AK CASC - Key Persons
Adam joined IARC and the CASC as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2021. His research interests are broadly focused on understanding how weather and climate impact terrestrial ecosystems and wildfire. As a member of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC), Adam is using statistical modeling and geospatial datasets to study how fire regimes may respond to ongoing and future climate changes in Alaskan boreal forest and Arctic tundra ecosystems.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center
- Management Team
Allison Bidlack is the director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center and a co-investigator with the AK CASC. Prior to that, she was the Science Coordinator for the Ecotrust Copper River Program in Cordova, Alaska.
Allison has a background in wildlife ecology, with emphases on population genetics and habitat modeling using geographic information systems. Her previous research projects have included assessing the population genetics and phylogeography of the Prince of Wales flying squirrel in southeast Alaska, investigating the distribution and habitat use of carnivores in the San Francisco Bay area, and creating habitat models for Chinook salmon in the Copper River watershed. She has a deep and abiding interest in the temperate rainforests of North America, and believes in the importance of gathering and synthesizing ecologic, economic and social information to help support and maintain the vibrant cultures, communities, and ecosystems of the region.
Allison received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and her MS in Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Allison enjoys rowing, cycling, skiing, and all things outdoors.
Job Titles:
- IARC Diversity and Inclusivity Coordinator
Arlo joined IARC as a diversity and inclusivity coordinator supported by the AK CASC and other IARC units to help coordinate and further the efforts made thus far. He earned a bachelors in English from UAA with a minor in Dance, participated in four consecutive Cabin Fever Debates at UAA, and is a lifelong Alaskan. Helping build diplomatic relations across all regions has been his passion for decades.
Bob Bolton is an expert in permafrost hydrology, hydrologic modeling, and thermokarst. He specializes in quantifying the timing and pathways of streamflow in a discontinuous permafrost environment through numerical model development.
Bob Torgerson joined IARC as the Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning systems administrator and software programmer. He is working on a number of research visualization projects, efficient distribution of hindcast and model data for the research community, and anything else that might come up.
Bob obtained his Master's degree in Computer Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks while working at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. Bob had previously worked for RCS in the Geophysical Institute as a Storage and Systems Analyst and has worked with a large number of the researchers on campus in one capacity or another. He loves to spend time outside with his wife, daughters, and dog as much as possible!
A Minnesota native, Bri Rick is a current ORISE Post-doctoral fellow with the AK CASC. She studies cryo-geohazards with an emphasis on remote sensing of glaciers and ice-marginal lakes. Bri received her undergraduate degree in geology from Carleton College which included study-abroad research in Norway and field work on Baranof Island in southeast Alaska. After doing research in Switzerland on a Fulbright scholarship she did her Master's work at the University of Montana in Missoula with a field site at UAF's Toolik Field Station studying permafrost dynamics and the effects of vegetative greening on active layer thickness. During her PhD she worked as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, focusing more directly on the connections between human systems and geohazards across the cryosphere.
Bruce Crevensten works with SNAP's IT team to publish web content and implement web applications to facilitate access to data and services. His background in software development includes complex web applications, testing and QA initiatives, project and technology management. Bruce holds a B.S. (2002) in mathematics from Portland State University, enjoys origami and other intersections between art and mathematics, and has an interest in high performance scientific computing frameworks and architectures.
Job Titles:
- Professor With the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Claudine Hauri is a Research Assistant Professor with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Her research focuses on ocean acidification and carbon cycle dynamics. She is a sea-going oceanographer who uses a combination of observations and biogeochemical models to investigate the physical, chemical, and biological processes that control the natural and anthropogenic variability in the ocean's carbon system. In collaboration with marine ecologists, She is working on linking knowledge of field and model oceanographic studies with experimental biological studies that help improve our understanding of biological responses of marine organisms to ocean acidification and global change. Her interests are primarily in high-latitude systems such as the Arctic and Southern Ocean, but she also studies ocean acidification and carbon cycling in upwelling systems and coral reef ecosystems.
