Nick Brown NSERC PermafrostNet

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I can tell you that I never thought I would be writing code and wrangling data. I remember in grade 8 I filled out an online ‘career preference’ survey for one of my classes and put the lowest preference for any questions about working at a desk or computer. The top suggestion I got back was a roofer.

What was your education journey like? 

At the end of my undergraduate degree, I took a graduate course on ‘permafrost and periglacial environments’ at the University Centre on Svalbard (UNIS); that’s where I got my first exposure to permafrost. A few years later, when contemplating a master’s degree, I was interested in both the modelling and simulation aspects of permafrost research as well as the more traditional, in-the-field approach. I chose to attend Carleton University because of the strong permafrost expertise in both these areas. I left with a solid understanding of the fundamentals of permafrost science and a lot of experience programming and running simulations.  

What do you do now? 

Now, I work as a data scientist with NSERC PermafrostNet, a research network dedicated to improving the understanding of permafrost thaw in Canada. I am building tools to support permafrost modelling and improve data handling. I also research ways to make permafrost data easier to find, access, share, and re-use. The skills and the relationships with people in the permafrost community that I built at Carleton are both essential for the job.

What advice would you give students wanting careers in permafrost related fields?

In between my undergraduate and graduate degrees, I worked in the Northwest Territories (NWT) for a few years. Having the experience outside of academia was a valuable asset during my master’s degree. The time spent living in Yellowknife was also transformative: it helped me build a professional network and understand a how important it is to have northerners involved in or leading the decision-making processes.

What are some of your career highlights?

Right before coming back to do my master’s, I managed the field program for the Slave Province Surficial Materials and Permafrost Study, a multi-stakeholder project involving industry, government and academic partners (including some at Carleton). It was a very nice bridge between the consulting work I was doing in the NWT and the permafrost work I do now, and it allowed me to see the project through from the initial planning phases to the data publication and analysis over the course of many years.

What talents and skills have you cultivated during your career?

I’ve found programming to be a helpful skill for any kind of data analysis, and one that I can look back on and recognize the progress I’ve made, which is a nice feeling. The skill that I think is the most valuable though, and one that I certainly honed when managing field camps, is not taking it personally when things don’t work out for reasons beyond your control. Once, we had a week of ice fog; the helicopter couldn’t fly most of the time, we couldn’t get food in, not a lot of work got done. But that’s the subarctic in September and you’ve just got to do your best.