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Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group Members

Address:

Byrd Polar Research Center
108 Scott Hall
1090 Carmack Road
Columbus, OH 43210

Main Office Phone: 614-292-6531

Phone: (614) 292-6652 (Lonnie G. Thompson) or 292-6662 (Ellen Mosley-Thompson)
Fax: (614) 292-4697


Ice Core Group Photo

Group members: front row (left to right): Sherry Lin, Chiara Uglietti, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lonnie Thompson, Brad Goodwin, Dan Miller, Stacy Porter; back row (left to right): Ping-Nan Lin, Roxana Sierra, Victor Zagorodnov, Karl Philippoff, Donaldi Permana, Paolo Gabrielli, Joel Barker.

Research Staff
Lonnie G. Thompson
Ellen Mosley-Thompson
Henry H. Brecher
Mary Davis
Paolo Gabrielli
W. David Lape
Ping-Nan Lin
Victor Zagorodnov
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Roxana Sierra
Chiara Uglietti
Graduate and Undergraduate Students
Brad Goodwin (Ph.D.)
Donaldi Permana (Ph.D.)
Karl Philippoff (M.S.)
Stacy Porter (Ph.D.)
Dan Miller
Former Research Staff and Post-Doctoral Fellows
Broxton Bird (Byrd Fellow)
Jihong Cole-Dai
Keqin Duan (Byrd Fellow)
P. Ross Edwards (Byrd Fellow)
YC Fang (Comer Fellow)
Roberto Filippi
Meredith Kelly (University Fellow)
Sangsuk Lee (Comer Fellow)
Zhongqin Li (Fellow)
Matt Makou (Byrd Fellow)
Tracy A. Mashiotta
Ninglian Wang (Byrd Fellow)
YouQing Wang (Visiting Scholar)
Guangjian Wu (Visiting Scholar)
Former Students
Todd Albert (M.S., 2000)
Deborah Bathke (Ph.D., 2004)
Elizabeth Birkos (M.S., 2009)
Aron Buffen (M.S., 2008)
Amanda Cavin (M.S.)
Brent Christner (Ph.D.)
Paul Dickfoss (M.S., 1996)
Robert Hellström (Ph.D., 1995)
Keith A. Henderson (Ph.D., 2002)
Lindsey Higgins (M.S., 2012)
Jeff Johnson (M.A., 2003)
Katelyn Johnson (M.S., 2012)
Natalie Kehrwald (Ph.D., 2009)
Neil Mackinnon (M.A., 1997)
Bryan Mark (M.S., 1995)
Chris Readinger (M.S., 2003)
David Urmann (Ph.D., 2009)
Lijia Wei (Ph.D., 2008)

Research Staff

Lonnie Thompson

Lonnie G. Thompson

Distinguished University Professor, Geological Sciences

Byrd Polar Research Center, Research Scientist

M.S. and Ph.D (Geological Sciences), The Ohio State University

B.S. (Geology), Marshall University

E-mail: thompson.3@osu.edu

Phone: (614) 292-6652

More about Lonnie Thompson:

Full Vita    Short Vita

Ice Man: Lonnie Thompson (written by Kevin Krajick, Science, October 18, 2002)

El Nino: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather-Maker by Madeline Nash, Warner Books.



Ellen Mosley-Thompson

Ellen Mosley-Thompson

Professor, Geography (Climate and Atmospheric Sciences)

Byrd Polar Research Center, Research Scientist

M.A. and Ph.D, Geography: Climatology, The Ohio State University

B.S., Physics, Marshall University

E-mail: thompson.4@osu.edu

Phone: (614) 292-6662

Click here to visit Ellen's geography department web page

Full Vita    Short Vita



Henry H. Brecher

Research Associate (Retired)

B.M.E., Mechanical Engineering, 1955, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

M.Sc., Geodetic Science, 1966, The Ohio State University

B.S.Ph.E., Photogrammetry, 1969, I.T.C., Delft, Netherlands

"A.B.D", Geodetic Science, 1974, The Ohio State University

E-mail: brecher.1@osu.edu

Phone: (614) 292-6461

Henry is retired but still active at BPRC. His expertise is in application of standard photogrammetric and surveying techniques to glaciology, such as studies of the extent and motion of glaciers and ice sheets. He has conducted many years of field work in polar and glaciated mountain regions in both hemispheres and continues to enjoy opportunities to do so even after a 40-plus year "career".


