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Team Members
Alexandra Padilla (Program Manager), she/her/ella
CIRES Education and Outreach ProfileAlexandra is a Research Associate and the Program Manager for FieldSafe at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Alexandra spent her childhood and adolescent years in Maryland and moved to Puerto Rico, respectively. She earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering with a minor in applied mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez. During this period, she became interested in applying her skills in environmental-related sciences and went on to complete a Ph.D. in ocean engineering at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), where she focused on understanding the physical properties of gas bubbles in the ocean to improve gas flux estimates in the ocean. During her time as a graduate student, she was involved in several DEI-related efforts and projects at UNH, such as co-leading the development of a campus and broader NH resource map for underrepresented minorities at UNH. During her postdoc at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), she was awarded the URGE (Unlearning Racism in the Geosciences) Postdoctoral Extension. During her postdoctoral extension, she spent her time working with the URGE team and with WHOI’s Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer to implement DEI efforts within the community. Alex is passionate about facilitating researchers, especially early career and underrepresented minorities, with resources and tools to succeed in their science and continue to build a welcoming and belonging community within the geosciences.
Anne Gold (PI), she/her
CIRES Education and Outreach ProfileAnne is the Director of CIRES Education & Outreach and a Senior Associate Scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she focuses on science education for educators, students, communities and the public around climate, water, polar regions and geosciences in general. Anne spent ten years working as a paleoclimatologist working in different field settings, mostly in mountainous and polar regions. Anne is interested in understanding and studying effective ways of teaching and learning and building inclusive environments and is dedicated to grounding her education work in research and evaluation. She is passionate about building local partnerships with diverse communities. Anne has led dozens of NSF, NOAA and NASA-funded education projects and leads a vibrant group of 24 outreach and education professionals in developing engaging and meaningful educational, career and mentorship opportunities for all learners.
Alice Hill (co-PI), she/her
NIWA ProfileAlice is a mountain hydrologist and Rutherford Fellow at Aotearoa/New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmosphere (Taihoro Nukurangi/NIWA). She studies how river flows and water supplies will change in a warming world with intensified land use. Her research focuses on watersheds in mountain regions, especially those sourced by snow and ice because they are rapidly changing in the face of climate change, data scarcity, and in awe-inspiring wilderness close to her heart. Alice is also an experienced educator and risk manager with a focus on developing high-performing field teams, having logged hundreds of weeks as a senior field and wilderness medicine instructor for NOLS in remote regions across the world. Alice developed the original iteration of FieldSafe in 2018 as a postdoc at CIRES, and has been involved in its ongoing curriculum and delivery evolution ever since, including as co-PI on the current MOOC project. Alice’s favorite work experiences – and indeed those that have led her to become a scientist – are characterised by managing challenging field environments with a supportive team, fueling her passion to help create this opportunity for future scientists of all backgrounds.
Allison Mattheis (co-PI), she/her
California State University, Los Angeles ProfileAllison Mattheis joined the Applied and Advanced Studies in Education faculty in 2013 and teaches and advises students in the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and M.A. in Educational Foundations programs. She is a former secondary school science teacher and holds a K-12 Principal's License (administrative credential) from the state of Minnesota. Her research interests include sociocultural analysis of educational policy, ethnographic explorations of educational and workplace cultures and climates, and LGBTQ identities and queer epistemologies in education and STEM fields. Her work is driven by a commitment to empowering teachers as change agents, students as decision-makers, and educators as solidarity builders.
Alyse Thurber (Curriculum Development), she/her
CIRES Education and Outreach ProfileAlyse Thurber (she/her) is a curriculum developer at CIRES Education & Outreach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Alyse grew up in New Hampshire and stayed in northern New England to earn her BA in Biology at Middlebury College. After graduation, Alyse discovered a love of teaching and education and went on to earn an M.S. in curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Alyse was most recently a high school science teacher in Genoa, IL before joining CIRES. Alyse brings expertise and a passion for designing engaging and authentic learning experiences to this team effort.
Blair Schneider (co-PI), she/her
The University of Kansas ProfileBlair Schneider is an Associate Researcher and Science Outreach Manager for the Kansas Geological Survey and a co-PI for the ADVANCEGeo Partnership. She is a Past-President of the Association for Women Geoscientists and past chair of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Women's Network Committee. She has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Geophysics from the University of Kansas, and completed a postdoc in STEM Education at the University of Kansas Center for Teaching Excellence. Her work focuses on the application of near-surface geophysical methods to address archaeological and forensics investigations. Dr. Schneider has collected geophysical data at over 15 archaeological sites across the Midwest, and has also assisted local law enforcement for investigations.
