculty Associate with the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and a Distinguished Visiting Professor with the International Institute of Science Diplomacy and Sustainability (IISDS) at UCSI University in Malaysia. Paul wintered in Antarctica on a SCUBA research expedition in 1981 and became a Visiting Professor at the University of California Los Angeles the following year at the age of 23, when he began his global journey with science diplomacy. Paul was the third Byrd Fellow in 1989.
Paul Bierman
Professor of Environmental Science and Natural Resources/University of Vermont
Paul Bierman is a geoscientist, professor, and author whose work focuses on the history of Earth’s dynamic surface and its interaction with people. His research has taken him around the globe studying landscapes in Australia, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Cuba, and the Arctic. In Greenland, Paul and his graduate students are tracing the history of the ice sheet over the last several million years. Paul works at the interface between active research, education, and science literacy. He focusses on communicating science and history to the public using both short and long-format writing. Paul’s latest book, When the Ice is Gone, one of the New Yorkers’ Best Books of 2024, details the past and future of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Rachel Cohen
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Rachel Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Library Science and the Curator of Rare Books and Maps at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She holds an MLIS and an MA in Library Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and brings over 15 years of experience as a special collections librarian and archivist. Born and raised in Alaska, her research interests span the book as a physical artifact, contemporary poetry, Alaska's political history, and historical paper toys. Rachel is also an active member of the Original Paper Doll Artists Guild, has published three books of paper dolls, and is currently on the lifelong search for the perfect cheese scone recipe.
Ryan McDonnell
Grandview Heights Public Library
Ryan McDonnell has served as Director of the Grandview Heights Public Library (GHPL) in Columbus, OH, USA, since 2013. He is Governing Council Chair of the Central Library Consortium (CLC), a cooperative among 18 Central Ohio library systems. GHPL is a CLC founding member (1988) and the CLC Administering Library. He is active in the Ohio Library Council (OLC), a professional organization for public librarians.
Susanna Parikka
University of Lapland
Susanna Parikka is Library Director of the Lapland University Consortium Library in Rovaniemi, Finland, serving both the University of Lapland and the Lapland University of Applied Sciences. She holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Åbo Akademi University and is active in Nordic library cooperation as a founding member of the NUAS Library Group. She is Acting Chair of the Polar Libraries Colloquy Steering Committee, co-editor of The Polar Libraries Bulletin, and leads the UArctic thematic network DALAM (Decolonization of Arctic Library and Archives Metadata).
Susanne Brillant
Laval University
Susanne Brillant began her career as a reference librarian at the Assemblée nationale du Québec from 2001 to 2011. Head of the user services section at the Bibliothèque de l'Université Laval for the next ten years, she now holds a position as controlled vocabulary librarian on the Répertoire de vedettes-matière team.
Thompson Morrison
Catalyst Learning Labs
Thompson is a retired software CEO, Agile expert, and author who has dedicated his post-corporate career to reimagining how students are educated. His journey from high-stakes technology consulting to educational reform is rooted in a career of global leadership and strategic innovation.