Dr. Priscu is MUS Regents Professor and polar ecologist studies the microbial ecology of icy ecosystems on Earth and beyond. He serves as co-director of the MSU Subzero Science and Engineering Research Facility, has been a PI on the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project for 26 years, served as chief scientist on the WISSARD (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) project, and currently serves as the chief scientist for the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Scientific Access (SALSA) project that will explore the hidden world beneath the Antarctic ice sheet in December 2018. Priscu was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2010, and in 2012 he received the International Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research. During his tenure at MSU, Priscu has led numerous international research expeditions, including traveling to the Antarctic to study lakes across the continent every year for the past 35 years, and his graduate students are recognized as the next generation of leaders in cold science. The initial discovery of microscopic life in the subglacial Antarctic waters was named one of the top science stories of 2013 by Discover magazine. In addition to his work in Antarctica, Priscu is currently working on projects in Greenland and the Himalaya, the latter of which he refers to as the third pole. He is also actively involved in the search for life on Mars and the ocean worlds in the outer Solar System and is a member of working groups for the Mars 2020 and Europa Clipper missions. See attached flyer for more details on this event.