Mary Davis

Mary Davis

Research Associate

Ph. D. Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2002

M.A. Geology, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1982

B.S. Geology, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1979

E-mail: davis.3@osu.edu

Phone: 614-247-7967

Mary's specialization is in the measurement of particle concentrations and size distributions in ice cores, and particle characterization using light microscope, scanning electron microscope and electron microprobe techniques. She has participated in field programs in China, Peru, and Africa. Mary's dissertation is entitled "Climatic Interpretations of Aeolian Dust Records from Low-latitude, High-alititude Ice Cores." (2002)


Paolo Gabrielli

Paolo Gabrielli

Research Scientist, School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center

Ph.D., Ocean Atmosphere Hydrology (Univ. J. Fourier of Grenoble (LGGE-CNRS), France and University Ca'Foscari of Venice, Italy; the equivalent of two Ph.D. degrees), 2004

M.S., Laurea in Environmental Sciences, University Ca'Foscari of Venice, 1998

Phone: 614-292-6664 Fax: 614-292-4697

E-mail: gabrielli.1@osu.edu

Short VitaList of Publications

Dr. Gabrielli's primary interest is in the study of ice cores with emphasis on paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions. In particular, he has developed an interest in trace elements analysis in polar ice cores, with special focus on cosmic input of extraterrestrial material, trace elements geochemical cycles and their relation to past environmental changes such as variations in climatic conditions and large-scale atmospheric transport.

Recently, Dr. Gabrielli has developed a new lab at The Ohio State University for the determination of very low trace element concentrations in glacier ice by ICP-SFMS. Now he uses trace elements to reconstruct the sources of dust and pollutants deposited on the ice fields at mid- and tropical latitudes. Presently he is focusing on ice core archives from the highest elevations in the world such us those in Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), the Himalayas and Quelccaya (Peru).

Since 2009, Dr. Gabrielli leads a large international program to study climatic and environmental changes on Mt. Ortles (South Tyrol, Italy): four cores have been drilled on Mt. Ortles during fall 2011 and an extensive educational outreach program has been established. Dr. Gabrielli has also participated in field programs in Antarctica (EPICA Dome C and Talos Dome), in the Alps (Colle Gnifetti), in Peru (Quelccaya and Hualcan) and Papua (Irian Jaya).



W. David Lape

Senior Instrument Maker

Dave Lape works with the ice core group to manufacture the various ice core drills, winches and other drill related components. Dave maintains a top notch machine shop where he works closely to assist Victor Zagorodnov in the fabrication of nearly all components of our ice core drill systems. Dave also supports the design and engineering needs of the other research groups in BPRC.

E-mail: lape.1@osu.edu



Ping-Nan Lin

Ping-Nan Lin

Research Associate

Ph.D., Trace Element and Isotope Geochemistry, Program in Geosciences, University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)

M.S., Marine Geology, Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University

B.S., Marine Geology, Department of Oceanography, College of Chinese Culture

email: plin@pop.service.ohio-state.edu

phone: (614) 292-6361

Before coming to the Byrd Center, Dr. Lin participated in a marine geophysical survey, aboard the R/V 'CHIU-LIEN' (National Taiwan University) and in the 1985 Seamount lava dredging, aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson (University of Washington). He served as a meteorologist in the Air force military service, Taiwan. He also gained experience in geothermal stable isotope (oxygen and hydrogen) studies while working for the Industrial Technology Research Institute, in Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. His current research involves the analysis of stable isotopic (oxygen and hydrogen) ratios in ice cores collected from many parts of the world. He is also exploring the use of trace amounts of Nd and Sr isotopes as indicators of moisture source history.


Victor Zagorodnov

Victor Zagorodnov

Research Associate

Ph.D., Ground Hydrology (Glaciology), Institute of Geography, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1985

Thesis: "Effect of melt water on structure and hydro-thermal regime of Svalbard glaciers."

