Faculty
Chris Maio
Associate Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks Director, Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab
Chris is a Professor of Geoscience at UAF and Director of the ACGL and Alaska Coastal Cooperative. His work focuses on coastal change and hazard processes in Arctic and sub-Arctic environments, including erosion, flooding, storm impacts, and long-term community resilience. His research is grounded in reciprocal partnerships with rural coastal communities, emphasizing co-production of knowledge, community-driven monitoring, and the translation of science into locally relevant planning and decision-making. Through ACC and ACGL, Chris leads large, collaborative initiatives that advance practical solutions and economic opportunities across Alaska’s coastline.
Jessica DePaolis
Research Faculty, Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab
Jess’s research focuses on reconstructing paleoenvironments (primarily from last 30,000 years) to understand earthquake, storm, and sea-level histories. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 with a B.S. in Environmental Geology. She went on to Virginia Tech where she completed her M.S. and Ph.D. studying earthquake and tsunami records along coastlines from Alaska to Chile. She joined the ACGL in early 2025 and is excited to be a part of projects analyzing Alaska’s storm history and reconstructing what life on the Bering Land Bridge would’ve looked like.
Matthew Balazs
Research Assistant Professor, Geophysical Institute; Deputy Director, Alaska Coastal Cooperative
Matthew's research applies geospatial science, remote sensing, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to study natural hazards, coastal change, and climate impacts in Alaska. He led the development of the widely used online UAS education courses centered on the basics of UAS and advanced operations, reaching learners from high school to professional levels. His current work emphasizes collaboration across disciplines and with local and Indigenous partners to co-produce knowledge that supports applied sciences and promotes resilient communities.
Nancy Bigelow
Research Faculty, Alaska Quaternary Center
Alaska Quaternary Center Website
Nancy's research focuses on Alaskan vegetation and landscape change over the past 20,000 to 125,000 years. This research places the recent changes into a long-term context. Of particular interest to her is the interaction between climate, vegetation, and landscape, all of which influence human and animal success across Alaska.
Current Graduate Students
Chris Tran
Chris's research focuses on assessing coastal erosion and addressing barriers to coastal hazard adaptation and mitigation on St. Paul Island, Alaska. He graduated at the University of Washington with a B.S in Environmental Sciences in 2016. In 2023 he joined ACGL and started to pursue his Masters in Geoscience and was accepted as a fellow in UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Tamamta program which centers Indigenous stewardship and bridging Indigenous and Western sciences in marine education and research. He is originally from Seattle and is now based in Anchorage.
Mike Willis
Mike graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Science from UAF in 2021 and began his M.S. in Geoscience in 2023. His project develops practical methods for creating reliable, baseline coastal elevation datasets by integrating community-based bathymetry with complementary data sources for geomorphic characterization and supporting local decision-making.
Reyce Bogardus
MS, 2019-2021, Graduated
Thesis: Identifying spatial patterns of storm driven flooding and erosion at Nelson Lagoon, Alaska.
Reyce's research focuses on quantifying storm histories derived from nearshore sedimentary records as well as simulating sea state conditions using hydrodynamic numerical modelling. Reyce graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in 2018 with a B.S. in Geoscience. He went on to earn his M.S. in Geoscience in 2019. He is currently in the Geoscience PhD program at UAF. Reyce began working with the ACGL in 2015.
Seth Classen
Seth is a current Earth Systems Science Master's student with a concentration in Geospatial Science. He graduated from the University of Alaska South-east with a B.A. in Geography and Outdoor Studies. His research is focused on applying geospatial methods to analyze coastal hazards threatening communities in western Alaska.
Current Interns
Ashley Brant
Ashley is an undergrad earning her bachelors in Geoscience with a concentration in Geospatial Science and a minor in Mathematics, expecting to graduate from UAF by May 2026. In ACGL she helps prepare lab kits for geoscience courses, creates maps for research sites, and updates the main website. Her internship experience has inspired a drive towards community hazard mitigation while her coastal hometown in San Diego fostered enthusiasm toward ocean geology. Outside of work she enjoys travelling, hiking, and tinkering with her computer.
Former Staff
Cheryl Kriska
Cheryl earned her B.S. in Geosciences with a concentration in Geospatial Sciences in August 2019. Cheryl is half Yup’ik and half Athabascan, she is currently using her knowledge to help assess coastal changes in rural communities while working at ACGL. She takes advantage of online classes with Esri to further her knowledge in ArcGIS, because the field of geospatial sciences is always developing. Her lifetime goal is to continue helping Alaskan rural communities in assessing temporal changes while developing strong relationships with those who seek to help them. Outside of work, Cheryl enjoys being outdoors and active. She spends her free time at fish camp, out hunting, out berry picking, and participating in general recreation whether it be her children’s or her own.
