Matthew Druckenmiller

Research Interests

Matthew Druckenmiller is a Research Scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) within CIRES at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since 2006, Matthew has worked within the coastal regions of Arctic Alaska, investigating the connections between changing sea ice conditions and marine mammal habitat and local Indigenous community use of sea ice for hunting and travel.

Currently, he serves as Director of the Navigating the New Arctic Community Office (NNA-CO) and co-leads the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA). Matthew also serves as the Lead U.S. Delegate to the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), an editor for the Arctic Report Card, and an editor for the Arctic Chapter within the annual BAMS State of the Climate Report.

Research interests include:

• Coastal sea-ice dynamics
• Collaborating with Indigenous sea-ice experts
• Sea ice and marine mammals
• Community-based monitoring and data management
• Arctic observing systems
• Science policy
• Communicating the societal implications of Arctic climate and environmental change

Previously, Matthew has served as a Science Policy Fellow at the National Academies’ Polar Research Board (2005), a project manager at the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (2006), a Postdocs Applying Climate Expertise (PACE) Fellow (2011-2013), and a AAAS Science Policy Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development (2013-2015). 

Matthew earned his PhD in geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2011), and is originally from Trout Run, Pennsylvania.