Emily Geraghty Ward (co-PI), she/her
CIRES Education and Outreach ProfileEmily Geraghty Ward is a geoscience education researcher and evaluator with CIRES Education and Outreach where she works on a variety of curriculum development, discipline-based education research, and evaluation projects. Emily applies her geoscience training, postdoc in geocognition, and college teaching experience to study the design and assessment of field and research experiences, and place-based education. She also has experience evaluating research experiences in formal and informal environments, broadening participation efforts, and professional conferences.
Erika Marín-Spiotta (co-PI), she/her
University of Wisconsin - Madison ProfileDr. Erika Marín-Spiotta is a Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She leads the Biogeochemistry and Biogeography Lab which studies how landscape disturbance due to changes in climate and land use alter terrestrial ecosystem processes, with a focus on soil organic matter dynamics. She also conducts collaborative interdisciplinary research on strategies to advance equity and broaden participation in science. She is a recipient of multiple national awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Ecological Society of America. Marín-Spiotta is the lead principal investigator of ADVANCEGeo Partnership, funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program, to transform workplace climate in the geosciences and other science disciplines. She is also on the leadership team of the Mellon Foundation-funded Humanities Education for Anti-Racism Literacy in the Sciences project.
Erika received a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Political Science from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Ecosystem Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Before coming to UW-Madison, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Kristy Tiampo (Senior Strategic Advisor)
CIRES ProfileKristy earned a BSc and MSc in Civil Engineering in the 1980’s and worked for almost 10 years as a construction engineer. She returned to graduate school at CU Boulder and received her Ph.D. in 2000 in Geophysics. Her research focuses on understanding the processes that govern natural and anthropogenic hazards, such as earthquakes, induced seismicity, volcanoes, flooding, landslides, ground subsidence, and sea level rise, using a combination of remote sensing data, computational methods, and geophysical models. These studies incorporate big data sources such as space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR), differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR), GPS data, seismicity, and gravity, to provide insights into the nature and scale of these hazards, including the implications for and consequences of infrastructure and society.
Mariama Dryák-Vallies (co-PI), she/her
CIRES CEEE ProfileMariama Dryák-Vallies is the Director for the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) hosted by CIRES at the University of Colorado Boulder. Mariama grew up on a farm in west-central Wisconsin before heading east to earn her B.A. in physical geography and archaeology at Durham University (UK)—where her passion for studying, researching, and teaching about glaciers, climate change, and the natural environment was born. She went on to complete her M.S. in Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Maine, studying Antarctic glaciology and ice-ocean interactions. During graduate school she was actively involved in advocating for polar early career scientists as a board member and co-chair of the United States Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (USAPECS), and as a project group member and national committee representative for APECS international. Mariama is passionate about working towards building accessible, welcoming, and safe Earth and polar sciences spaces for all—and strives to center that in all the work that she does.
Meredith Hastings (co-PI)
Brown University ProfileI graduated magna cum laude in 1998 with a B.Sc. in marine science and chemistry from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. After a one-year stint working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, I began graduate school in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University. Graduating with a Ph.D. in 2004, I subsequently became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington with a fellowship from the Joint Institute for Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO). I joined the faculty at Brown in 2008, and continue to pursue my varied research interests in the global N cycle, the biogeochemical record in ice cores, and global connections between atmospheric chemistry and climate.
Mylène Jacquemart (co-PI)
ETH ProfileMylène is a physical geographer and remote sensing specialist with interest in understanding how climate change is altering the disposition, magnitude, and frequency of natural hazards in alpine and polar regions. Her research interests include: alpine mass movements, glacier instabilities, the effect of glacier debutressing on potential tsunamigenic landslides in coastal regions, the role of remote sensing in operational hazard management, early warning and alarm systems, and knowledge co-production and co-design in natural hazard research and management.