Job Titles:
- Professor at the UA Scenarios Network for Alaska
Dr. Amy Breen is a research assistant professor at the UA Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning. She is a botanist with broad training ranging from plant ecology and evolution, to biogeography and paleoecology. Amy holds a BA in human ecology, MS in biology and PhD in botany.
Her research interests include the history, evolution and distribution of arctic and alpine floras. Amy's current research program aims to assess the impact of disturbance and climate change on arctic tundra by adapting a boreal forest fire regime and vegetation succession model to the tundra and investigating post-fire vegetation succession trajectories in tundra ecosystems. In addition, she is affiliated with the Alaska Geobotany Center and is working with that group to create an Alaska prototype for the Arctic Vegetation Archive that will unite and harmonize the vegetation-plot data from the Arctic tundra biome for use in developing a pan-Arctic vegetation classification and as a resource for climate-change and biodiversity research.
Dr. Brian Buma is interested in the process of change in natural systems. In particular, his work focuses on disturbances like fire, wind, and landslides, and the subsequent change in species composition and ecosystem functioning. His work spans from Alaska to Chile, generally focusing on high elevation and high latitude forested systems, species migration, and carbon/water cycling. As a National Geographic Explorer, he is also interested in science communication, historical ecology, and telling interesting stories to the public about the natural world.
Dr. Elizabeth Fischer began her Earth Science career in 2011 as a postdoc at NASA/Columbia Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, working on coupling the GISS climate model to UAF's Parallel Ice Sheet Model. She first came to UAF in 2012 to attend the McCarthy Summer School in Glaciology, run by Dr. Regine Hock. Upon return to GISS, she continued model development, addressing diverse issues including dynamic ice sheet models, coupling details, mass/energy budgets and snow/firn processes.
Elizabeth came to UAF in April 2020, hired by Dr. Andy Aschwanden for research on retreat processes in tidewater glaciers, resulting in a paper currently nearing completion. Since August 2021, she has worked with Dr. Uma Bhatt on the EPSCoR Fire/Ice project and the use of machine learning to forecast fire weather, while writing model development papers from her time at GISS. Elizabeth is thrilled to join CASC, to return to physics-based modelling and cryosphere research, and to continue to build a career at UAF.
Dr. Fischer also manages a remote team of quantitative researchers at a hedge fund while designing and implementing proprietary software infrastructure to support the modelling effort. She holds degrees in Computer Science and Geophysics and has 20 years of experience in quantitative finance. Elizabeth is an advocate for non-traditional career paths, and danced for a professional ballet company during graduate school. Today she is privileged to apply her skills to pertinent issues facing our planet, our society and the State of Alaska. She shares her home with her 16-year-old daughter and the world's cutest terrier.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Environmental Science at University of Alaska Southeast
Dr. Eran Hood is a Professor of Environmental Science at University of Alaska Southeast, as well as a senior scientist at the AK CASC. Eran's research interests are in Hydrology and Biogeochemistry. He has a PhD in Geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Dr. Jamie Trammell has a joint appointment between the Geography and Environmental Studies department and the Alaska Center for Conservation Science, where he is the Assistant Director and leads the Conservation Planning program as the program Landscape Ecologist.
Dr. Trammell received his BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Western State College of Colorado, an MS in Geography and a PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno. His specialty is applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to complex landscapes, with a focus on socio-ecological interactions and conservation planning. He has extensive experience in modeling past, current and future landscapes at local (wildlife refuge) to regional (northern rivers of Australia) to landscape (southwestern U.S.) scales using remote sensing and GIS. Dr. Trammell is particularly interested in using alternative landscape futures and scenario analysis to better plan for natural resources, both wild and urban, in the future.
In his free time, Jamie enjoys birdwatching, mountain biking, camping, fishing, and generally exploring the natural world with his family.
