Peace at the poles is an important economic and security issue that has been negotiated for decades. Recent tensions over resources and sea routes challenge these historic treaties. Ray Arnaudo will examine the history of Arctic and Antarctic international agreements and why the polar regions are crucial to the security and economic interests of the United States and the world.

Ray Arnaudo was the lead U.S. State Department negotiator during the early period of polar cooperation. He was the chair of the Arctic Council, the president of the American Polar Society, and a senior scholar at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He currently serves on the National Science Foundation Polar Affairs Advisory Committee and teaches at various institutes, where he infuses his well-documented presentations with humorous points—like why the black penguins go up the hill and the white ones come down. Mount Arnaudo in the Antarctic is named for him.