M.S. (EE), Moscow Power Engineering Institute, 1975

email: zagorodnov.1@osu.edu

phone: (614) 688-3932

Victor studies the hydro-thermal regime, and the structure of polar and sub-polar glaciers in the Eurasian Arctic. Data derived from deep ice cores were used to reconstruct climatic conditions on Svalbard and Severnaya Zemlaya during the last 4000 years. Currently Victor is preparing for a deep ice coring project on Graham Bell Island, Franz Jozef Land (Russia). It is anticipated that the paleoclimatic history from the new core will contribute to the completion of the Holocene history of the Eurasian Arctic. Victor is also developing new methods for continuous ice core analyses, ice core drilling and borehole logging. Victor has participated in over 20 expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic as well as on numerous mountains glaciers in Russia, Africa, China and Bolivia. His thermal-alcohol drill system was used in May 2002 to recover a 460-meter long core to bedrock on the Bona-Churchill col in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains of southeastern Alaska.



Post-Doctoral Fellows



Roxana Sierra

Roxana Sierra

Postdoctoral Researcher

Ph.D., Environmental Sciences, Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University

M.Sc., Environmental Sciences, Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University

B.S., Chemistry, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicas, IPN, Mexico

E-mail: sierra-hernandez.1@osu.edu

Roxana joined the ice core paleoclimate group in February, 2011. Her research involves the chemical and particulate analysis of ice cores from the Bruce Plateau ice core drilled on the Antarctic Peninsula in 2010.



Chiara Uglietti

Chiara Uglietti

Byrd Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Switzerland, 2009

M.Sc., Environmental Sciences, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2002

E-mail: uglietti.1@osu.edu

Phone: (614) 292-2682

Dr. Uglietti's current research is focusing on the trace metal analysis of an ice core retrieved from Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru. This ice core represents a unique opportunity to constrain the environmental variability of the tropics, particularly of the Peruvian Andes, which has been affected by pollution due to metals exploitation.



Graduate and Undergraduate Students



Brad Goodwin

Brad Goodwin

Ph.D. Candidate

M.S., Environmental Engineering, Washington University, 2005
Thesis Title: "Measurement of Ambient Black Carbon and Sulfate Aerosols at High Time Resolution"

B.S., Applied Science (Chemical Engineering), Washington University, 2003

E-mail: goodwin.204@osu.edu

Brad joined the ice core research group in August, 2010. His previous research was in the measurement of ambient air quality with a focus on black carbon and sulfate aerosols. Brad is the recipient of a Distinguished University Fellowship. His Ph.D. research will involve ice cores from the Antarctic Peninsula.

Advisor: Ellen Mosley-Thompson



Donaldi Permana

Donaldi S. Permana

Ph.D. Student

School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center

M.S., Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2011

Thesis Title: "Climate, Precipitation Isotopic Composition and Tropical Ice Core Analysis of Papua, Indonesia"

B.S., Mathematics, University of Indonesia, 2003

E-mail: permana.5@osu.edu, donaldi.permana@bmkg.go.id

Phone: (614) 247-8909

C.V.

Donaldi came to OSU in 2009 and joined the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group as a Masters student. His research interests involve past, present and future climate variability over Indonesia. Presently, his study focuses on reconstructing the past climate and environment over Indonesia region, in particular temperature and precipitation using stable isotopic ratio of oxygen and hydrogen, major ions, and dust concentration contained in Papua ice cores. In addition, the relationship between the reconstructed past climate with the ENSO variations and the monsoon systems in the tropical Pacific will be investigated. In summer 2010, Donaldi spent time in the field recovering the Papua ice cores and rain samples in Papua, Indonesia. Currently, Donaldi has worked with the Research and Development Center of Indonesia Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) since 2006.

