vailsymposium

Caroline Van Hemert is an Alaskan writer, adventurer and wildlife biologist whose journeys have taken her from the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean to the swamps of the Okavango Delta. She is the author of “The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000-mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds,” the gripping story of a biologist’s journey from Washington State to high above the Arctic Circle to rediscover birds, the natural world and her own love of science. She recently received the 2019 Banff Mountain Book Competition award for Adventure Travel. Her writing has also been featured in the New York Times, Audubon, Los Angeles Times and Outside.

She received a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an M.A. in creative writing from Western Washington University and has worked for various universities, NGOs and government agencies. She is currently a research biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center and studies wildlife health in the north. When she’s not traveling, she divides her time between a remote off-the-grid cabin in southeast Alaska and a cozy home in downtown Anchorage, where she lives with her husband and two young sons.