“Getting out in nature gives you a greater understanding and passion for protecting the environment because you realize how special it is,” Sienna Lightman `28 said. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Lightman is an Earth sciences major with a minor in physics.
Lightman has been involved in research since her first year at the College. Before that, she did research in high school, where she studied microplastics. “I started looking at lab positions when I came to Colby, and I stumbled across Bess Koffman’s lab,” Lightman said. Koffman’s work on ice cores, dust, and volcanic ash piqued her interest in climate science and geochemistry. “I started working for [Koffman] and fell in love with research.”
Lightman recalls a family trip to Iceland during her senior year of high school, when she saw a glacier up close for the first time. “I remember seeing the line of where the glacier was like 20 years ago, and then the line of where the glacier is now, and being absolutely shocked,” she said.
On her trip, she also saw a group of college students conducting fieldwork on the glacier, a pivotal encounter. “I did not even know [glacier research] was an option, and, in that moment, I thought to myself, ‘I wanna do something like this with my life.’”
Two summers ago, Lightman joined the Wrangell Mountain Field Studies program in Alaska’s Wrangell–St. Elias National Park & Preserve, where she conducted glaciological research. The program deepened her interest in glacier dynamics and geophysics and led her to pursue a physics minor. This past summer, she returned to Alaska for the nine-week Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP), spending seven weeks traversing the icefield between Juneau, Alaska, and Atlin, British Columbia, Canada.
“I worked with something called ground-penetrating radar, which is known as GPR, as well as satellite methods and GPS methods, and studied ice velocity movements,” Lightman said. “I also got to learn a lot of mountaineering skills, like how to rescue people from crevasses and navigate ice falls.”
Sarah Kirincich `29, a current sophomore at the College, also participated in the program: “JIRP was an incredible and life-changing experience! Learning to telemark ski and navigate crevassed terrain, as well as drill ice cores and analyze ecological succession on nunataks in a place unlike any other is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Kirincich said.
At the College, Lightman continues her research on unusual findings in ice cores: small mineral grains near the bottom of the samples. She hopes to examine their microscopic textures, determine where the grains originated, and see whether they could affect how researchers date the ice cores. “I am going to be presenting my research at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco this December; I am really excited,” she said.
Lightman credits Colby’s tight-knit community with helping her seek these opportunities. “I think it’s so incredible that I was able to find research as a freshman,” she said. “If students are passionate, at Colby, they can kind of do what they want to do.”
“Fieldwork is about more than just collecting data,” Lightman said. She sees time outdoors as foundational to understanding and helping our environment. She encourages others to practice “Leave No Trace” principles, leaving nature as they found them — or better.
Lightman plans to pursue a Ph.D. and build a career in glaciology and geophysics. Her ambitions extend beyond Alaska: “The end goal is to make it to Antarctica one day.”
~ Summer Woo `28
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