Many collegians bask in sunny, palm-fringed locales during winter breaks.
Not seven adventurous seniors at UCSB, who've just returned from nearly two months of research in the icy waters of Antarctica. In these pinched times, even veteran scientists have trouble getting funding to work at the bottom of the world, but UCSB geophysicist Bruce P. Luyendyk, a firm believer in undergraduate participation in research, didn't let that stop him. Eric Vanek, and Tamara Garcia at Pegasus ice runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, February, 1996. It was here that scientists suspect New Zealand broke off from Antarctica in the split up of the primordial continent known as Gondwanaland some 80 million years ago, but Luyendyk and his young colleagues wanted to find firm proof of that great geophysical divorce on the largely uncharted sea floor. I felt the brains, muscle, and youthful enthusiasm of a few undergraduates would be a terrific addition.