{"id":22199,"date":"2026-08-17T08:16:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/?p=22199"},"modified":"2026-08-13T10:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:17:53","slug":"elizabethtown-college-professor-student-explore-arctic-ecosystems-in-greenland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2026\/08\/17\/elizabethtown-college-professor-student-explore-arctic-ecosystems-in-greenland\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabethtown College Professor, Student Explore Arctic Ecosystems in Greenland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabethtown College Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences Dr. Robert Northington and Environmental Science and Public Health student Elizabeth Wasylyk \u201926 conducted research in South Greenland over the summer, examining how farming practices and freshwater changes affect Arctic and Sub-Arctic ecosystems.<\/p>\n

The project is a continuation of Northington\u2019s ongoing collaborative research, \u201cQuantifying Biogeochemical Cycles of Sub-Arctic Agroecosystems and Forecasting Future Scenarios,\u201d for which he received a prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Wasylyk (left) works with her research colleagues.<\/p><\/div>\n

Northington and Wasylyk worked closely with collaborators from the University of Maine and regional sheep farmers to gain insight into the pressing challenges local agriculture faces in relation to water availability and quality. Their work seeks to better understand the threats to biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem resilience due to changes in land use and hydrology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research is significant because it represents how science is meant to contribute to society,\u201d Northington said. \u201cThrough our work with Greenlandic farmers, we were able to address their concerns through our choice of research projects. This work will be an excellent case study of how reciprocal science can be, where scientists and stakeholders are in constant communication about issues that are important to each group.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wasylyk\u2019s research will inform her Honors in the Discipline project, which she will defend prior to graduating from Etown this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis opportunity was not only a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it was an amazing chance to get to study and conduct my own meaningful research,\u201d Wasylyk said. \u201cMany students get the chance to complete research within the Biology Department, but this was especially important because I had the chance to visit another country and collaborate with experts in my field of study, increasing my local understanding and collaboration in my research\u201d<\/p>\n

About Etown\u2019s Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Elizabethtown College offers three department-specific majors and four interdisciplinary majors. Regardless of chosen major, students are met with a rigorous curriculum, hands-on research opportunities, and dedicated mentoring and advising, preparing them for direct entry into the workforce or for competitive graduate school programs. Learn more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabethtown College Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences Dr. Robert Northington and Environmental Science and Public Health student Elizabeth Wasylyk \u201926 conducted research in South Greenland over the summer, examining how farming practices and freshwater changes affect Arctic and Sub-Arctic ecosystems. The project is a continuation of Northington\u2019s ongoing collaborative research, \u201cQuantifying Biogeochemical Cycles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":22201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1338,775],"tags":[197,1350,2701,749,338,193,2442],"class_list":["post-22199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-and-research","category-campus","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-etown","tag-etown-biology-department","tag-grant","tag-grants","tag-national-science-foundation","tag-nsf","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22199"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22226,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22199\/revisions\/22226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}