Featured Members
Table of Contents
Karen Ronne Tupek
Karen is a former architect and historic preservation officer and has been a SWG member since 1995. She is based in Bethesda, Maryland and Florida. She is also the proud daughter of former SWG President Jackie Ronne.
JK: As the only child of famous Antarctic explorers Jackie and Finn Ronne and the granddaughter of Martin Rønne who worked with Roald Amundsen and Admiral Richard Byrd at both poles, you have spent a significant part of your life protecting their legacy.
KRT: My grandfather Martin and father Finn were extraordinary Antarctic explorers in their own right and acclaimed in their native Norway. My father immigrated to the U.S. where he continued his exploration on a total of four overwintering expeditions, culminating in leading his own 1946-48 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition that my mother Jackie joined, becoming the first American woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent. Despite also being the first woman to be a working member of an overwintering expedition, my mother was never fully recognized for her accomplishments including serving as scientific research assistant, as well as being the official historian and recorder, writing most of the articles and reports about the expedition for worldwide distribution. Jackie was also a partner in the expedition planning and worked behind the scenes with my father to ensure the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (1946-48) was a success. I feel it is my job to tell their story and keep the Ronne family name in the public arena of Antarctic history, so that they will be remembered for their achievements. I have spent most of my adult life dealing with sorting, cataloging and placing the papers, photos and memorabilia associated with their careers, as well as lecturing and promoting (through writings, interviews, etc.) their stories. I continue to promote their legacy.
JK: Four generations of your family have travelled to Antarctica and you inherited your parent’s love for this continent. What does Antarctica mean to you?
Exploring Antarctica is my family’s heritage. From early childhood, at social events and around the dinner table, much discussion revolved around the Antarctic and the many people involved in exploring it. Two thrills of my lifetime occurred in 1995 and 1997. On my first trip there with my mother, we both had tears in our eyes as we set foot on Stonington Island and visited the buildings at East Base that had been constructed by my father in 1939 for the US Antarctic Service Expedition. East Base on Stonington Island was the site of the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition and it is where my mother later spent 15 months making history while contributing to the expedition’s success as historian, recorder, and scientific assistant. My mother and I toured the buildings as she recounted to me many of her memories; being there brought her amazing stories to life. Two years later, I was thrilled to once again go to the Antarctic with my husband and two children, introducing them to the special place that is so important in their family heritage. Both were very emotional and special trips.
JK: You worked as an historic preservation officer and architect for the Department of Veteran Affairs for over thirty years. Which one project made your heart sing?
As the Federal Historic Preservation Officer (and architect) for the Department of Veterans Affairs, I was involved with all aspects of cultural resource management, including identifying and nominating to the National Register of Historic Places nationwide properties, working with all projects affecting historic buildings and districts, directing activities to comply with federal regulations and designing museums. Included were specific studies of geographical influences on location, siting and regional architectural styles of the early hospital buildings across the country.
One project that meant the most to me was literally saving the historic landmark, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. I became involved when the Cemetery directory sought to replace the sculptural marble monument honoring the nation’s unknown war heroes. VA was asked to buy the new marble. I enlisted all relevant federal, state and national preservation organizations, veterans’ groups and ultimately Congress to halt the project and save that iconic national landmark.
JK: You and your mother were responsible for bestowing the SWG Ronne Award for Antarctic Research or Exploration. Why should women give to women’s organizations like SWG?
My mother loved SWG and the diversity of its women members. It played a significant role in her social and professional life, and she often called her SWG friends “my gang.” She was proud and honored to serve as President for three years, when she established the Florida chapter with her dear friend Kay Sweeney. When planning her will, she wanted to donate something to SWG and set up an award in her name to recognize future SWG members who pursued exploration of the Antarctic continent, which played such an important role in her life.
Today, women still gain much from associating with other similarly minded women who have achieved accolades in their fields and have traveled to interesting places. SWG is an embracing group for sharing women’s stories.
