Biography

During my undergraduate studies in geophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I developed a fascination with glaciers and the Arctic, a passion that has taken me to Alaska, British Columbia, Greenland and Iceland. My research has focused on glaciology and Arctic hydrology, including studying surface strain rates on the Taku Glacier in Southeast Alaska through the Juneau Icefield Research Program and examining trends in the timing of Siberian river ice breakup using satellite imagery in UNC’s Global Hydrology Lab. After visiting the Greenland Ice Sheet in 2013, I became particularly interested in studying the dramatic retreat of Greenland’s large outlet glaciers and the complex processes that govern their flow. At Cambridge, I will pursue my MPhil in Polar Studies at the Scott Polar Research Institute, where I will focus on researching feedbacks between basal hydrology and flow in tidewater glaciers in West Greenland. Through the use of mathematical modeling of glacier flow, I seek to better understand how Greenland’s glaciers are responding to climate warming as part of efforts to improve sea level rise predictions. I am honored and excited to join the diverse Gates Cambridge community and to engage in the groundbreaking polar research and outreach at the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Previous Education

University of North Carolina