Advisor: Lonnie G. Thompson



Karl Philippoff

Karl Philippoff

M.S. Student (second year)
School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center

Thesis Title: "What are the causes of tropical ice core δ18O variations? An investigation using coral and instrumental data on the Dasuopu ice core, southern Tibetan Plateau"

B.S., Environmental Science; B.A., Chemistry; University of Virginia, 2009

E-mail: philippoff.1@osu.edu

Karl joined the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group in September 2011 as a Masters student and was the recipient of a University Fellowship. His undergraduate research focused on the recovery of the Arctic boundary layer ozone concentrations after tropospheric ozone depletion events. His current research interests include determining the important influences on tropical glacier stable isotopic variations in a monsoon-dominated climate regimes through the examination of the Dasuopu ice core and corals from the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Advisor: Lonnie G. Thompson



Stacy Porter

Stacy Porter

Ph.D. Candidate
Atmospheric Sciences Program and Byrd Polar Research Center

M.S., Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009

B.S., Atmospheric Sciences, University of North Carolina Asheville, 2006

E-mail: porter.573@osu.edu

Phone: 614-688-8603

Upon receiving her B.S. in 2006, Stacy began working with the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC before pursuing her M.S. at UAF. Her previous work included the investigation of the impacts of ship emissions on coastal landscapes of Southwest Alaska using the WRFChem model. Her current research focuses on the Crawford Point, Greenland ice core record, in conjunction with previous ice core records from the PARCA program, with an application toward atmospheric circulation phenomena, such as the NAO.

Advisor: Ellen Mosley-Thompson



Dan Miller

Dan Miller

Undergraduate Student
Atmospheric Sciences and Economics, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2013 (expected)

E-mail: miller.4460@osu.edu

Dan began his undergraduate studies in 2009 at OSU as an honors Geography major. He is currently completing his undergraduate degree as a double honors major in Atmospheric Sciences and Economics, with a minor in Mathematics. Upon graduating in the spring, Dan plans on pursuing a graduate degree in climatic studies or paleoclimatology.





Former Research Staff and Post-Doctoral Fellows



Broxton W. Bird

Now Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences
Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis

E-mail: bird.102@osu.edu

Phone: (317) 274-7468

Website

Dr. Bird uses the geochemical and physical properties of lake sediments to explore the spatial and temporal patterns of late quaternary climate changes and their underlying mechanisms at time-scales relevant to human society.  His previous work has included reconstructions of late Holocene Arctic temperatures and Holocene South American summer monsoon variability at annual to decadal scales.  His current research as a Byrd Postdoctoral Fellow is focused on reconstructing Asian monsoon variability during the last 2000 years using lake sediments from the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya and comparing these records with ice cores from these regions. 



Jihong Cole-Dai

Now Assistant Professor in Chemistry at South Dakota State University

Jihong's web site

E-mail: Jihong_Cole-Dai@sdstate.edu



Keqin Duan

Former Byrd Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Ice Core Paleoclimate (glaciology) and Global Climate Change), Cold and Arid Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 2000

B.S., Atmospheric Physics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China, 1994

email: kqduan@lzb.ac.cn

phone: (614) 247-8909

Dr. Duan takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigating climatic and environmental change. His specific interests are in the recovery of climatic and environmental records from snow and ice in the high mountains, particularly those in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan Plateau. His current research focuses on the reconstruction of Indian Monsoon variability. In addition he has surveyed glacier variations on the Tibetan Plateau and participated in 10 field expeditions to the high glaciers of Tibet. Dr. Duan will spend 18 months at the Byrd Polar Research Center.



P. Ross Edwards

Former Byrd Postdoctoral Fellow

Ross is now a Senior Research Fellow at Curtin University of Technology, Western Australian in the Department of Imaging and Applied Physics.

E-mail: R.Edwards@curtin.edu.au



Y.C. Fang

Comer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Ph.D., Environmental Science Graduate Program, 2004
(Advisor: Franklin W. Schwartz, Eminent Scholar, Department of Geological Sciences)
Thesis title: Scientific Research Impact and Data Mining Applications in Hydrogeology

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Master of Applied Statistics, Department of Statistics, 1998

National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering,1995

Email: fang.29@osu.edu

Telephone: 614-247-8909

YC Fang, a native of Taiwan, came to United States in 1995 after receiving his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University. In 1998, he received his M.S. degree in Applied Statistics from The Ohio State University (OSU), after which he joined the research group of Frank Schwartz, Eminent Scholar in the Geology Department at OSU. His first project was the 3-D in-situ destruction of chlorinated contaminant by oxidation flooding scheme in a simulated groundwater system. In 2000, his advisor inspired him to shift gears to research on scientific impact analysis using data mining techniques. His started to combine his background in statistics with data mining to discover interesting patterns in citation data.