Barbara Bond
Barbara Bond is a distinguished British cartographer who has had an extraordinary career. She has been a SWG member since 1987.
JK: Your lengthy career began in cartographic research in the Ministry of Defense. You’ve held the positions of British Liaison Officer with the U.S. Defense Mapping Agency and later, Director and Deputy Chief Executive of the U.K. Hydrographic Office. From the beginning, were there many other women in this field who also ascended the ranks to senior-levels?
BB: I was the first woman to be appointed to either post. I did not find the apparent dearth of women in senior posts in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) surprising, certainly at that time when both the UK armed forces and the MoD were male-dominated. I encountered misogyny and sexism on occasion and found that the best approach was to laugh and not be seen to be upset by it. I like to think my gender made me a better manager of people and enabled me to give practical assistance and encouragement to other women. I was very fortunate that the man heading the Research Group in which I spent much of my early career was a total egalitarian. He championed practical issues such as flexible hours and part-time employment and was the one person who ensured that I had the career I was capable of.
JK: You turned your 2014 PhD thesis into a book entitled, Great Escapes: The Story of MI9’s Second World War Escape and Evasion Maps (HarperCollins, 2015). Apart from your professional background in this field, why did this aspect of military mapping capture your attention?
BB: As a young researcher in MoD, I had been given the task of identifying and organizing the record set of WWII escape and evasion maps produced by MI9 for deposit in the UK National Archives. The maps were printed on fabric, usually silk or rayon. I found them intriguing and became fascinated by the story of their production and of MI9’s role in aiding Prisoners of War (PoWs), both British and American, to escape from captivity in Europe and with the help of the French Resistance (often women rather than men as they appeared less suspicious) return safely to the UK. Almost 36,000 British and American PoWs escaped back to the UK before the Allies liberated the camps in 1945. My interest also stemmed from the fact that I had been born during WWII and my father had fought in the frontline in Europe.
JK: You are a past trustee of MapAction, an agency which enables organizations to use maps and data to assist in humanitarian work.
BB: Map Action is a UK based charity with a global reach, operating under the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The charity operates mainly in areas of natural disasters, e.g. floods, pandemics, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes. Essentially it provides real time mapping in the field to underpin the work of all the other aid agencies operating in the area. The volunteers are all young people who are data analysts, GIS or software specialists in their day job so know about creating geo-spatial data and depicting it in a clear and usable way: they are released by their companies to do this humanitarian work in the field for 1 or 2 weeks at a time. They receive training to operate in disaster areas and they carry their technology in their back packs with them. Helping to ensure they received the best possible support in the field, raising funds for the charity and seeing the extent to which all the other aid agencies welcomed their presence and support was an extremely rewarding experience for me.
JK: You’ve served as President of the British Cartographic Society and received that organization’s silver medal. In 2017, you were inducted into the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Hall of Fame – only the second British person to be so honoured. You received the Prince Albert I medal from HSH Prince Rainier of Monaco and the MBE from HRH the Prince of Wales, now HM King Charles III. What accomplishment do you hold closest to your heart and why? What do you consider to be your legacy?
BB: It was a privilege to receive each of the awards. If I have to choose one, it has to be induction into the US National Geospatial Intelligence Hall of Fame where my photograph hangs alongside the only other Brit to be so honoured: we are both women, the other being a heroine of mine from WWII who I met when attending a conference in DC in 1986. It was an honour to be nominated by former US colleagues and to have present both my daughter and a close friend from SWG too: it was a truly memorable occasion.
Amy Greeson
An award-winning documentarian, accomplished author and Explorers Club Fellow, Amy Greeson has been an SWG member since 2020. In 2023, she won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina.
JK: You trained as a pharmacist and worked for the public health service in Alaska as well as in your family’s pharmacy in North Carolina for many years. What lead you to travel abroad to search out Indigenous cultures and plant-based medicines?
