The Ice & Ocean Group is a research group in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia focused on glacier and ice sheet behavior, subglacial environments, and ice-ocean interactions. The distinct sediments and landforms preserved in deglaciated terrains allow us to track past and current glacial system change, as well as glacial and marine processes. 

Funding for our research comes from the NSF Office of Polar Programs, International Union for Quaternary Research, UVA H.G. Goodell Endowment, and UVA Committee on Sustainability. We propose the research questions and activities, and funders decide to, well, fund us or not. 

Principal Investigator (PI) of the Ice & Ocean Group & Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Virginia

The people of the Monacan Nation are the traditional custodians of the land where we work and live and where the University of Virginia resides.

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Latest publications

Exceptions to bed-controlled ice sheet flow and retreat
from glaciated continental margins worldwide, published by Science Advances in 2021. 

Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry, published by The Cryosphere in 2020.

Foraminiferal patterns in deglacial sediment in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica: life near grounding lines, published Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology in 2020.

Timing and pathways of East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat, published in Quaternary Science Reviews in 2020. 

What we are reading

Quick reads:

• Hidden Curriculum, on the unwritten rules of academic culture by the the Great Schools Partnership.
• “Safe fieldwork strategies for at-risk individuals, their supervisors and institutions” by Demery and Pipkin (2002) in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Longer reads:

• Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene paleoceanography of Ross Sea, an article by Melis et al. (2021) in the Journal of Micropalaeontology. 

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Archived readings.

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Let's talk! We are happy to talk with you about research, technical skills, datasets, and more. Email lsimkins at virginia.edu to contact Dr. Simkins or to ask for the email address of the group member you wish to contact.

The Ice & Ocean Group is not accepting new graduate students in the 2021-2021 academic year; however, we are happy to steer you toward opportunities elsewhere. Check out this great resource to help you in the graduate school application process.

If you are looking for postdoctoral research opportunities, are eligible to apply for the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (NSF OPP) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and are interested in our research, please contact Dr. Simkins before the end of April to determine if we are research-compatible and to allow you time to meet the 18 June 18 2021 deadline. Dr. Simkins would determine if your proposal idea is novel and feasible, review the proposal documents, and write a letter of collaboration as the supervising researcher.