{"id":21044,"date":"2024-12-06T13:30:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T18:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=21044"},"modified":"2025-01-16T10:04:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:04:43","slug":"antarctic-adventurer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/","title":{"rendered":"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Benjamin<\/a>\n

What do you do if you have diverse interests? You explore them all.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a philosophy that has inspired Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, to study aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado, sail the Atlantic (he has a Coast Guard captain\u2019s license), teach American Sign Language at a school for the deaf, help astronauts hone team-building skills as a longtime instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School, play the cello as part of a band, and even rig an automatic door opener for his parents\u2019 chicken coop.<\/p>\n

But reading Endurance<\/em>, an account of Ernest Shackleton\u2019s ill-fated voyage to Antarctica that began in 1914 and left the explorer and his crew stranded on the ice in 1915, rebooted everything and seeded a lifelong love affair with the continent.<\/p>\n

Since 2006, Urmston has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program. On his first deployment, he served as a general assistant. \u201cWe were just grunt workers\u2026shoveling snow, cleaning dishes, working in the wastewater treatment plant,\u201d Urmston remembers.<\/p>\n

About a decade later, intent on getting a stronger background in electronics and electrical engineering, Urmston turned to the Whiting School\u2019s<\/a> Engineering for Professionals<\/a> (EP) program to earn his master\u2019s degree in electrical and computer engineering.<\/p>\n

He moved on to work at McMurdo as an electronics and solar power technician. In September, he embarked on another five-month rotation, this time as the field training supervisor, managing a group of six field safety coordinators who support and train scientists on base. During limited spare time while deployed, he skate skis and is a member of a rock band, IcePatch, a cover of his brother\u2019s well-known indie\/roots band, Dispatch.<\/p>\n

Urmston enjoys building solutions, the scrappier the better. For an EP course led by oceanographer David Porter<\/a>, who teaches in the Applied Physics<\/a> program, Urmston built a remote temperature monitoring array for a skating pond. And on one of the Antarctic program’s research ships, he rigged a display for a depth meter using 3D printing and assorted parts. \u201cIt\u2019s the creative activity of electronics I like so much,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Engineering has taught him problem-solving for mistakes\u2014which inevitably happen. \u201cI try to incorporate that philosophy in my life; if something is broken, let\u2019s fix it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Urmston\u2019s wanderlust is striking again. The destination this time: outer space. Is being a NASA astronaut next on his career bingo card? \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d he laughs. \u201cMy application is in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":21188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","issue-winter-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAntarctic Adventurer\u2014and More - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-06T18:30:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T15:04:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DSC03841.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DSC03841.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\"},\"headline\":\"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-06T18:30:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-16T15:04:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":422,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-06T18:30:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-16T15:04:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\"},\"description\":\"Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg\",\"width\":534,\"height\":395,\"caption\":\"Benjamin Urmston\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/antarctic-adventurer\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\",\"name\":\"Steve James\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve James\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More - JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2024-12-06T18:30:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-16T15:04:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DSC03841.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve James","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DSC03841.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve James","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve James","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815"},"headline":"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More","datePublished":"2024-12-06T18:30:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-16T15:04:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/"},"wordCount":422,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg","articleSection":["Alumni"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/","name":"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-06T18:30:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-16T15:04:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815"},"description":"Since 2006, Benjamin Urmston, MS \u201919, has deployed to Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station 10 times through the National Science Foundation\u2019s United States Antarctic program.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/DSC03841-e1732120458812.jpg","width":534,"height":395,"caption":"Benjamin Urmston"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/antarctic-adventurer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Antarctic Adventurer\u2014and More"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815","name":"Steve James","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","caption":"Steve James"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21044"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22036,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044\/revisions\/22036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}