AG: As a pharmacist, I watched people battle horrific diseases and conditions for which we had no known cures. Beginning in the early 1990’s, I also trained and learned about natural treatments and therapies- not only as teas, tinctures and topicals, but also their impact on modern pharmaceuticals. Over 50% of pharmaceuticals have their origins in nature, and those have resulted from the study of merely 5% of the known species of life on Earth. We haven’t even begun to understand our world and the value of its life forms.
After years of witnessing the struggles of so many, and feeling completely helpless, I decided that I had to at least try to do something. So, I decided to search for the treatments myself. I had no idea what I was doing … I never imagined the failures that would be encountered along the way… but I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for taking that path.
JK: You’ve trekked in remote locations in Belize, Ecuador, Peru, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of the Congo. Could you share a transformative experience?
AG: Destinations and specific regions were chosen because we sought areas that had no previous records of outsiders. The Congo was by far the most difficult trek our team ever did. During the two months, we were arrested several times and taken to jail twice. And then, once we entered the jungle (considered an undocumented region), we found it nearly unbearable. Swarms of bees enveloped us multiple times a day, crawling all over us. Water supplies ran out and our team of ten became severely dehydrated. (Our satellite images had shown tributaries for restocking, but they all turned out to be dried creek beds). Our trackers, known as two of the best in the area, kept getting lost as the canopy was so thick and there were no signs of the location of the sun.
The surprising part was that not once did we cross paths with an indigenous group or person, or even see signs of human life.
Of all the fourteen plus treks I have done in jungles, this one impacted my life the most. I discovered that even seemingly impossible hurdles, even those where death is a possible outcome, can be overcome with perseverance, grit, teamwork and the right attitude.
JK: Tell us about Healing Seekers and its accomplishments.
AG: Healing Seekers was a 501c3 non profit organization I helped start in 2006. As part of this organization, team members extensively filmed our expeditions, created educational videos and two documentaries. Before the organization was dissolved in 2020, the team received seven Telly Awards and several international film festival awards. Our documentary, “Expedition Congo by Healing Seekers” (which we placed on YouTube not long ago), received nine international and national film festival awards.
JK: What are you currently engaged in?
AG: The plants we collected between 2010 – 2021 for our research company, ‘Natural Discoveries’, were transferred to a research facility at the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in North Carolina. I continue to be available on a volunteer basis to help with further research. I am also heavily involved at the UNC-Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy, where we are creating a medicinal garden and where students are encouraged to think creatively including working with NASA to study drug stability in space.
Thank you, Amy!
Reah Banker
A gifted photographic artist and book designer, Rhea Banker has been a SWG member since 2018. She is also the President for the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst, Massachusetts and the Curator for the Art and Healing Program at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, MA.
JK: You’ve referred to yourself as a cartographer of the earth’s travels rather than a photographer. Tell us a little about how you work and what your goals are?
RB: I have long been an explorer of the Earth’s beginnings and its ever-changing evolution in terms of matter, texture, and color through time. In partnership with my deep time interests, I am also passionate about mapping my emotional responses to the lands I have explored, much like a scientist surveying a new site.
As I have developed methods for expressing my experiences, my resulting “visual voice” is based on a combination of emotional responses to the land, as well as understanding the land’s journey in our universe.
Using photography as a base for my final images, as a way of collecting samples from a site, I apply my own textures, light, and layers to tell a story of time and movement deep within the Earth.
JK: In 2019, you carried the SWG flag when you circled around the Svalbard archipelago under sail photographing the changing environmental conditions. You later said: “In Svalbard, the earth is holding its breath.”
RB: By 2019 when I was in Svalbard, science had shown the reality of global warming. Even though I had seen glaciers in retreat and collapsing mountain chains in other locations, the vast silence one finds in Svalbard gives no hint of the pending collapse now approaching this fragile ecosystem. But hearing the explosion of recent landslides from melting permafrost is like the inevitable exhale of the Earth, demanding to be heard.
JK: Why was being a SWG flag carrier important to you?
