About
In the Amundsen Sea with a jumbo piston core (JPC) barrel. JPCs collected aboard the RV/IB Nathaniel B. Palmer allow for up to 80 feet of sediment recovery, extending the instrumental record by tens of thousands of years.
Alie [BS, MS, PhD] is current postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia where she works in the Ice and Ocean Group to reconstruct processes beneath Antarctica’s glaciers using geologic and geochemical methods.
Her research aims to improve our understanding of geologic and hydrologic processes in the subglacial and grounding line-proximal environments. Results will inform and increase accuracy of ice sheet models, tools which are critical for global decision makers when designing data-driven climate policies and coastal resiliency strategies.
Supervising an undergraduate field trip, interpreting paleo-glacial flow direction using striations and scour marks on an oolitic limestone whaleback in northern New Jersey, USA (Fall 2016).
Teaching and Leadership
Alie is passionate about science communication and teaching the geosciences at the university level. She has significant classroom and field teaching experience and has led lab sections for courses including Structural Geology, Sedimentology and Stratigraphy, and Field Geology. In her current position at UVA, Alie has taught as the instructor of record for Fundamentals of Geology and Physical Hydrology labs, and adapted material for both courses to teach virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the lecture assistant for Fundamentals of Geology (Fall 2019), Alie designed and graded all course materials including exams, homework assignments, and in-class activities, for a class of 77 undergraduates (Fall 2019).
Alie views effective mentorship as a crucial element along her academic trajectory and finds mentoring undergraduate students to be very fulfilling. In Spring of 2022 she completed a short-course titled ‘Fundamentals of Learning for Science Mentors’ that explored different evidence-based teaching practices to become a stronger educator and mentor. Alie was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant scholarship by the MSU Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for her work with undergraduate students (2018) and regularly writes letters of recommendation for undergraduate students she has taught at UVA.
Alie is dedicated to rectifying the existing structures in higher education that contribute to the ‘leaky academic pipeline’ (recently, more aptly described as a game of Chutes and Ladders) and improving recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented backgrounds in the geosciences. To that end, she began working with the volunteer-run organization Polar Impact during the summer of 2020 as a co-organizer. Polar Impact is a network of racial & ethnic minorities and allies in the polar research community that aims to provide resources for and host events to support members who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian, a person of color, and a racial or ethnic minority. Her work within the organization has ranged from hosting virtual events, like the #COP26xPolarImpact social media takeovers, editing the quarterly newsletter, and collaboratively building the ongoing Polar Impact Mentorship Initiative. If you wish to learn more about Polar Impact, get involved as a volunteer, check out biographies of our Features, or make a donation to support ongoing and future activities, visit our website!
Within her department at UVA, Alie is involved with the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and has previously served on the leadership team as the Graduate Representative to the Faculty. In addition, she co-chaired the 36th annual EnviroDay, a research symposium organized by GSA that showcases the research of undergrad & graduate students, and postdocs in the Department of Environmental Sciences.