I am a glaciologist, planetary scientist and geophysicist, currently stationed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
My research largely centers on debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers. These are landforms containing glacial ice buried under a surface layer of rock and debris. They are found on Earth and Mars and on both planets are valuable sources of fresh water which also provide insights into climate history.
Currently I’m working on an extensive field project on the Kennicott Glacier, a large debris-covered valley glacier in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. I’m investigating the melt of ice buried beneath a surface debris layer, as well as exposed in steep “ice cliffs” commonly found on debris-covered glaciers.
I’m also a participant in Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) on Mars, a collaborative project in which we aim to comprehensively map martian mid-latitude ice deposits as a service for future crewed missions to Mars.
More information can be found on my Research page.
In addition to my academic research I have a multitude of hobbies that I juggle in my free time. I’m an avid photographer, skier, trail runner, cyclist, backpacker, paddler, and guitar player. It’s a lot, I know! But the wide variety of interests keeps my brain stimulated. I also enjoy when I can combine these interests, for example, by backpacking in the mountains to where I can capture a time lapse video of the sunrise which I then score with my own guitar noodling after returning home.
Some of my code work can be found on GitHub.