RB: As a new member of SWG at the time, I was so inspired by the photos of past members carrying the flag around the world, drawing attention to what women can do for the benefit of the planet, I wanted to do my part to communicate this vital message.
JK: What are you currently working on?
RB: I have just returned from South Greenland where I was exploring the deeply varied geological features of coastal formations. My reactions to the ancient upheavals within these formations will be the basis of a new series.
Wonderful, Rhea! Thank you so much for sharing your work with us!
Sarah Oktay
Former 2020 SWG President and board member Sarah D. Oktay is the new Executive Director of Herring Gut Coastal Science Center in Port Clyde, Maine. With a Ph.D in Chemical Oceanography from Texas A&M University, she has spent over three decades conducting research in related fields.
JK: You have always been involved in important work. After 9-11, you mapped the chemical signature of ash from the World Trade Center in the Hudson River. Tell us a bit about this.
SO: I am a chemical oceanographer and we often use human-made events including disasters as tracers for processes that occur in the environment, such as the circulation of water in harbors and deposition in sediment. The unusual events can be seen in the sediment as obvious anomalies of metals and building materials that normally would not be there. One of the concerns immediately after the attack on the World Trade Center was what type of material was vaporized in the blast (asbestos, carcinogens, etc.) and whether it could be harmful to the environment and to people (through inhalation). We were also trying to predict what areas of the NY/NJ harbor might need to be dredged in the event of a “dirty bomb” event. Thankfully, we did not find huge amounts of asbestos but we did find silica in fiberglass strands and gypsum from drywall. The silica fiberglass strands were predicted to be a possible source of inhalation hazards that could lead to something like “World Trade Center Cough” which turned out to be true. The ash and fire from the WTC spread across parts of the city and was only mitigated by a rainstorm on September 14th. That chemical fingerprint in the sediments of the harbor will be there forever.
JK: You contributed to the textbook, Women of the Wild: Challenging Gender Disparities in Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (Lexington Books, 2022). What challenges have you overcome as a woman working either in the field or in the lab?
For that book chapter, I interviewed about 30 Field Station and Marine Lab directors around the world about the role mentoring played in their success and how important it is to have female mentors. Surprisingly, most of them said that male allies who identified their skills and brought them important opportunities “out of the blue” helped to propel them along. Although they all stated it was important to have a female role model, they found they were able to navigate the science and leadership ladder without that help. Over the years, I have encountered situations in which people come into the lab and cannot fathom that I am the boss and even turn to my husband (educator and maintenance guy) and assume he was the Director. We were happy to correct them. I did experience unsafe situations as a graduate student traveling around the country visiting remote locations to collect water samples. Having a buddy and being aware of those dangers really helped and there are great resources available now to prepare and protect our young people in the field: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01328-5.epdf…
JK You are also a gifted poet who co-hosted ‘Spoken Word, Nantucket’ and wrote the poetry collection, Sifting Light from the Darkness (Noble Fir Press, 2020). How does your work as a scientist and as a poet intersect?
SO: I am always trying to tell the story of science and communicate scientific facts in a way that is accessible, fun, and relevant for all. Poetry can be an excellent tool to describe the deep blue color of the sea, ethereal sea creatures, or impending climate change disasters in a visceral, meaningful, and impactful way. I am married to an excellent poet and we have been involved in hosting poetry venues for many years, so I have been exposed to many fantastic poets who eventually encouraged me to give it a try. I think all of us are capable of using poetry to express ourselves. Poetry works especially well when working with kids doing hands on place-based education as a way for them to summarize their time in Nature. The practice of writing poetry also lets me tap into my creative side. Creative critical thinking is a crucial tool for scientists.
JK: You’ve advocated for place-based learning and the critical need for scientists to communicate effectively with the general public. Why are these two elements so important at this point in history?
