Polar Exposition

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When professor Stephanie Pfirman tells her students at Barnard College what it takes to succeed as a polar explorer, she does so with the deep knowledge of one who has triumphed. Still, she acknowledges that it's tougher for women.

The veteran of arctic adventuring points to an episode when she spent one month as the lone female aboard a small boat with 30 explorers as an example of just how much males dominate the discipline.

It can be difficult for women to even get into the field, which adds another obstacle en route to either pole.

But on March 10, when Pfirman helps kick off New York City's two-day celebration of International Polar Year (IPY), she'll be hoping at least a few more femmes follow her lead. The event, which will be held at Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History, includes lectures, performances and film shows by top Arctic and Antarctic scientists, as well as an interactive science fair.

"I'm really trying to get them to be more adventurous," says Pfirman of her women students. "What I'm trying to teach them is leadership, and how to make the most of different situations."

So how will aspiring adventurers know if they've got the stuff to be the next Ernest Shackleton, the famed (but thwarted) explorer of the South Pole from the early 20th century?

Well, they could take the short 30-question quiz offered at the polar fair, says Debika Shome, assistant director at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at New York's Columbia University. Perhaps not coincidentally, Shome was one of Pfirman's former Barnard students.

The test, which Shome will be administering both days of the fair, measures attitudes toward risk in several facets of life.

"People who do polar exploring are usually recreational risk takers," Shome notes.

To view Simon Constable's video take of today's Good Life segment, click here.