Shira Ellenson
After graduating from Cornell University with a BS in Natural Resources, Shira moved to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and worked in a variety of jobs from environmental education to ecological fieldwork. She came to Fairbanks in 2018 to begin work on wetland delineations and habitat mapping. Her research interests include geospatial analysis of landscape change and socio-ecological systems. Shira is excited about using her background in education to work with ACGL in enhancing scientific outreach with coastal villages. Outside of work, she enjoys rock climbing, backcountry snowboarding, and traveling.
Former Graduate Students
Harper Baldwin
MS, 2021-2024, Graduated
Harper graduated from Middlebury College in 2019 with a joint B.A. in Environmental Studies and Biology. In 2021, Harper joined the ACGL to pursue an M.S. in Geography, focusing on assessing historical and predicted flood hazards on St. Paul Island and Goodnews Bay. After graduating in 2024, Harper joined NOAA's Office for Coastal Management as an Alaska-focused Geospatial Analyst. In this role, she provides technical assistance to end-users of NOAA tools in Alaska and translates regional needs back to national staff.
Jessica Christian
MS, 2020-2023, Graduated
Thesis: Community based erosion monitoring in western Alaska
Jessie earned her B.S. in Marine Science at Coastal Carolina University, concentrating in coastal geomorphology. Her research focuses on coastal erosion in the Bristol Bay and Alaskan Gulf regions with community based monitoring methods. Her interests include studying coastal hazards and how they are affecting shorelines throughout the process of global climate change. In the future she wishes to continue working with rural communities in Alaska to study and monitor coastal change and how it is affecting them.
Lindsey Smith
MS, 2019-2022, Graduated
Thesis: Coastal wetland carbon and mineral responses to storm and
Lindsey earned her B.S. in Geology at Lake Superior State University, with an emphasis on fieldwork and geophysical techniques and instrumentation. Lindsey came to UAF in 2019 and has been part of the graduate program and ACGL for one year. Her research will focus on gamma spectroscopy of Lead and Cesium radioisotopes, preserved in sediment cores. Research goals focus on the potential applications in reconstructing paleoclimate, storm history, climate forecasting, and carbon stock assessments for Arctic coastlines.
Matthew Whitley
MS, 2015-2017, Graduated
Matthew helped form the ACGL with his research on the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta’s coastal permafrost geomorphology and hydrology. Matthew’s expertise lies in remote sensing, periglacial geology, and, of course, coastal geography. Since graduating with a Master’s in 2017, Matthew has worked for the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) creating a hazard monitoring system that provides near-real-time interferograms for earthquakes and volcanoes.
Richard Buzard
MS, 2015-2017, Graduated
Thesis: Spatiotemporal Patterns of Bluff Erosion at Goodnews Bay, Alaska.
Richard earned his B.S. in Environmental Science and Earth System Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell, where he worked on water quality analysis, performed hazard studies, and studied environmental policy. Through his studies, he found that low-income communities disproportionately suffered from natural hazards, and he began looking into low-cost techniques that could assist communities in mitigation and response. This brought him to UAF, where he began working with many remote Alaska Native villages to install community-based erosion monitoring sites for an Alaska Sea Grant project. He also began collecting unmanned aerial survey data in order to create highly detailed elevation models of the remote villages. After earning his M.S. in Geology and Remote Sensing, he continued to pursue a PhD in Geology at UAF. He has taken a leave of absence for the Digital Coast project with DGGS. When this project ends he plans to continue working on improving state resources for mitigating disasters.
Roberta Glenn
MS, 2019-2022, Graduated
Thesis: Documenting Coastal Change and Community-Based Observations in Alaska Communities.
Roberta is graduate student in the Geoscience department who got her B.S. in Geography at UAF, concentrating in Landscape Analysis and Climate Change Studies. Roberta is Iñupiaq and grew up in Utqiaġvik, a hub for Arctic research. She became interested in how climate change is affecting coastal communities through various mapping and GIS internships. Roberta has been involved with the DGGS Coastal Hazards Program mapping flood and erosion hazards for coastal communities in western Alaska since 2017. She is working toward a M.S. project mapping coastal change in Wainwright and the Bristol Bay region using historical aerial imagery and community-based methods of monitoring erosion. Roberta is interested in developing tools and methods that support community planning and climate change mitigation efforts in rural Alaska.
Former Interns
Autumn Fournier
Autumn earned her B.A. in Geography, with double minors in Geographic Information Systems, and Recreation and Guiding Management. Autumn’s research interests include coastal processes and hazards, and in the spring of 2020 she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina to continue her research and earn a M.S. in Geoscience. Once Autumn is finished with her education, she plans to work for a state or federal government agency, where she can continue to monitor coastal hazards. Outside of work and school, Autumn spends her free time downhill skiing, hiking, traveling and fishing.
David Harvey
David is current UAF geoscience undergraduate interested in volcanology and natural hazards. As a new sediment core intern in the ACGL, David has been assisting with Lindsey Smith’s lead and cesium radioisotope research while preparing to start his own project. His other research will focus on creating age models for Kodiak Island sediment cores based on carbon-14 age data. David is particularly interested in how the ages and compositions of several tephra layers within the Kodiak cores may help to tell part of the story of Alaska’s recent volcanic past.