Dr. John Walsh has been central to the International Arctic Research Center's success and public profile, leading many of the organization's strongest research and outreach efforts. In addition to extensive publications, he is the co-author of the textbook Severe and Hazardous Weather.
His research has long focused on Arctic sea ice, and he has recently worked to establish a long-term sea ice database for use in a formal, searchable Sea Ice Atlas interface. The research group for this project has established a common-format background for sea ice levels back to the 1850s, and has examined the ability of models to simulate changes such as the recent rapid loss of summer sea ice.
The official assessment efforts to which he contributes serve to evaluate, integrate, and communicate recent science research, primarily for public leaders and decision makers. He aims to provide a balanced perspective on Alaska's recent changes in the face of both growing interest and comparatively sparse data resources in the region. In these assessments, Walsh and others have synthesized information about changes in growing season length, temperatures, and extreme events‚ all integral to the understanding of climate change in the Arctic.
Dr. Walsh has also served as a contributor on the subject of ongoing Arctic changes to a number of official reports, including the 2013 US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) National Climate Assessment (NCA), for which he was a Convening Lead Author in Climate Change Science.
Job Titles:
- Senior Scientist
- Associate Professor of Environmental Health
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). Her work focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally- and culturally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. In order to address community needs, Dr. Hahn's prior work has addressed vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, wildfires, health and extreme heat, air quality, food security, and safe transportation.
Prior to joining UAA, she was an epidemiologist at the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention Climate and Health Program. Micah received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. More information can be found on her lab website: https://micahbhahn.wordpress.com
Job Titles:
- Research Professor at UAF
Dr. Nancy Fresco is a research professor at UAF and SNAP's Network Coordinator. As such, she either leads or contributes to many of SNAP's projects. Her work focuses on forging effective collaborations, linking SNAP data to the needs of stakeholders, and interpreting the results of complex modeling efforts. Her background is in biology, forest ecology, and environmental education.
Nancy has been an Alaska resident since 1999. She completed her undergrad work at Harvard in 1994, and earned a Masters from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1999. She earned a PhD in Biology from UAF in 2006, as part of an interdisciplinary program in Regional Resilience and Adaptation. Her research focused on the carbon balance in Alaska's boreal forest.
She spends as much time as possible outside, cross-country skiing, hiking, running, and bike-commuting to work in every variety of Fairbanks weather. Nancy and her husband Jay Cable (a programmer for UAF's Geographic Information Network of Alaska) have twin daughters.
Job Titles:
- USGS Regional Administrator
Dr. Stephen Gray is the USGS Director of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center, one of the eight regional centers that form the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Center network.
Dr. Gray previously served as the director of the University of Wyoming Water Resources Data System, a climatologist for the state of Wyoming, and an associate research scientist in the University of Wyoming Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering. In addition, he held adjunct faculty appointments in the University of Wyoming Program in Ecology and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona.
Among other duties, Dr. Gray was a senior advisor to the University of Wyoming Environment and Natural Resource Program and the Wyoming Water Association. His work explored the interplay between climate variability, climatic change, and natural resource management. Much of his research focused on drought and climate change impacts in the western United States. His studies included a detailed examination of snowpack variability in the North American mountain ranges and a review of how changes in ocean circulation patterns affect precipitation in the West.
Dr. Gray received the American Water Resources Association's Henry R. Boggess Award in 2005, and he is a former National Research Council Research Associate with the USGS. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology With the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology
Dr. Todd Brinkman is an Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology with the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and a collaborator on various SNAP research projects. Brinkman's research interests include the ecology, management, and human dimensions of wildlife. Much of his time is spent modeling the interactions among large mammals, hunters, and the rapidly changing environment. Brinkman received a BS (2000) in Biology and Environmental Science from Minnesota State University, a MS (2003) in Wildlife Science from South Dakota State University, and a PhD (2009) in Wildlife Ecology from UAF.
Job Titles:
- Co - Investigator
- Interim Co - Director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center
Jason Fellman is the interim co-director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center and a co-investigator with the AK CASC. He joined ACRC as a Research Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Alaska Southeast in 2013. Prior to that, he served as a postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Science at the University of Alaska Southeast as well as the University of Western Australia in Perth.
Jason has a background in the biogeochemistry of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems with the focus of understanding how carbon and nutrients link these distinct ecosystems. He has extensive experience in the coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska exploring how wetlands and salmon influence stream biogeochemistry. Jason's current research is focused on understanding how stream biogeochemistry and ecology may change as receding glaciers are replaced by forests and glaciers contribute less meltwater to streamflow.
Jason has a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and believes research can be used as a tool to balance human and ecological needs in a changing climate. He received a PhD in Biogeochemistry from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an MS in Environmental Science from Washington State University. He enjoys climbing, skiing, trail running as well as camping and traveling with his wife and two children.
Jeremy Littell is a Research Ecologist (Climate Impacts) with the Department of Interior Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. He conducts research on the role of climate and ecological drought in Alaskan and other forested ecosystems. He also facilitates the use of climate information in planning, adaptation, and vulnerability assessment.
Littell's background is the ecoclimatology of western North America's forests. His doctoral work at the University of Washington focused on ecological and climatic controls on wildfire in the western U.S. and the role of climate in Douglas-fir tree growth across its climatic range. He also worked as a research scientist at the UW Climate Impacts Group, collaborating with resource managers in Federal and state agencies to better understand and use climate information in planning and adaptation. At the AK CASC, his current work adresses two main themes:
Jerilyn Kelly (she/her) is from Quinhagak, Alaska. She is an enrolled member of the Native Village of Kwinhagak, a shareholder at both Qanirtuuq and Calista corporations. Jerilyn is a mother to four, one son & three daughters. Her lifelong experiences started with the growth of her children. She has been involved with early childhood, elementary education, youth group as well as local government in Quinhagak, regional and statewide levels. Jerilyn currently serves on the Mount Edgecumbe High School Advisory School Board as a Parent Representative and on the Alaska Municipal League Board of Directors - Representing Unit 8. She enjoys reading books, subsisting, and playing cards with family & friends.
Job Titles:
- Deputy University Director
- University Deputy Director
Joanna Young is a postdoctoral fellow with the AK CASC. Her academic interests are estimating glacier mass loss in a changing climate; applied studies on impacts of glacier loss on downstream ecosystems and freshwater availability; climate change communication; environmental outreach; environmental identity development; STEM education.
She is also the co-founder of a unique, free, wilderness science and mountaineering program for high school girls called Girls on Ice Alaska, which is part of the Inspiring Girls group of programs. Each year, they take a team of 9 teenaged girls from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to explore a remote glacier for 12 days, to learn about glaciers, climate change, the alpine landscape, leadership and self-confidence. Check them out here: http://inspiringgirls.org/alaska
She has also had the opportunity to work with several film crews, most recently as part of a team of glaciologists working on the Dawes Glacier in Southeast Alaska, for a project featured in the National Geographic IMAX film Extreme Weather. Before that, She was also one of the scientists filmed for a German documentary about Alaska: Abenteuer Alaska.
In December 2016, Young was selected to participate in the inaugural expedition of Homeward Bound, a leadership and strategic development program in Antarctica for women in science from around the world.
Her non-academic interests are traveling, exploring the Alaska playground, skiing/packrafting/mountaineering/biking/running (and combining those in different ways to access long, beautiful, Type-II-fun routes), dabbling in climbing/photography/art/cocktail-making.
Julian Dann is a first-year masters student working with Bob Bolton and Paul Leonard on snow distribution in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as it relates to tundra health and oil & gas infrastructure.
