Grace CORDSEN

Grace Cordsen is an explorer, researcher, and environmental storyteller whose work spans the Arctic, Antarctic, and the communities connected to them. She has built an interdisciplinary career across expedition logistics, science communication, sustainability, and conservation, working throughout both Polar Regions as a logistics manager, educational director, researcher, journalist, and expedition leader.

Since graduating from Princeton University, Grace has worked with organizations including the Arctic Research Foundation, Adventure Canada, Smithsonian Student Travel, The Polar Collective, and the GUIDE-BEST consortium. In 2024, she became one of the youngest women to manage a camp in the Antarctic interior, including a visit to the geographic South Pole, before voyaging to the geographic North Pole as a WINGS Flag Carrier and Arctic Research Foundation researcher. Her work explores sustainable tourism, conservation, and the role of storytelling in shaping public understanding of environmental change.

As a journalist and communicator, Grace collaborates with organizations including Climate & Capital, The Polar Collective, and the Arctic Research Foundation to make polar science and conservation accessible to broader audiences. She is also Director of Strategic Impact at Kogia, a nonprofit advancing conservation through visual media, education, and global partnerships, and serves as a United Nations Department of Global Communications Youth Representative through The Explorers Club.

Grace recently completed her Master's in Sustainability Management at Columbia University. In Fall 2026, she will begin a PhD in Stanford University's Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER), where her research will focus on the environmental and societal impacts of human interaction with the poles and pathways for more sustainable, science-informed exploration.