Aaron Putnam

Current Name:

Aaron Putnam

Graduation Year: and years at MSSM?:

2000 - I attended MSSM for one year

Hometown/Sending School:

West Chapman, Maine.

Where did you go after MSSM?:

I attended Bates College, where I received a B.S. in Geology. After Bates, I went to UMaine for graduate school. I first obtained a M.S. degree in Earth Science. My thesis focused on reconstructing how the height of the Antarctic Ice Sheet changed since the end of the last ice age. I then continued at UMaine as a Ph.D. student, where I studied the ice-age history of mountain glaciers in New Zealand to gain insights into Southern Hemisphere paleoclimate changes. After completing my graduate work, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, where I studied past changes in glacier activity and hydroclimatic changes in the Bhutan Himalaya and in the mountains and deserts of western China. I continued on as an assistant research professor at LDEO before joining the faculty at the University of Maine.

What are you doing now?:

I am an associate professor of Earth science at the University of Maine. I am currently studying how changes in the strength and latitude of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds (the most powerful winds on Earth), and their interactions with the Southern Ocean (which plays an important role in regulating the exchange of heat and carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere), may be capable of producing rapid temperature changes on a global basis. To test these ideas, my students and I are developing reconstructions of past glaciation in the mountains of New Zealand, South America, the western U.S.A., Norway, and Maine. I am also working with climate scientists at the University of Arizona to explore these climate questions using state-of-the-art 'earth system models'. Altogether, I hope that this collaborative effort will afford insight into the underlying behavior of Earth's climate during the recent geologic past, and allow us to ascertain whether these dynamics may be operative in today's warming world.

What is your favorite (or one of your favorite) memory from MSSM?:

I have fond memories of going for long runs in the Limestone area and running loops around Trafton Lake in the fall (as training for the cross country team).

What class/teacher most sticks out in your mind?:

I appreciated all of my instructors at MSSM. They were all very patient with me. I also appreciated the diversity of classes that were available. I benefited greatly from physics, which prepared me well for college. But I am also grateful that I had the opportunity to take an art class, play music in the jazz band, and study anthropology and the environmental sciences, among other opportunities.    

If you could go back in time, what would you tell your past self as you prepare for MSSM?:

I would tell myself to stay focused.

What role did MSSM play in who or where you are now?:

MSSM played an important role in what I am doing now. In his anthropology class, Mark Tasker introduced us to hypotheses for rapid climate change that were being studied by researchers at the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute. That always stuck with me. I then ended up doing my graduate work at UMaine studying these same concepts. I am now encouraging my graduate students at UMaine to think creatively about the same climate puzzles.

What is the best book/movie/tv show you can recommend to your fellow alumni?:

It's very hard to choose just one! Book: The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen