Waleed Abdalati
Waleed Abdalati
Dr. Waleed Abdalati (Action Team Co-Chair) received both his MS in Aerospace Engineering Sciences and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Colorado. His research interests are in the use of satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques, integrated with in situ observations and modeling, to understand how and why the Earth's ice cover is changing, and what those changes mean for life on Earth. In particular, his research focuses on the contributions of ice sheets and high-latitude glaciers to sea level rise and their relationship to the changing climate. Dr. Abdalati has been heavily involved in the development of NASA's Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and its successor, ICESat-II, and he has worked on cryospheric applications of various other satellites and aircraft instruments. Prior to joining the faculty at University of Colorado, Boulder and becoming the Executive Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Dr. Abdalati worked as a scientist at NASA for 12 years. In 2011, he returned to NASA on a two-year assignment as the agency’s Chief Scientist, serving as principal adviser to the NASA Administrator on NASA science programs, strategic planning, and the evaluation of related investments. Email: waleed.abdalati [at] colorado.edu

Ted Scambos
Ted Scambos
Dr. Ted Scambos (Action Team Co-Chair) received his master's degree from Virginia Tech and his PhD in Geology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Ted's specialties include: Glaciology and remote sensing; geochemistry and planetary science. His interest in satellite data began when he used Landsat imagery for his PhD thesis. He worked with NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center, studying Antarctica using satellite data. He moved from Goddard to the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Center, where he served as Lead Scientist for 14 years. Now a Senior Research Associate at CU Boulder's CIRES Earth Science & Observation Center, Ted has conducted 19 field studies of the Antarctic ice sheet and it's sea ice, and several remote sensing studies of Antarctic ice shelves with colleagues Christina Hulbe of Portland State University and Dr. Mark Fahnestock of the University of Maryland. His polar remote sensing research concentrates on visible and near-IR remote sensing (MODIS, Landsat 7, IKONOS), ICESat laser elevations, field GPS, and ice profiling radar studies. Recent work has taken him from unique large dune features in the center of the East Antarctic Plateau ('megadunes') to the icebergs off the shore of the Antarctic Peninsula and south of Argentina. He was part of an international team that landed on an Antarctic iceberg via helicopter to set up observational instruments for detecting changes as the iceberg drifts north and begins to melt. Email: tascambos [at] colorado.edu

Twila Moon
Twila Moon
Dr. Twila Moon (Action Team Research Associate) is a cryosphere scientist with a special interest in ice sheet motion, ice sheet and ocean interaction, and linking ice-ocean-atmosphere-ecosystem. Dr. Moon has a BS degree in Geology (Stanford) and MS and PhD in Earth and Space Sciences (University of Washington). Subsequently, she was a Cooperative Institute in Research in Environmental Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC, 2014-2015) and US National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow (Ocean Sciences Division) at the University of Oregon (2015-2016). During 2016-17, Dr. Moon was a Lecturer (equivalent to US Assistant Professor) at the University of Bristol, working with the Bristol Glaciology Centre and interdisciplinary Cabot Institute. Now a Research Associate at NSIDC, Dr. Moon is especially involved in studies of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Antarctic Peninsula, and work that connects ice sheets and glacier to other elements of the physical and biological environment. She has more than 10 years of experience with glaciology-focused research that includes remote sensing, modeling, and Arctic field work. Her research has been published in Science, highlighted in Nature and Nature Geoscience, and received extensive media coverage, including for example National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Nautilus, and the BBC. Along with research, Dr. Moon is passionate about communicating the joy of discovery, revealing the remarkable changes in our Earth system, and inspiring curiosity and action around the critical issue of climate change. Email: twila.science [at] gmail.com

Land Ice Action Team Members