SO: Kids crave and thrive on hands-on education. College students describe transformative experiences mucking around a salt marsh, measuring light penetration in the jungle, or sampling soil bacteria deep in the woods. Doing science “in the wild” makes science inviting and real to them. It is critical to save open spaces for research and education so we can document what exists and what is disappearing from our landscapes. I am a big advocate for demystifying science; everyone has the capacity to understand the scientific process of proposing and testing a hypothesis. We have a huge crisis on our hands in mitigating and reducing the causes of climate change. Scientists are recognizing that we need to communicate our fears and the solutions. Colleges are starting to offer classes and, as well, we are seeing new tools from graphic novels to augmented reality to art and the written word that bridge these information gaps. We cannot afford to “hide our light under a bushel.”
JK: What’s on your horizon in 2024?
SO: In my role as Executive Director of the Herring Gut Coastal Science Center, we are dealing with major damage to two of our structures related to climate change and record setting storms in Maine. Thankfully, our main facility is in good shape and we are booked solid with school groups and marine science camps. We are thinking about how to rebuild in a way that honors the Midcoast Maine maritime heritage, teaches kids about the blue economy, and shares the natural history of the coast with tourists.
I also have three more books of essays coming out to continue my series on the natural history of Nantucket and am working on a memoir of finding my father’s family in Turkey in 2015.
Thank you so much, Sarah for sharing your fascinating journey with us!
Pascale Marceau
Welcome to our Second SWG Member Profile of Pascale Marceau from Canada who has been a member since 2020 and a distinguished SWG Flag Carrier in 2021.
When I did a 180 in my life ten years ago, switching from full-time engineering to an unconventional life, I learned to wear many hats. I continuously discover ways to share my time between nature pursuits, consulting in high-risk industries, motivational speaking and introducing people to simple living. I’m learning to trust my intuition in finding equilibrium that allows for good health, fulfilling experiences and financial sustenance. Adjusting one’s outlook and tweaking what balance one truly seeks is an exhilarating (at times bumpy) life-long journey.
My first ascent of Jeanette Peak in British Columbia taught me that if one carves out space to dream and be curious, creativity flows. One can find “exploratory” firsts in your own backyard. My first winter ascent of Mt. Wood in the Yukon showed me that projects in extreme cold environments are about learning systems and mindsets to be comfortable in these situations. If we were suffering, we wouldn’t be doing it! My first all-women ascent of Mt. Lucania in the Yukon was incredibly empowering. In all-women situations, one has no choice but to step up and take the sharp end. This calm confidence carries through so many aspects of life and is truly priceless. I now carry a gentle confidence in the alpine world. It has snuffed out imposter syndrome! I am now a strong proponent of the importance of immersing oneself in all-women experiences. My participation in “Arctic Awe”- seven weeks unsupported in Canada’s High Arctic- was a culmination of the above, with an emphasis on human resilience and adaptability. It also proved the incredible effects of experiencing awe!
Barbara Ganson
Welcome to the first SWG Member Profile of Barbara Ganson who has been a member since 2016.
With a mother who served in the United States Army Air Corps in the Second World War, it was perhaps inevitable that one day I would learn how to fly. As a Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University researching and writing about women in early powered flight, I saw the benefit of experiencing the challenges many of these early women pilots may have faced first-hand. I began taking lessons, qualifying in 2008 after I purchased a 1965 Cessna 172F. In 2012, I portrayed America’s first licensed woman pilot Harriet Quimby in a flight across the English Channel to celebrate the centenary of this aviatrix’s crossing in 1912. I wore a plum-colored satin flight suit based on the photographs and the writings of Harriet Quimby, an international journalist and photographer. I regularly fly today.
There are many topics in the history of women and flight which remain unexplored. More attention needs to be given to women balloonists, airplane mechanics, parachutists and glider pilots. Much attention has been given to Amelia Earhart but there were other women who flew in the early decades of the twentieth century and their stories also merit attention.
Barbara’s upcoming book, “Lady Daredevils: American Women and Early Flight” will be published by the University of Illinois Press.
