Alumni Profiles

Charting the Last Great Global Warming:
What our ice-age past can tell us
about our climate future
Friday April 4, 2025 7:00 pm
Boothby Auditorium, 95 High Street, Limestone, ME

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

Current Name:

Andy Whitman

Graduation Year and years at MSSM:

After 4 long winters, I graduated in 2015

Hometown/Sending School:

Holden, Maine

Where did you go after MSSM?

Where didn’t I go it seems, I could never make up my mind! Immediately after MSSM I did my freshman year at Penn State studying mechanical engineering. Pretty quickly I realized that wasn’t the spot for me, so I transferred to Boston University where I finished out my degree. After college I didn’t really want to find a place to live, so I took a job designing research submarines - I got to live on a research ship for weeks at a time, popping in to port every so often! I had a blast sailing up and down the pacific.

What are you doing now?

I started a company a few years ago, Seaport Systems, so that I could democratize access to oceanographic data. I design and fabricate small sensing buoys that monitor water quality and can help people like oyster farmers, researchers and search and rescue teams. I live in Boston, so when I’m not working it’s usually pretty easy to get into trouble! I love watching the Red Sox at Fenway, riding The T, and jaywalking.

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

During the winter of my freshman year, the Kickstarter for Cards Against Humanity came out, and they sent a PDF of all the cards you could print. Soooo, some friends and I all went to Staples on mall trip and had the store clerk print off the 50 or so pages, filled with some of the most terribly hilarious and complete heinous things we’d ever read. We sat there for the better part of 2 hours, cutting the cards out, reading them for the first time and laughing hysterically while the cashier grew increasingly worried about us. That’s not even the funniest thing to have happened or been purchased on mall trip, but was really a formative memory of mine.

What class/teacher most sticks out in your mind?

The Mike Lambert/Jen Brophy engineering duo remains truly undefeated. I took Intro. to Engineering with them both in my junior year before taking Mechanics with Mike Lambert my senior year. I’ve got so many memories of those two teaching… Intro Engineering was true chaos and they were just completely out of pocket in the best way. To the untrained eye, it might have looked like a disaster at times, but it was the most realistic preparation for engineering I received at any level of education. To this day, the lessons I learned from them have been some of the most impactful and important in my career, and I had an absolute blast the whole time.

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

Let me preface this by saying: I have no regrets about my life, or the (mis)-adventures that got me to where I am today.

I’d probably tell myself to look past college and figure out what was truly important to me in life. I always felt that college was the only path forward, when it’s actually just a means to an end: a prosperous, fruitful,  and happy existence. I’d known pretty much my whole life that building things was what truly made me happy. An engineering degree is a fine way to pursue that, but so is an apprenticeship at a machine shop, or certificate from a trade school!

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

The independence MSSM afforded has had unbounded effects on who I am. My parents dropped me off on High Street when I was 13 and I spent all of high school and nearly every summer in The County, either playing baseball or working at Summer Camp. Pretty much every ounce of growth and growing up I’ve done was within Limestone city limits. The responsibility and accountability the school taught me has made me a better business owner; and the incredible community of students, staff and alumni taught me how to be unapologetically myself.

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

Book: Build: An Unorthodox Guide To Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell; Movie: Smokey and the Bandit; TV Show: Clarkson’s Farm

 

Current Name:

Rebecca (Barter) Crane

Graduation Year and years at MSSM:

2005 after 3 years at MSSM

Hometown/Sending School:

Gray New Gloucester High School

Where did you go after MSSM?:

After MSSM, I moved to California to get a Bachelors in Engineering and Applied Science with a focus in Computational Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). I spent time working at various software companies then entered into the medical device field and have worked at companies that design and manufacture cochlear implants, vagus nerve stimulators, and insulin pumps.

What are you doing now?:

I'm the Head of Quality at iota Biosciences, a medical device company pioneering Class III implantable bioelectronic solutions across a range of medical therapies and diagnostics.

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

One of my favorite memories is exploring the nearby fields and town of Limestone with friends, often stopping to get a Jones Soda from the store in town.

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

I'd have to say both Pete Pedersen and Deborah McGann. I remember their classes as infused with a natural, unapologetic joy for math and science. They provided an advanced glimpse into their respective fields, fostering my drive to learn even more.

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

While at MSSM, I embraced the opportunity as an important time in life to grow and to learn from colleagues and amazing staff. However, it was a big step at a difficult time for my family. For those reasons, I would tell myself to trust myself and my family that it was the right decision.

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

If I hadn't seen the MSSM informational pamphlet in my local library, I can confidently say I wouldn't be where I am today. MSSM played a critical role in opening the doors that got me to where I am now.

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

I'd recommend The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach by Christof Koch, which talks about the neuronal correlation to consciousness and understanding subjective experiences.

 

Current Name:  

Lynn Ward (she/her)

Name while at MSSM:

Lynn Laweryson

Graduation Year and years at MSSM?

Graduated in 2001, Fall of 99-Spring 01

Hometown/Sending School:

Valley High School in Bingham, Maine

Where did you go after MSSM?

I started college at University of Maine and a weird series of life events had me finish my social work degree at Florida Atlantic University. I worked my way through part time, and it took me about 7 years to make it through college. I then went to law school at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. I started my career as a lawyer as a public defender in Fort Collins, Colorado in November of 2011 and practiced there for just over six years before moving home to Maine in  January of 2018.

What are you doing now?

I am an attorney for low income Mainers at Pine Tree Legal Assistance's Lewiston office. I mostly defend tenants in eviction cases, but do other housing stability work as well.

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

One of my most vivid memories was when we went out to look at the sky in astronomy class with Mr. Berz. I knew he thought I was the class underachiever when he asked me to find the moon when everyone else was given constellations.

What class/teacher most sticks out in your mind?

I loved taking political geography with Mr. Tasker. I became a lot more aware of current events (whoa expanded world view!) and learned to think more critically about the US's role in world politics.

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

Roll up your sleeves and do more homework. I had not built good study habits at my sending school and really was behind the 8 ball on work ethic in school. I was not fully prepared to be challenged, and I definitely was.

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

I had a pretty highly structured home life before going to MSSM. MSSM was the first real opportunity for me to have to confront natural consequences for staying up too late or not working hard enough to prepare for a test. I learned a lot about the importance of really committing to something and seeing it through. I also developed better critical thinking skills which I use in my work every day.

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