Ryan Cassotto (co-PI), he/him
CIRES ProfileRyan earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of New Hampshire. He was a CIRES Post-Doctoral Research Associate from 2018 to 2020 before becoming a Research Scientist at CIRES’ Earth Science and Observation Center. His research focuses on glacial dynamics and natural hazards with a particular interest in the cryosphere. Ryan combines remote sensing observations with field-based measurements to evaluate geophysical surface changes over diverse spatiotemporal scales. He has conducted more than a dozen field campaigns in Greenland, Alaska, California, Colorado, and Utah. His recent research projects include the study of granular proglacial ice mélange on tidewater glacier calving, investigating the influence of perennial firn aquifers on tidewater glacier dynamics, landslide, and tsunami modeling, and the application of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for 3D ice flow derivations, land use change, and mapping of wildfire activity in near real-time. Ryan was a co-developer and Facilitator of a CIRES-funded FieldSafe precursor and is part of the Training Program and Toolkit Development Team for the current NSF-sponsored MOOC project. He is passionate about creating positive team experiences and diverse, equitable, and safe field environments for future generations of geoscientists.
Advisory Board
Anita Marshall (Member)
University of Florida ProfileMy primary research area is Geoscience Education, specifically academic and social engagement in geoscience learning environments and the barriers to participation for underserved groups in STEM. Most of this research centers around improving inclusion and career pathways for people with disabilities in the geosciences. My secondary research area is volcanology and near-surface, but I don’t have any funded volcanology research projects. You can learn more about my research, teaching, and personal story on my Portfolio Website, linked below.
Anne Kelly (Member)
AdvanceGEO Advisory Board ProfileAnne Kelly is the Deputy Director of The Nature Conservancy Alaska. Before that, she was Director of Research and Education, the Desert Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton, and Director of UC Merced's Yosemite and Sequoia Field Stations. Dr. Kelly is co-PI of an NSF-funded workshop on Safety in Field and Ocean Sciences and part of the first cohort of ADVANCEGeo trainers.
Christine Wiedinmyer (Member)
CIRES ProfileChristine Wiedinmyer is the Associate Director for Science at CIRES, overseeing the science portfolio of CU Boulder's largest research institute with a focus on managing our research in service to NOAA, our primary partner. Wiedinmyer divides her time between the two main locations—the NOAA David Skaggs Research Center and the University of Colorado Boulder campus—where CIRES’ 800-plus scientists, engineers, developers, students, and other staff work. She helps the CIRES director address challenges that affect our scientists working in both locations, and she is fostering partnerships across the University of Colorado Boulder and the broader scientific community, to continue CIRES’ long-term legacy as an international leader in the Earth sciences. Wiedinmyer is also a Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Her own research has focused on the emissions of trace gases and particles to the atmosphere and how these emissions impact atmospheric composition, air quality, and climate. She also investigates the effects of global change on these processes, such as how land cover and land use change alter the fluxes of trace gases to the atmosphere. To accomplish her research goals, Wiedinmyer integrates laboratory experiments, in-situ measurements, remote sensing observations, and a suite of modeling tools. Wiedinmyer developed the Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN), a high-resolution global fire emissions model now used by local, regional, and global chemical modelers to better quantify the impacts of fire emissions on atmospheric composition, both in hindsight and forecast model applications.
Wiedinmyer, who has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers, earned Thomson Reuters “highly cited researcher” status in 2014—an achievement shared by only about seven or eight University of Colorado Boulder faculty members most years. And she also brings to CIRES a commitment to service. Wiedinmyer helped found the Earth Science Women’s Network and now serves on the organization’s Board. She has mentored early-career scientists and often speaks publicly about her service as well as her science. She tweets regularly about science (@cwiedinm).
Fiamma Straneo (Member)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography ProfileI study high-latitude oceanic processes and their role in the climate system, including:
- Ice Sheet/Ocean Interactions
- Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
- Freshwater and meltwater export from the polar regions
- Dense water formation and poleward heat transport
- Icebergs
Gifford Wong (Member)
SEARCH ProfileGifford J. Wong is currently a Research Staff Member (RSM) at the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) in Washington, DC. STPI is a federally funded research and development Center (FFRDC) that was established by Congress to inform the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President. STPI’s main role is to provide responsive, high-quality analyses of science and technology issues important to OSTP and other executive branch sponsors (e.g., National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Defense).
Before joining STPI, Gifford served as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State through an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, where his portfolio included Polar issues, oceans management, maritime security, energy, public health, domestic and investment-driven environmental change (e.g., Belt and Road Initiative), wildlife trafficking, and space. Before joining the State Department, Gifford served as climate and environment adviser to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse while on the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) Congressional Science Fellowship.
Gifford earned a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College investigating regional changes in precipitation around northwest Greenland, an Honours in Antarctic Studies from the University of Tasmania at Hobart, and a Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.