In October 2004 YC joined the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group as a Comer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. His research focuses on ice core data assimilation and the development of mathematical and statistical methods for extracting spatial and temporal climate patterns from these unique, long-term paleoclimatic datasets. In addition to his scientific interests, YC is also an active choral singer in the University.



Roberto Filippi

Roberto Filippi

Visiting Scientist

M.S., Geology, Università di Padova

B.A., Geology, Università di Padova

C.V.

Project title: "Application of GIS systems to the glaciological digital mapping: from the tropical ice caps of Quelccaya (Peru) and Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) to the glaciers of the Province of Trento"

Roberto came to OSU in Spring Quarter, 2009 as a Visiting Scholar in the Byrd Polar Research Center. He previously received a B.A. and a M.S. from University of Padua (Italy) with a major in Geology. Filippi worked on a project focusing on digital mapping, remote sensing and aerial/terrestrial photogrammetry applied to tropical and alpine glaciers. He was hosted by BPRC and the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali (Trento, Italy). His position va- funded by the Fondazione Caritro, Italy. Roberto participated in the Quelccaya-Hualcan (Peru) field program and he also took part in the Antarctic Peninsula ice core drilling project that is part of the NSF IPY Larissa Project (December, 2009 - February, 2010).



Meredith Kelly

Former University Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland, 2003

M.S., Quaternary Studies, University of Maine, 1999

B.S., Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, Tufts University, 1995

E-mail: meredith@ldeo.columbia.edu

Website: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~meredithkelly/

Meredith is now an Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.



Sangsuk Lee

Comer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Environmental Science (Environmental Geochemistry; Watershed Hydrology), The Ohio State University

M.S., Material Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Korea

B.S., Material Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Korea

email: lee.1099@osu.edu

phone: (614) 688-8603

Sangsuk majored in material science and engineering for his bachelor's and master's degrees at POSTECH, a top-ranked university in Korea. His incessant passion for better environmental conservation was his primary motivation for attaining his Ph.D. in Environmental Science. His doctoral research was conducted under the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Geological Sciences, Frank Schwartz, involved in elucidating geochemical responses of urban streams to storms from chemical hydrologic perspectives.

Sangsuk joined the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group as a Comer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. He has been developing protocols for the analysis of black carbon (along with organic carbon) preserved in ice cores with the goals of addressing anthropogenic emissions over the last few hundred years and reconstructing fire histories over thousands of years. As another project, he has completed the melt layer stratigraphy of the Quelccaya and Coropuna ice cores recovered in 2003 from the high tropical, southwestern Andes of Peru, and the results are going to be compared with other ice core proxies (i.e., stable isotopes) for better understanding of the trends of regionally-averaged surface temperatures. In addition, he has been attempting to assess the potential hydrologic impact that the ongoing disappearance of tropical glaciers in South America and East Africa will have on the water sources and ecosystems in the watersheds of the glaciers by employing the isotopic geochemistry of the snow that currently accumulates on the glaciers. One of his long-term goals is to investigate novel methods for effective carbon sequestration to moderate future anthropogenic warming of the Earth.



Zhongqin Li

Zhongqin Li is now Director of the Tianshan Glaciological Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Station supports 17 scientists and staff and operates year round. The Station web page is under development.

email: lizq@ns.lzb.ac.cn



Matt Makou

Matt Makou

Previously: Byrd Postdoctoral Fellow

E-mail: makou.1@osu.edu

Matt is now Maître de Conférences in the Département des Sciences de la Terre, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France.

Matt joined the group in February 2007 to construct paleoclimate records from molecular organic matter trapped in ice. As part of his graduate study, Matt employed biomarkers in marine sediments and ice to investigate tropical climate variability since the last glacial period, with an emphasis on abrupt changes in ENSO. His interests involve expanding the range of climate information available from stratigraphic archives through organic geochemical analyses and developing new analytical techniques.



