If Janie Fouke thinks Michigan is cold compared to her native North Carolina, she hasn't seen anything yet.
The College of Engineering dean, left Saturday for the Arctic Circle with a group of students from Bay Mills Community College in Brimley, Mich., a physics professor from Virginia and a NASA scientist.
The team will measure the thickness of sea ice north of Norway, which will allow them to gauge the rate at which polar ice is melting. The area they will study is just a short helicopter ride from the North Pole.
"You can't get that close and not go," Fouke said.
The team will only spend 24 hours at the site.
Fouke, who said she usually packs her bags 10 minutes before she leaves for the airport, started packing early for this trip.
"This time I said, 'This is not a good time to forget something,'" she said.
Fouke said her two adult children are excited for her journey, but her mother is a bit nervous about the trip.
"She was disbelieving," Fouke said.
And she's even had people tell her she's crazy for going.
"I say, 'Yeah, right, you didn't know that already?'" she said.
But Fouke has some concerns.
"I'm a little nervous about being sleep deprived and cold," she said. "This is a huge amount of work to do in a short amount of time."
The average year-round temperature in the Arctic is zero degrees Fahrenheit.
Fouke said she was asked to help conduct the research on the project by NASA officials, who didn't have to do much convincing to get her to sign on.
"I'm a North Carolina farm girl," she said. "I grew up in a setting where people had not traveled and had certainly not gone to college."
She's most excited about the scenery, she said.
"I want to see the sky," she said. "I can't even imagine the brilliance of the stars."
But Sue Carter, executive assistant to MSU President M. Peter McPherson and secretary to the Board of Trustees, said Fouke might not get her chance.
"She'll be in full daylight," Carter said.
Carter recommended Fouke for the program after her own northern travels in 2001.
Friday marked the two-year anniversary since Carter organized the first all-female expedition to the North Pole.
The group of 12 women filmed a documentary and provided curriculum for school classrooms while on the journey.
But the trip will also carry challenges, Carter said.
"I loaned her all of my hand-gear, my neck-overs and head overs," she said. "She's facing some very cold temperatures."
On Carter's 19-day trip, the women skied 75 miles to get to the pole and experienced some of the same conditions Fouke will face, including 24-hour daylight.
"It makes it difficult to sleep," she said. "You have the sensation that the sun moves around your head."
Carter said she hopes more academic programs in the North Pole will arise from Fouke's trip, and possibly a study abroad program.
"I'm delighted I was able to get her over there," she said.
The trip will be broadcast live on the Internet today from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and Thursday from 1:30-3:30 p.m. For information or to view the Web cast, visit www.egr.msu.edu.
