Childhood
2026 Radio Series – Episode 1: Family
“I think about all of the opportunities that I’ve had to interact with science from an early age, and the ability that we’ve had to give that opportunity to other people, but also the fact that this is a very, very unique opportunity that I’ve been given, and I’m really grateful for it.” -Merridy Littell
Read MoreAlaska Weather Voices – Episode 1: Origins
This podcast miniseries focuses on the life and career of Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP)’s climate specialist, Rick Thoman. This podcast, hosted by Liz Carter, is made by ACCAP in partnership with Alaska Voices. In this episode Rick Thoman describes how he came to love weather, climate and Alaska. Starting in childhood, the episode follows Rick from elementary school projects on Alaska and tracking the weather in Pennsylvania to his first Alaska trip in 1986 that launched his weather and climate career.
“I’ve been interested in weather and climate from my earliest memories. As a child, probably late elementary school, junior high school age, every morning I would get up and I would look at the temperature on the thermometer that was outside my bedroom window. And I would write it down and I would plot it on a piece of graph paper.” – Rick Thoman
Read MoreRevisiting your hometown’s history
“I’d spent all of my time learning about cultures around the world and I didn’t know anything about the cultures of my own state or the area that I lived in.” – Davin Holen
Read MoreLearning as a scientist when to say “I don’t know”
“I was always the kid getting outside and getting lost and grimy and playing with frogs and cutting trees.”
Read MoreGrad school files
“I thought environmental science was a really good way to connect people’s problems and Earth’s problems and learn about the physical world yet the social science world, too.”
Read MoreBringing global experiences back home
“We were in Georgia, the Republic of Georgia, when they were being bombed. And all we had to eat for like six weeks straight was kasha, buckwheat.”
Read MoreGrowing up in a research lab
“I started working with my high school teacher who was very, very dedicated to helping me reach this goal. She used to drive me to the university where I did the research after school everyday.”
Read MoreFather-daughter fieldwork
“Dad had been doing fieldwork for 17 years and never seen a wolverine. On my first trip out there, bam, not one but two wolverines in the wild.”
Read MoreRemembering Randy, restoring the bison
“My mom always says this too, if you take a side profile of Randy, he looks just like a bison.”
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