Whether leading a research expedition in the Antarctic or an event his residence hall on the Ingram Commons, there’s a certain way Vanderbilt earth and environmental sciences senior lecturer Dan Morgan wants to be, and that’s optimistic. “I like being an optimist and it’s the students who really help me to be that way,” said Morgan, who is also an associate dean of the College of Arts and Science and faculty head of Memorial House. “I’m surrounded by all these young people who are genuinely trying to make a difference and they're all committed to making this as good of an experience here on campus and in the world as we can.” Morgan and his young family have embraced the uniqueness of living amongst first-year students. “In some ways our boys basically have hundreds of big brothers and sisters to play with now,” said Morgan. “It's almost like a study abroad experience because they're exposed to people from around the world.” CULTIVATING HONEST RELATIONSHIPS Morgan is passionate about cultivating the honest relationships and experiences that have become a hallmark of Vanderbilt’s residential colleges philosophy. Fitting with his research field, Morgan is an avid lover of the outdoors and offers monthly hikes around middle Tennessee with his residents. For those who want to stay closer to Nashville, Memorial House is known for its “S’Memorial” smores-making outside the hall’s front steps. Morgan finds that most students come to campus ready to engage in the Commons social experiment. “Our students are high achievers from so many different places and they’re really interesting people to get to know. But what really strikes me is how much they take care of each other. It's something we always talk about as faculty in terms of building community here. But it's been really exciting to see how invested the students are in making that a big part of their experience here,” said Morgan. (VERY) REMOTE RESEARCH When Morgan isn’t on campus, he’s doing research in some of the most distant areas on the planet, namely deep in the Antarctic. His latest works examines how quickly glaciers and ice sheets retreated in the past to help model how fast glaciers may melt in the future. “In terms of water supplies, we need to be able to predict how much fresh drinking water we're going to be able to get out of glaciers and how that’s going to impact ecosystems as water resources decline.” Morgan collects rocks, ice and sediment and brings them back to the lab for analysis. Often that analysis includes building computer programs to analyze the ancient isotope data. “What's fun about Antarctica is you get really old glacial deposits. So these things that we're bringing back will be in the ballpark of around a million years old. So we actually can see how the ice sheets changed over the last million years,” said Morgan. UNDERGRADUATE IMMERSION With a passion for teaching and mentoring, Morgan has always included undergraduates and graduate students in his expeditions and lab work. His plan is to take at least three undergrads on his next research trip to Antarctica, which will happen over several weeks in 2020. “I like to describe Vanderbilt students as academic omnivores. They really just enjoy learning. They might be doing some engineering, but also play a musical instrument. And perhaps they’re also interested in anthropology and history and language and how this all comes together and impacts our experience in the world today,” said Morgan. Morgan says it’s invigorating to be out in the wilderness doing research, but he embraces an open mind and adventure wherever he goes. “Vanderbilt is not just about coming in and taking classes and moving on to the next thing. It's about taking the time to get to know each other to build a community here, to be optimists. That’s why I’m here.” Follow Vanderbilt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanderbiltu Instagram: http://instagram.com/vanderbiltu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanderbilt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/edu/school?id=19443 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/vanderbilt See all Vanderbilt social media at http://social.vanderbilt.edu.