Gillian Bowser (Member)
Colorado State University ProfileBowser focuses on ecological indicators of climate change, such as pollinator insects, and linkages between changing ecological conditions, local community livelihoods, and climate. She places special emphasis on sustainability, citizen-scientist engagement, and encouraging more students from underrepresented backgrounds to study science. Her current interdisciplinary work looks at biodiversity indicators in high elevations around the world.
Bowser has worked as a wildlife biologist and ecologist for the U.S. National Park Service in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Joshua Tree, and Wrangell St. Elias, and was an AAAS Science and Diplomacy Fellow in 2011. She serves on the board of the Rocky Mountain Sustainability and Science Network and participated in the U.N. Framework on Climate Change Convention and U.N. Global Environmental Outlook.
Bowser earned her B.S. from Northwestern University, her M.S. from the University of Vermont, and her Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Content Experts
Matt Downen (Member)
Centre College ProfileMatt Downen joined Centre College in 2023 as the Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and as an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies.
In the Center for Teaching and Learning, Downen helps implement faculty development programs to enhance teaching effectiveness and support assessment processes across various academic areas. Downen’s teaching interests include introductory geology and environmental geology.
Their research is at the intersection of fear and fascination—fossil spiders. While he still likes spiders and rocks, Downen pursues other directions including academic support, pedagogy, and making classrooms and fieldwork more inclusive. Their recent scholarship includes both fossil preservation and pedagogy topics, including particularly promising pedagogy practices to support making visible/inclusivity of the identities and groups of people.
Downen participated in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Program at Centre College and later was the Recycling Coordinator at Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College. In 2022, Matt was the Assistant Director of the Center for Undergraduate Research at the University of Kansas (KU). At KU, Matt focused on supporting faculty and staff in their roles as research mentors as well as helping instructors incorporate research into their courses and develop First-Year Seminars.
Sona Dimidjian (Member)
Renée Crown Wellness Institute ProfileInstitute Director and Founding Faculty Fellow, Renée Crown Wellness Institute • Sapp Family Endowed Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence • Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D. is Director of the Renée Crown Wellness Institute and Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on cultivating mental health and wellness among women, children, and families by engaging people’s capacities for learning to care for themselves and their communities. She develops and studies programs and practices in education and healthcare settings, with an emphasis on navigating key developmental transitions, such as the perinatal period, early childhood, and adolescence. She also has a longstanding interest in expanding access, scaling, and sustaining effective programs, using both digital technology and community-based partnerships. Her current research projects focus on preventing depression and supporting wellness among new and expectant mothers, promoting healthy body image and leadership among young women, and enhancing mindfulness and compassion among youth, families, and educators. She is the co-author with Sherryl Goodman, Ph.D., of a book for new and expectant mothers, Expecting Mindfully: Nourish Your Emotional Well-Being and Prevent Depression During Pregnancy and Postpartum. She also is the editor of Evidence-Based Practice in Action: Bridging Clinical Science and Intervention. She is the recipient of numerous awards acknowledging her teaching and clinical research, including the Dorothy Martin Women’s Faculty Award, the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award, and the Robert L. Stearns Award at the University of Colorado Boulder along with the Susan Hickman Award from Postpartum Support International and the Women and Psychotherapy Award from Division 35 of the American Psychological Association. She received her BA in psychology from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Washington.
Willy Oppenheim (Member)
University of Washington ProfileWilly Oppenheim is an educator, a researcher, and the leader of a social enterprise working to make international volunteering more ethical and impactful. Willy came up with the initial idea for Omprakash (www.omprakash.org) at the age of eighteen, after serving as a volunteer English teacher in northern India in 2004. The basic premise was to create a platform connecting volunteers with social impact opportunities around the world. He then attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he completed a self-designed major in religion, education, and anthropology.
In 2009, he received a Rhodes Scholarship and went on to earn his doctorate in Education from Oxford University. His PhD research focused on demand for girls' schooling in rural Pakistan. His broader research interests concern the ways in which ideas and norms pertaining to justice and "development" are produced and contested through formal and informal processes of education.
Willy has worked in classrooms in the United States, India, Pakistan, and China, and in the wilderness as a faculty member at the National Outdoor Leadership School. He currently teaches in the UW CHID and Honors programs, and continues to lead Omprakash and its newest initiative, Omprakash EdGE, which is an online pre-departure volunteer training program intended to help university students enrich their international learning and impact.
When not engaged in his teaching, his educational research, or his leadership of Omprakash, Willy enjoys rock climbing, telemark skiing, playing guitar, and baking bread.