Anneka Williams ’21 doing research at a field site in the Arctic tundra

She had just three weeks to come up with a question—one with no known solution—about the environment around her, then determine the answer by designing a logical experiment that would produce reliable data.

"The faculty asked, 'What are you wondering about this place? What are you curious about?'" Williams said.

"I've never been asked to come up with a [scientific] question before," she added. "As students, we're so used to providing answers." In this case, she would have to do both.

Despite the restricted time, and the imperative to absorb a lot of new information quickly, Williams succeeded. She'll be presenting her findings at the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco this December, along with several other researchers who traveled to Alaska with her on this unique trip.

Williams was one of nine undergraduates who participated in a selective seasonal program called the Polaris Project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and run by Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. The NSF covers all the participants' travel costs and provides a stipend to the students.

Each summer, the Polaris Project pulls together a team of scientists—both those just starting out in their careers, like Williams, as well as graduate students and faculty—to do research in the Arctic. Williams' group traveled by commercial plane, and then by float plane, to a remote field site in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.