Professionnals
Communication Officer
Marie-Christine Lafrenière, PhD.
Communication Officer · FROST
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (CA)
Marie-Christine is a postdoctoral researcher at the Université de Montréal, where she studies how metals bioaccumulate in plankton from lakes affected by forest fires. She is also the host of Les Lucioles, a French-language podcast that highlights environmental research. Part-time, she works with FROST as a Communication Officer, updating the website (hi!), and helping researchers share their work with the public through creative initiatives that make science fun, engaging, and accessible, along with a range of behind-the-scenes tasks.
mclafren (at) uqac.ca
Researcher
Eirik Haugstvedt Henriksen, PhD.
Researcher · Akvaplan Niva (NO)
In addition to his role as a researcher at Akvaplan-niva, he is an Associate Professor II at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Within FROST, he contributes to Module 2, conducting year-round fieldwork in northern Norway. His research focuses on seasonality and long-term changes in fish and parasite populations.
ehh (at) akvaplan.niva.no
Lab technician
Crysta Rhainds, MSc.
Lab technician · Milla Rautio Aquatic Laboratory
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (CA)
As part of the FROST project, I coordinate the preparation and distribution of materials to collaborators across the Northern Hemisphere. I oversee the reception and processing of fatty acid samples, which are analyzed by Milla Rautio’s aquatic laboratory, and I support FROST students throughout their analytical work, offering guidance and expertise. In addition, I contribute to fieldwork organization, managing equipment preparation, packing, and logistical planning to ensure smooth operations both in the lab and in the field.
Research Assistant
Vegar Seljestokken
Research Assistant · Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) (NO)
Postdocs
Postdoc
Thomas Pitot, PhD.
Postdoctorate researcher
Rautio aquatic laboratory (Milla Rautio) and Microbial Heritage Lab (Catherine Girard)
UQAC and ULaval (CA) ·
Thomas is a FROST postdoctoral researcher at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), where his research focuses on the role of microbial and viral communities in Arctic lake ecosystems. His work aims to characterize, using sequence data and bioinformatics approaches, the diversity and functions of under-ice microbiomes, and to understand their links to oxygen dynamics, carbon fluxes, and the nutritional quality of aquatic resources. He is also committed to FAIR principles and best practices in data management, and is actively involved in data management for the FROST project.
thomas.pitot.1 (at) ulaval.ca
Postdoc
Pedro Freitas, PhD.
Postdoctorate researcher
Chemistry Dpt. of Université Laval (Ca) and Centro de Estudos Geográficos · Laboratório Associado TERRA · Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território, Universidade de Lisboa (PT)
Coming soon!
pedro-antonio.faria-freitas.1 (at) ulaval.ca
Students
PhD
Mukund Gauthankar
(Milla Rautio) · UQAC (CA) and
Microbial Heritage Lab (Catherine Girard) · ULaval (CA)
Mukund Ramesh Gauthankar is a member of FROST’s Module 1 – Ice, Snow & Lake Dynamics. His research at Greiner Lake (Cambridge Bay, Nunavut) integrates physical limnology with microbial and molecular approaches to unravel how climate-driven changes in ice, light, and oxygen regulate carbon flow and trophic transfer efficiency in High Arctic lakes. Drawing on extensive multi-year sensor records (2017–present) alongside isotopic and community data, he examines how variations in ice type and duration influence under-ice productivity and the lake’s year-round functioning. Through FROST, his work contributes to circumpolar collaborations that combine scientific insight and Indigenous knowledge to better understand and sustain northern freshwater ecosystems in a rapidly warming Arctic.
mrgauthank (at) etu.uqac.ca
Ph.D
Xingyu Zhao
Cryosphere Laboratory (Laura Brown) IG
University of Toronto (CA)
Xingyu's research and professional interests centre on integrating polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR/PolInSAR) and thermal radiation modelling to quantify lake ice thickness, energy balance, and seasonal phenology in northern cold-region environments, with the broader goal of improving our understanding of cryospheric responses to climate variability.
Xingyu will be contributing to Module 1 - Ice, Snow and Lake Dynamics, through his field work contributions, focused on monitoring ice phenology and thickness, as well as determining seasonal ice phenology using space-based technologies.
xingy.zhao (at) mail.utoronto.ca
MSc.