Tracy Mashiotta

Tracy A. Mashiotta

Tracy now works in Houston, Texas for Dynamic Graphics, Inc., headquartered in Alameda, CA and specializing in geospacial visualization software.

E-mail: mashiotta.1@osu.edu



Ninglian Wang

Byrd Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph. D., Ice Core and Global Change (Glaciology), Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 2001

M. S., Glaciology, Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, CAS, 1991

B. S., Geography, Northwest University, Xi'an, P. R. China,1988

email: nlwang@ns.lzb.ac.cn

Wang's research interests include paleoclimatic reconstruction from the chemical and physical properties preserved in ice cores, correlation between the solar activity and the Earth's climate, the relationship of climatic changes in different areas, glacier fluctuations and the impact on water resources. He has conducted ice core drilling programs on the Tibetan Plateau and participated in glacier-water resource programs in western China. He has participated in over 10 expeditions to the high mountains for glaciological field studies. His research investigations have lead to development of a statistical model of the steady-state response of a mountain glacier to climate change, and provided evidence for the existence of sunspot cycles during the Maunder Minimum. Wang has found that during the Last Glacial Maximum the amplitude of the temperature decrease becomes enhanced with increasing altitude in the equatorial regions, and that the concentration of nitrate in the Guliya ice core from the Tibetan Plateau is positively correlated with solar activity.



YouQing Wang

YouQing Wang

Visiting Scholar

Ph.D., Ice Core Paleoclimate and Climate Variability, Cold and Arid Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2005

B.S., Department of Atmospheric Science, Lanzhou University, 1999

E-mail: wang.2762@osu.edu

Dr. Wang joined the group in August 2010 as a Visiting Scholar for 18-months. His permanent position is with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Science. Dr. Wang's research interests include (1) characterizing the nature of the variability in natural oscillatory signals (such as ENSO, NAO, AO, SO, PDO, etc.) as revealed in ice cores on the Tibetan Plateau, and (2) investigating the linkages between current climate changes on the Tibetan Plateau and global-scale climate changes and identification of the key drivers. His recent work characterizes and compares the high-resolution climatic changes as recorded in ice cores on the southern and northern Tibetan Plateau, which funded by the Chinese National Science Foundation.



Guangjian Wu

Visiting Scholar

Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Ice Core and Cold Regions Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2004

Ph.D., School of Resources and Environment, Lanzhou University, 2001

M.S., Department of Geography, Lanzhou University, 1998

B.S., Department of Geography, Lanzhou University, 1995

email: wugj@itpcas.ac.cn

phone: (614) 247-8909

Dr. Wu, a Visiting Scholar at BPRC, is a Postdoctoral Fellow from the Laboratory of Ice Core and Cold Regions Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Wu's research focuses on Central Asian atmospheric dust in ice cores recovered from the Tibetan Plateau and from loess sections in northwest China. He has participated in many Chinese ice core drilling programs and field expeditions to sample loess sections.



Former Students

Todd Albert

M.A. Geography (Atmospheric Sciences), The Ohio State University

B.S. in Geography, University of Florida, 1998

email: todd.albert@colorado.edu

Todd's Master's Thesis research uses remote sensing technique to monitor the retreat of tropical alpine glaciers. He has been funded as a teaching assistant in Geography and Atmospheric Sciences. Todd has also conducted research on the response in summer rainfall in Florida during extreme ENSO events, and worked as a research assistant on several other studies. His academic interests include paleoclimatology, climatological teleconnections, remote sensing, and natural hazards.
Todd's personal web page



Deborah Bathke

Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, March, 2004.

Dissertation Title: "Meteorological controls on the variability of net accumulation over Greenland."

M.S. Geosciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, August, 1998

B.S., Meteorology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, December, 1995/p>

Office phone: (505) 646-6327

E-mail: cocorahs@weather.nmsu.edu

Deb is now the Assistant State Climatologist for New Mexico. She is in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture.


Liz Birkos

Liz Birkos

M.S. Student
Thesis Title: "To Be Determined"

B.A., Geology and English, Vanderbilt University, 2005

email: birkos.1@osu.edu

Liz came to OSU in 2005 and joined the Ice Core Group as a Masters student.  She previously received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University with a double major in Geology and English.  Her research interests involve stable isotopes in tropical ice cores as recorders of temperature and precipitation.  Last summer Liz spent time in the field studying the Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru.



