Christian Fritsen | David Shafer

Extreme Science: Christian Fritsen

You could call DRI's Dr. Christian Fritsen an extreme scientist. No, you won't find him snowboarding down a cliff face in his lab coat, or skydiving with his Bunsen burner. But, if you're ever in Antarctica, you might see him studying some of nature's very own risk takers: tiny bacteria that survive in solid ice.

As part of the National Science Foundation's Life in Extreme Environments Program, Fritsen is studying bacteria that live within small pockets of ice-bound sand. The ice, which permanently covers the lakes of Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valley, is anywhere from nine to 60 feet thick. The tiny organisms frozen in the sand pockets survive thanks to an annual, but brief, infusion of liquid water during the seasonal thaw. "These guys are very quick to kick in and start growing as soon as there is a little water available," says Fritsen. This opportunistic approach allows them to survive, although, as Fritsen points out, "These bacteria are just surviving, not thriving. By studying the chemistry and physics of life in ice, we're learning just how extreme an environment can be before life can't exist at all."

And that, says Fritsen, has some literally far-reaching implications. Antarctic-like environments are thought to have once existed on Mars and may currently exist on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. Could there have been primitive life on Mars? Could life develop on Europa? Fritsen says studies like his take those possibilities out of the realm of the fanciful and into the arena of the plausible. "These bacteria are some of the first microbes to evolve photosynthesis, which led to the evolution of our atmosphere. These are the things that produced the oxygen we breathe now. If it happened here, why couldn't it happen somewhere out there?"

With that in mind, Fritsen headed to Antarctica last December to spend Christmas in a real winter wonderland (even though it was technically summer in Antarctica!), studying the algae and bacteria that live on the sea ice. In fact, Fritsen has spent so much time in Antarctica since joining DRI in July of 1998, that he says he's become known as "the new guy who's never here." Before he "wasn't here" at DRI, Fritsen did post-doctoral work at Montana State University and, before that, graduate work at the University of Southern California. Home base is now DRI's Great Basin Environmental Research Laboratory in Reno.

Jackie Allen

Changing Hats: David Shafer

When Dr. David Shafer was hired as DRI's new Department of Energy (DOE) Program Manager last September, the Institute gained an immediate fan. "I'm really impressed with the variety of things going on at DRI," says Shafer. "For a relatively small organization, there's a great diversity of things happening." But DRI also gained something even more valuable-a scientist with first-hand experience with DOE. You see, before joining DRI, Shafer wore a DOE "hat" for 10 years in a range of environmental management positions, most recently as a program manager at DOE's Hanford Site in Washington state.

Shafer will be calling on that experience in the coming year as he puts together an approximately $4 - $5 million per year proposal to continue DRI's scientific investigations on DOE's Nevada Test Site (NTS) in southern Nevada. The Institute's ongoing relationship with DOE and the NTS began in 1961, when DRI conducted its first groundwater investigations of the area. Over the years, much of DRI's work on the NTS has focused on understanding its groundwater system-especially the transport of contaminants-and on finding and preserving the area's cultural resources. This year, as Shafer concentrates on molding projects for the next contract period, he'll be looking in some new directions. Since large scale nuclear weapons are no longer tested there, DOE is shifting the focus of the NTS to other scientific areas; and DRI hopes to respond creatively.

"For instance," says Shafer, "DOE is getting started in renewable energy programs, such as solar energy and alternative fuels, and we have expertise at DRI, particularly in the Energy and Environmental Engineering Center, that could really be valuable to DOE." Shafer also hopes to expand DRI projects in environmental monitoring in and around the NTS. He particularly wants to enhance the Community Technical Liaison Program, which employs private citizens to run monitoring stations in the communities surrounding the NTS.

For all the experience and knowledge that Shafer is bringing to DRI in his new position, he says he is getting a great deal in return. "My academic background is in geomorphology and Quaternary geology; and, through the years, my work has moved me away from science and into more of the policy arena. This job is giving me a chance to move back toward the science that began my career." But Shafer still credits the experience of working for DOE and other federal agencies. "Understanding the policy issues is important for knowing what technical and scientific questions need to be addressed."

Jackie Allen
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