Thursday, January 22, 2015

[IPRNmail] Re: IPRNmail Students on Ice 2014 Expedition: India

We welcome Zareen Cheema as a member of the IPRN group! Thank you Zareen for registering with us! About Zareen: She was selected as the only Indian student for the 'Students on Ice 2014' expedition to Antarctica (25th Dec 2014-8th Jan 2015), a tough selection conducted across 70 universities world wide. She has also made it to the next round of interviews for the one-way mission to Mars - Mars One, which would send 4 humans to settle on Mars in 2025. Proud of you Zareen and good luck!! 

We also request all our members to register (free) with us by filling in the form http://iprnindia.wix.com/iprn#!join-us/c1dbk. This would help us better plan IPRN activities by involving members based on the information provided in the forms. 

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Archana.
For Team IPRN

Indian Polar Research Network (IPRN)

On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 10:58 PM, IPRN <indian.polar@gmail.com> wrote:
Check out this article from TOI!

PUNE, 19th Jan: A 13-day expedition to Antarctica has changed 19-year-old Pune student Zareen Cheema's outlook towards life. It has not only taught her to fight against odds but also resolve to study climate change. 

Cheema, a student of mechanical engineering at Cummins College in the city, was the only Indian student among the group of 66 high school and university students selected from 70 universities across the world, for the 'Students on Ice 2014' expedition. 

After the selection last June, the students had to decide their topics of research. Cheema chose to learn about LIDAR, a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with laser and analyzing the reflected light. Training started from October and comprised practical examples and readings collected from various islands and ice tops. 

The trip was not without hiccups. The first obstacle was raising the money required to complete this trip, where she planned to visit British explorer Ernest Shackleton's rescue points and see the brilliant light phenomena of the aurora australis first-hand. 

"I told my father that he should worry only about the transport till Toronto and I would manage the rest. I was determined and waited patiently till I raised a considerable amount through a crowd-sourcing website," she said. 

Full of first-hand stories from the southernmost part of the world, Cheema sees life from a different perspective now. "It was a learning of many sorts as we struggled on our own on that difficult terrain, where every step forward in ice is an effort. It was scary when my boot got stuck in the snow and my glove came off in the sub-zero conditions when we had to walk for an hour. It was a lesson in determination." 

Students on Ice's goal is to educate and inspire the youth, through discovery and learning in the polar regions and help them understand our changing environment, said Geoff Green, explorer and founder of the programme. 

While the students occasionally caught sight of the penguins, wandering albatrosses, seals and the fin whale, Cheema said the sight of icebergs melting and carving out of ice shelves strengthened her resolve to study climate. 

"We also learned about the history of Antarctica, the biodiversity and the Antarctica treaty from oceanologists, marine biologists and explorers," she said. 

Cheema is also the youngest among the 660 people from across the world hoping to land a spot on the one-way manned mission to Mars. She is gearing up for another MarsOne interview next week, and hopes to make it to the final list that will be announced by February-end. "Zareen has a passion for learning and visiting Antarctica was a great way to fuel her dream to go to Mars. She was a wonderful ambassador of India," said Green.

Best Regards,

Archana.
For Team IPRN

Indian Polar Research Network (IPRN)

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