Aron Buffen

Aron Buffen

M.S. Student
Thesis Title: "Abrupt climate change in the mid-Holocene"

B.A., Geology, Colgate University, 2005

Undergraduate thesis: "Diatom assemblages in surface sediments of the northwestern Weddell Sea"

Buffen, A., A. Leventer, A. Rubin, and T. Hutchins. 2007. Diatom assemblages in surface sediments of the northwestern Weddell Sea, Antarctic Peninsula. Marine Micropaleontology 62, 7-30.

E-mail: buffen.1@osu.edu

Aron joined the ice core research group in 2005 after graduating from Colgate University. His undergraduate research focused on using the diatom record to reconstruct Holocene climate variability of the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula. Presently, Aron is studying changes in the mid-Holocene climate of South America. Aron's work has taken him to the former Larsen B Ice Shelf region of the Antarctic Peninsula and to the Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru.





Amanda Cavin

M.S. Geology, Department of Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2003

B.S. Geology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999

E-mail: cavin.13@osu.edu

Amanda's thesis research involved mapping and dating moraines in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska near the Bona-Churchill ice core site. She used remote sensing techniques and radiocarbon dating to determine glacier advance and retreat history. The glacial geologic history will ultimately be correleated to the ice core history being reconstructed from the 460-meter core collected in May 2002 from the Bona-Churchill col.



Brent Christner

After graduation Brent had a postdoctoral position with Dr. John Priscu at Montana State University for several years and in 2006 he joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University.

Visit Brent's webpage



Paul V. Dickfoss

Paul V. Dickfoss received his M.S. in Geological Science (1996) under the direction of Lonnie G. Thompson. His thesis title is "Stratified ice accumulations as a source of proxy climate data."



Robert Hellström

Rob Hellström received his M.S. degree in the Atmospheric Science Program of the Department of Geography (1995) under the direction of Ellen Mosley-Thompson. His thesis title is "The abrupt spring temerature rise and pressure increase over the Greenland Ice Sheet". Rob completed his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences under the direction of John Arnfield (Department of Geography).

E-mail: rhellstrom@bridgew.edu

Visit Rob's web page



Keith A. Henderson

Ph. D., Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2002

M.S. in Geological Science, The Ohio State University, 1996

B.S. in Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, May 1986

email: keith.henderson@psi.ch

Keith's Master's thesis is entitled "The El Niño Southern Oscillation and other modes of interannual tropical climate variability as recorded in ice cores from the Nevado Huascarán col, Peru" and his dissertation is entitled "An Ice Core Paleoclimate Study of Windy Dome, Franz Josef Land (Russia): Development of a Recent Climate History for the Barents Sea."

Keith left Ohio State for a postdoctoral position at Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland where he continued the previous work at Uvi-Berne by V. Lavanchy in extending the paleorecord of carbonaceous particle deposition from Alpine ice cores, as well as beginning this analysis on other cores from both the Altai and Andes mountain ranges. Black (or 'Elemental') carbon in the atmosphere has recently been understood to be a major factor in the total radiation budget of the global atmosphere as it responds to new input sources in the "anthropogenic era."



Lindsey Higgins

Lindsey Higgins

M.A., The Ohio State University, 2012
Thesis Title: "Construction and Analysis of an Ice Core-Derived Melt History from West Central Greenland (1765-2006)"
Department of Geography and Byrd Polar Research Center

B.A., Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo State, 2010

E-mail: lindsey.higgins@natgeo.su.se

Lindsey is now in the Ph.D. program in the Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University.

Lindsey received her B.A. in Geography with minors in Meteorology/Climatology and Anthropology which grew to an interest in Paleoclimatology. Previous research projects have included a satellite based climatology of lake effect clouds over the Great Lakes as well as an investigation into nighttime temperature phenomena in Upstate New York. Lindsey then worked as a graduate research assistant with Ellen Mosley-Thompson while working on her Master's degree.