Félix Cloutier-Artiwat
Aquatic Geochemistry Group · (Raoul-Marie-Couture)
Université Laval (CA)
Félix's research focuses on the sulfur cycle and its impacts on the other biogeochemical cycle and microbial communities in the context of a longer ice-free period of Arctic lakes. His work aims to identify the processes that control the distribution of sulfur chemical species in the water column and sediments of Arctic lakes. He was involved in the FROST project for the sampling of Small Lake, on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, Canada, which is also one of his study sites. He led the first FROST sampling campaign at this lake to collect and process water samples, zooplankton and benthic macroinvertebrates, and to install a mooring equipped with sensors to obtain year-round data.
felix.cloutier-artiwat.1 (at) ulaval.ca
MSc.
Helena Syrjänen
Helena is is a part of Module 3 - Traditional Ecological Knowledge, conducting ethnographic research on Finnish Arctic fishers.
Her work explores local knowledge, practices, and experiences within Arctic fishing communities through interviews and field observations.
Supervised by Dr. Minna Turunen at the Arctic Centre, Finland, their research contributes to a deeper understanding of human-environment interactions in northern livelihoods.
helena.syrjanen (at) tuni.fi
PhD
Thanuri Kasthuri Arachchi
Coming soon!
tkarachchi (at) etu.uqac.ca
MSc.
Sara Masure
Rautio Aquatic Laboratory · (Milla Rautio)
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (CA)
Coming soon!
smasure (at) etu.uqac.ca
MSc.
Riley Forth
Riley is a part of Module 1 · Ice, Snow and Lake Dynamics, where she is investigating the processes that impact ice-off timing of High Arctic lakes.
In particular, she is analyzing the role that lake morphometry plays in ice break-up phenology. She supports the Frost Project by participating in summer field campaigns (May, August) in Resolute, Nunavut, which include servicing remote cameras to monitor ice persistence year-round, deploying equipment like a Shallow Water Ice Profiler to measure full-season ice thickness, and manually measuring near-maximum ice thickness on several lakes through drilling.
riley.forth (at) mail.utoronto.ca
MSc.
Jessica Verreault
Aquatic Bio-optics and Biogeochemistry Laboratory (Isabelle Laurion)
INRS-Centre ETE, (CA)
Jessica is taking part in Module 2 - food webs. She will study the lake and climatic conditions that led to the mass fish mortality event that occurred in Lake Tasikallak in 2002. The focus of her research is to understand the environmental processes that led to this event and how Arctic ecosystems respond to perturbations in the context of climate change.
She supports FROST by participating in multi-season field campaigns at Lake Tasikallak, allowing the collection of year-round data collection. This includes sampling the lake in summer and winter to assess the quality of the Arctic char habitat
jessica.verreault (at) inrs.ca
PhD
Théo Fritz
Aquatic Bio-optics and Biogeochemistry Laboratory (Isabelle Laurion)
INRS-Centre ETE, (CA)
Coming soon!
MSc.
Félix Lauzon
Rautio Aquatic Laboratory L· (Milla Rautio)
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi(CA)
As part of Module 2 · Food webs, Félix contributes to the Cambridge Bay, Canada, study site, investigating the year-round functioning of Arctic lake ecosystems. He participates in multi-season field campaigns (April, August, November), supporting logistics, ice drilling, and the collection of benthic macroinvertebrates, zooplankton, and water samples, along with in situ measurements. He also assists with laboratory processing to prepare samples for shipment to specialized labs worldwide for chemical and biological analyses. In this role, he serves as both a field and lab technician, ensuring the collection and preparation of high-quality data that advance the project’s research on winter lake ecology.
felix.lauzon (at) gmail.com
MSc.
Ernest Groh
Ernest is part of Module 1 · Ice, Snow, and Lake Dynamics. His research focuses on understanding how climate change influences the freeze–thaw cycles of High Arctic lake ice.
By conducting two field expeditions each year, he examines the microclimate conditions that drive ice formation and decay, and how these factors determine whether white or black ice develops. He also evaluates whether projections of increased white ice formation in Resolute, NU, are realistic under changing climate conditions.
His contributions to the FROST Project include fieldwork involving ice drilling, sonar and weather station deployments, and the maintenance of the High Arctic Lake Ice Observation Network, which monitors lake conditions through remote surveillance cameras.
MSc.
Silas Peters
Jarislowsky Chair in Sustainable Water Futures (Heidi Swanson)
Wilfrid Laurier University, (CA)
Silas is part of Module 2 - Food Webs. With their supervisor, Dr. Heidi Swanson and the community of Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay) Nunavut, they will be examining how mercury moves through Arctic food webs, with an emphasis on the effects of mercury contamination on Arctic char.
Silas is passionate about community involvement and weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western knowledge to understand changes in Arctic ecosystems. They are eager to contribute to the research done by FROST, drawing from their wealth of experience in community ecology, limnology, and remote field work.
silas.mlpeters (at) gmail.com