Sustainability Leadership Fellow Cohort: 2021-2022

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geosciences

Research Summary: I use remote sensing and modeling techniques to map the evolution of glacial lakes in Alaska. Lakes form, grow, and drain as glaciers thin and retreat. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) occur when a lake dam fails or is overtopped, suddenly releasing a large volume of water. These floods can have devastating impacts on downstream ecosystems, infrastructure, and communities. Understanding how glacial lakes are changing is a critical first step in assessing the hazard potential of individual lakes, and eventually formulating hazard mitigation strategies for local stakeholders.