Ryan Wallace

Born and raised in the mountains of Colorado, Ryan completed his Physics degree with a minor in Astrophysics at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 2000. With a passion for travel, education, and exploration, Ryan began work as a research assistant for a professor in the rare field of Archeoastronomy – the study of how astronomy has been used in various cultures throughout time.

This work took him on multiple research expeditions to the Asian regions of Nepal, India, and Tibet. It was in the desolate regions of Tibet where Ryan began fostering a desire to pursue his childhood dream of working in the Antarctic. Finishing his work in the Himalayas, Ryan continued on as an onsite manager of a guest ranch in the San Juan mountains of Colorado, and also as a mountain guide, outdoor educator, and camp director for an outdoor ranch in the Collegiate Peaks of the Saguache Range.

The call to the Antarctic came shortly after he completed his first ultramarathon in Leadville, Colorado, and he found himself propelled into an environment beyond his wildest imagination. Ryan began his Antarctic career in 2003 as a Carpenter's helper at Palmer Station on Anvers Island along the Antarctic Peninsula.

He returned to the Antarctic the following austral summer, this time as a Field Coordinator at McMurdo station, where he supported and guided scientists in the field regions around Ross Island and the nearby Dry Valleys. Ryan returned to Palmer Station, and in 2006, settled into his largest role in the U.S. Antarctic Program as the station's Boating Coordinator, facilitating the various Zodiac marine operations by the grantees of the National Science Foundation.