Mary Albert

Albert was an undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University. She first studied mathematics, before moving to Dartmouth College for graduate studies. Her master's work developed two-dimensional models to understand freezing using a moving mesh finite element approach.[1] After earning her master's degree in engineering sciences, she moved to the University of California, San Diego. Her doctoral research considered the growth of wavy ice in forced flow.[2] She joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab (CRREL),[3] where she developed computational models to understand two-dimensional heat conduction.[4]

At Dartmouth, Albert is a member of the Ice Research Laboratory.[5] The laboratory looks to advance understanding of ice-related phenomena and train the next generation of polar researchers.[6][7] She makes use of polar ice cores to better understand the climate catastrophe as well as developing adaptation strategies for communities to survive as the world's climate changes.[8][9] Albert has been involved with scientific expeditions to Greenland and Antarctica.[10] On these missions, she uses shallow radar, GPS and satellite imagery to understand the processes that go on in polar regions.[3] In particular, Albert has studied ancient snow known as firn, which provides insight into 800,000 years of climate.[11] She extracts firn from ice sheets, examines the firn's microstructure and monitors how it traps atmospheric gases.[11] Albert worked with people from Qaanaaq to build renewable energy infrastructure that serves the northernmost communities of Greenland.[12][13]

Albert has served on various national committees considering ice and polar science.[8] Albert serves as executive director of the United States Ice Drilling Program,[14] which is supported by the National Science Foundation.[15] The Ice Drilling Program oversees planning for ice coring and drilling.[15] The program releases regular white papers,[16] maintains an equipment inventory[17] and runs a comprehensive education program.[18]

• S. V. Nghiem; D. K. Hall; T. L. Mote; et al. (October 27, 2012). "The extreme melt across the Greenland ice sheet in 2012". Geophysical Research Letters. 39 (20). Bibcode:2012GeoRL..3920502N. doi:10.1029/2012GL053611. ISSN 0094-8276. Wikidata Q57250917.
• NEEM community members (January 1, 2013). "Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core". Nature. 493 (7433): 489–494. doi:10.1038/NATURE11789. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 23344358. Wikidata Q34324013.
• Mary R Albert; Edward F Shultz (May 2002). "Snow and firn properties and air–snow transport processes at Summit, Greenland". Atmospheric Environment. 36 (15–16): 2789–2797. Bibcode:2002AtmEn..36.2789A. doi:10.1016/S1352-2310(02)00119-X. ISSN 1352-2310. Wikidata Q57250944.

Albert is married to a geophysicist with whom she has two children. Both of her children are engineers.[9]