Before coming to AK CASC, Julian worked on the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment Arctic (NGEE-Arctic) team based out of Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico. There he participated in a variety of projects including: analysis of synthetic aperture radar signals, fine scale mapping using UAS-borne photogrammetry and LiDAR, and understanding snow distribution patterns in small watersheds. Of particular interest to him is remote sensing, practicing science communication, and photography.
In his free time, Julian enjoys riding bikes (will learn to adapt to fat biking), climbing, camping, and downhill skiing. His goal this winter is to go down a hill on cross country skis without feeling out of control!
Julian received his bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University in Physics and Astronomy (2017) with a thesis on gas and dust in the interstellar medium immediately surrounding our solar system.
Job Titles:
- Alaska Tribal Resilience Learning Network Coordinator
- Coordinator for the Alaska Tribal Resilience Learning Network
Krista Heeringa serves as a coordinator for the Alaska Tribal Resilience Learning Network. In this role she has the privilege of learning from diverse Indigenous communities across Alaska and working collaboratively to address critical challenges posed by climate change.
Krista was born and grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. She completed her B.A. at UAA in Political Science, and her M.A. at UAF in Rural Development. However, she credits her years of working with tribes, primarily in interior Alaska, for gaining a holistic perspective on how best to support Alaska Native communities as they work towards their vision for long term resilience and sustainability.
Job Titles:
- Fellow
- Researcher With the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center
Kristin Timm is a postdoctoral researcher with the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. Drawing from theories in organizational communication, science and technology studies, and science and environmental communication, her research primarily focuses on interactions amongst people, teams, organizations, and the processes that enable or constrain the movement of information across different contexts and settings. As a social scientist, she uses qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods in her work.
Kristin has a PhD in communication from George Mason University where she worked with the Center for Climate Change Communication and studied communication related to the Fourth National Climate Assessment for her dissertation. Kristin studied rural development and natural resource management for her Bachelor's degree and science communication for her Master's degree - both at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In addition to her formal education, she has over a decade of experience working as a science and environmental communication practitioner.
In addition to her role with the AK CASC, Kristin is also a faculty fellow with the new Climate Scholars Program in the Honors College at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Malinda serves as the link between Alaska's tribes and the climate research community. In her role, she seeks ways to connect, support and further initiatives between these two groups, along with additional collaborators, which assists tribes in preparing for and responding to climate impacts.
Malinda's experience includes community planning, non-profit management, post-secondary/distance and Alaska Native education, Native language revitalization and indigenous program evaluation. She also serves as the land manager for her village corporation. More recently, she's focused on climate change education that sought to engage our AK Native community, and led to her current liaison position.
Job Titles:
- Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center As a Stream Chemistry Technician
- Post - Doctoral Fellow
Megan Behnke joined the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center as a stream chemistry technician in 2016 and returned in 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow through the Coastal Rainforest Margins Research Network. She is pleased to now be working with the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center as a postdoctoral fellow in the Future of Aquatic Flows cohort. In between she received her MS and PhD from Florida State University, studying what happens when warming temperatures release organic carbon that has been locked away in permafrost, glaciers, and wetland soils in both coastal temperate rainforests and around the pan-Arctic. During her PhD she worked as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow with ACRC and the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory. Megan uses a combination of ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and elemental and isotopic ratios to explore how the sources, processing, and fates of organic matter are changing due to climate change and associated shifts in land use and land cover.
Megan's current research interests include understanding how cryospheric warming (i.e. glacial melt and permafrost thaw) is changing the type and delivery of organic matter to streams and to the nearshore environment, the fate of organic matter once it leaves the river, and the role shifts in stream chemistry play in energy flows through aquatic food webs. She is also interested in understanding the role of trees in delivering dissolved organic matter to forest floors, stream systems, and the nearshore. In addition to research, Megan spends her time paddling, skiing, climbing, gardening, reading (particularly quality science fiction) and bushwhacking through devil's club.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate and Assistant Coordinator for the Alaska Tribal Resilience Learning Network / Fellows
Job Titles:
- for Media Inquires, Please Contact
- Staff
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Assistant to the Deputy Director
Mimi works as Assistant to the Deputy Director of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC), Director of the Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning (SNAP) and the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (AK CASC), as well as providing administrative support for the staff.
