A professor at Alaska Pacific University, Roman Dial teaches courses in ecology, outdoor skills, and math. He has climbed, hiked, and skied across the major mountain ranges of Alaska. Roman's 800-mile mountain bike traverse of the Alaska Range was featured in the May 1997 issue of National Geographic magazine, his "canopy trek" through Australia in the March 2003 issue, and his expedition to find Borneo's tallest tropical tree in the July 2006 issue.