Jeff Johnson

M.A., Climatology, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 2003

Thesis Title: "Volcanic signatures in Greenland ice cores: An investigation of the volcano-climate connection with an emphasis on the Laki Eruption."

B.S.E., Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1993

E-mail: johnson.980@osu.edu



Katelyn Johnson

Katelyn Johnson

M.S., School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center, 2012
Thesis Title: "Investigating the usage of transpacific ice cores as a proxy for El Niño-Southern Oscillation dynamics"
Advisor: Lonnie G. Thompson

B.S., Meteorology, Texas A&M University, 2010

E-mail: johnson.4457@osu.edu

Katelyn joined the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group in September 2010 after graduating from Texas A&M University. Her undergraduate research focused on aerosol nucleation events near the Southern Great Plains ARM site and in the Bryan-College Station Area. Her research interests include black carbon deposition, stable isotopes, and the impacts of climate change on agrarian societies in the tropics.



Natalie Kehrwald

Ph.D. Candidate
Dissertation topic: "Monsoon variability recorded in high-altitude ice cores"

M.S., Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2004

Master's thesis:"Investigating the use of oxygen-isotope variations in land-snail shells in European loess as a paleoclimate record"

B.A., Environmental Science/Geology, Colorado College, 1999

email: kehrwald.1@osu.edu

phone: (614) 688-8603

Natalie Kehrwald came to OSU in Fall Quarter, 2004 as a Ph. D student in the Department of Geological Sciences.  Before coming to OSU, Natalie studied stable isotopes in precipitation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Natalie also served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer on the Bolivian altiplano where she created a municipal radio station and analyzed local water supplies.


Neil Mackinnon

Neil Mackinnon received his M.A. in the Department of Geography (1997) under the direction of Ellen Mosley-Thompson. His thesis title is "The application of remote sensing and geographic information system technologies to the monitoring of montane glaciers: A case study of the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru". Neil has returned to Scotland to pursue a career in the area of GIS technologies.



Bryan Mark

Bryan Mark received his M.A. in the Department of Geography (Climatology, 1995) under the direction of Ellen Mosley-Thompson. His thesis title is "Temporal and spatial analysis of South Pole snow accumulation." Bryan received his Ph.D. at Syracuse University under the direction of Geoffrey Seltzer. In 2004 Bryan joined the faculty in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University.

email: mark.9@osu.edu

Visit Bryan's web page



Chris Readinger

M.S. Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 2003

Thesis Title: The North Atlantic and Pacific Oscillations and Their Imprint on Greenland's Climate Record.

B.S. in Meteorology from Millersville University, Pennsylvania- December 2000

E-mail: creadinger@yahoo.com

After graduation, Chris took a job with CSA in Bethesda, Maryland.



Dave Urmann

David Urmann

Ph.D. Candidate
Dissertation topic: "A 1000-year record of ENSO and its response to climate"

M.S., Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2004

Thesis Title: "ENSO and PDO variability in ice core and lake level records over the past century."

B. S. Geology, Utah State University, 1997

email: urmann.1@osu.edu

In the Spring of 2005, David Urmann joined the ice core group as a Ph.D. student. His thesis will focus on reconstructing the history of ENSO events from the Bona Churchill (Alaska) and Quelccaya (Peru) ice cores.



Lijia Wei

Ph.D. Candidate
Dissertation topic: "Statistical analysis of the atmosphere's chemical history recorded in the Greenland (PARCA) ice cores"

M.S., Geochemistry, Nanjing University, China, 2004

Thesis Title: Research on the climatic and environmental record in the snow pits along the glacial profile from Zhongshan Station to Dome A, Antarctica

B.S., Geology, Nanjing University, China, 2001

E-mail: wei.103@osu.edu

Phone: (614) 688-8603

On September 24, 2007 Lijia received the first Rick Toracinta Graduate Scholarship in Atmospheric Science (see photo at right).

Lijia Wei came to OSU in Fall Quarter, 2004 as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography's Climate and Atmospheric Sciences Program. Lijia is the recipient of a University Fellowship. Her Ph.D. research project will include the reconstruction of the history of volcanically derived sulfate fluxes as recorded in Greenland ice cores.