Mimi's specialty is being a generalist, or jack-of-all-trades, holding a BA from The Ohio State University in International Studies. She is the lifeline for day-to-day activities in the office and beyond, and her forward thinking helps with planning and supporting a cutting-edge Climate Research Network. Mimi received the UAF Chancellor's Cornerstone Award in 2022 for her sustained excellence in leadership and service. In her life away from the office, Mimi enjoys hanging out with family and friends, fishing, hiking, berry picking, exploring the waters of Prince William Sound, and reading. Mimi may one day become a regenerative ocean farmer giving back to the ocean and the Alaska communities for future generations.
Nathan Kettle is an expert in the human dimensions of global environmental change, risk and uncertainty, trust, the role of networks in climate change adaptation, and social network analysis.
Job Titles:
- USGS Assistant Regional Administrator
- USGS Deputy Regional Administrator
Peter Bieniek is an expert in Alaska climatology, climate variability and change, dynamical downscaling, and regional climate.
Rick Lader is interested in studying how climate extremes are changing in Alaska and in understanding the impacts of these changes. A necessary aspect of this research has involved the development of dynamically downscaled climate data to obtain more localized information. He has used these data to better understand a wide range of climate and natural hazard issues that span from severe fire seasons in Interior and south-central Alaska to record low Bering Sea ice extent to marine heat waves in the Gulf of Alaska. These data have also been served broadly to the research community across Alaska.
Ryan has worked for over 24 years in water resources specializing in interdisciplinary applications of hydrology, water quality, ecosystem services, stakeholder engagement and governance from the tropics to Alaska. Throughout those years, he has worked as a consultant, academic, tribal non-governmental organization staff, and now with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Ryan received a joint Ph.D. in Environmental Science (Hydrology/Agroforestry) from the University of Idaho and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica. Ryan received his B.S. in Environmental Science (Water Quality/GIS) from Western Washington University. His current position with the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (AK CASC), includes research that involves investigating environmental change, hydrological modeling, and community-based research that integrates Indigenous Knowledge, social, water and soils science.
Over the past 10 years, Ryan has been using citizen science, community-based research, and hydrological methods to investigate how permafrost dynamics influence biogeochemical fluxes of small and large rivers within the Alaskan and Yukon Boreal forest. In addition to his position at the Alaska CASC, Ryan serves as an Affiliate Research Assistant Professor for the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he has mentored several graduate students. Ryan has consistently supported student internships while producing publications, community reports, and conference presentations with undergraduate and graduate student co-authors.
Ryan has also demonstrated a commitment to improving workplace culture by serving as a Diversity Change Agent, Peer Support Worker, and part of the CASC Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council leadership. Ryan has received the USGS Balsey Award for Technology Transfer for his work with the Indigenous Observation Network.
Tess (she/her) is an enrolled citizen of the Igiugig Village Tribe. She grew up on the shores of Lake Iliamna-home to her, freshwater seals, and millions of wild salmon. She is an advocate for tribal sovereignty, stewardship, and management and has an emulsion of experience working for federal, state, and tribal agencies, including various seasonal field positions. Tess also has experience working as a domestic violence advocate and, most recently, assisting in the development and execution of a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) study for the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. She brings her love and enthusiasm for rural Alaska communities- their diversity and rich cultures- to support projects tailored to Alaska's many and various landscapes and peoples.
Uma Bhatt is an expert in climate change, climate variability, meteorology, air-sea ice interaction, atmosphere, atmospheric sciences, climatology, cryosphere, hydrometeorology, physical oceanography, physics of global warming, remote sensing application, and tundra vegetation.