CV
Download slightly dated short-form CV here (last update: 19 Jan 2022).
Longer-form CV here (last update: 9 Jun 2023).
Current appointment
- 2021–: Middlebury College
- Assistant Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences
- Scholarly focus: Glaciology and modern climate
Major awards
Education
- Ph.D in Climate science, University of Michigan, 2018
- Dissertation title: Constraints on the dynamic contribution to 21st century sea level rise from Greenland outlet glaciers
- B.Sc.H. in Mathematical physics, Queen’s University, 2013
- Honours thesis title: Energy conditions with nonzero cosmological constant
Past appointments
- 2021: Georgia Institute of Technology
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Areas of focus: Ice sheet surface mass balance, stochastic modelling
- Advisor: Alex Robel
- 2018–2021: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Postdoctoral Associate
- Areas of focus: Ice fracture, remote sensing analysis, glacial water resources
- Advisor: Brent Minchew
- 2014–2018: University of Michigan
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Areas of focus: Numerical modelling of glacier dynamics, sea level change
- Advisor: Jeremy Bassis
- Course instructor, “Knowing Climate Change”
- Course consultant, Office for Community-Engaged Academic Learning
- Supervisor: Denise Galarza Sepulveda
- 2013-2014: AIESEC UK
- National Vice President for Organizational Development
- 2010–2012: Queen’s University
- Mathematics Tutor, Dept. of Athletics
- Courses tutored: Differential & integral calculus, Calculus for the life sciences, Elementary linear algebra, Ordinary differential equations
- 2011: University of Toronto
- Undergraduate Research Intern, Centre for Global Change Science
- Area of focus: Influence of surface hydrology on gravimetry estimates of polar ice loss
- Advisor: W. Richard Peltier
Specialized training and certifications
- Wilderness First Aid (SOLO certified through 2024)
- Mental Health First Aid (MHFA USA certified through 2025)
- Polar safety:
- Crevasse rescue and glacier travel (Ice Journey Iceland, trained 2022)
- NSF OPP Polar Risk Management (workshop co-organizer, 2021)
Publications
Ultee, L. and Bassis, J. N. (2016). "The future is Nye: an extension of the perfect plastic approximation to tidewater glaciers." Journal of Glaciology. 62(236): 1143-1152. doi: 10.1017/jog.2016.108
Ultee, L. and Bassis, J.N. (2017). "A plastic network approach to model calving glacier advance and retreat." Frontiers in Earth Sciences. 5(24). doi: 10.3389/feart.2017.00024
Boone, L., Ultee, L., Waisanen, E., Newell, J., Thorne, J.A. and Hardin, R. (2018). "Collaborative creation and implementation of a Michigan Sustainability Case on urban farming in Detroit." Case Studies in the Environment 2(1): 8-13. doi: 10.1525/cse.2017.000703
Ultee, L., Arnott, J. C., Bassis, J. N., and Lemos, M. C. (2018). "From ice sheets to main streets: Intermediaries connect climate scientists to coastal adaptation." Earth's Future 6(3): 299-304. doi:10.1002/2018EF000827
Bassis, J. N. and Ultee, L. (2019). "A thin film viscoplastic theory for calving glaciers:toward a bound on the calving rate of glaciers." Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 124. doi:10.1029/2019JF005160
Ultee, L., Meyer, C. R. and Minchew, B. M. (2020). "Tensile strength of glacial ice deduced from observations of the 2015 eastern Skaftá cauldron collapse, Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland." Journal of Glaciology FirstView. doi:10.1017/jog.2020.65
Ultee, L. and Bassis, J. N. (2020). "SERMeQ model produces a realistic upper bound on calving retreat for 155 Greenland outlet glaciers." Geophysical Research Letters 47(21): e2020GL090213. doi:10.1029/2020GL090213
Ultee, L., Coats, S., and Mackay, J. (2022). "Glacial runoff buffers droughts through the 21st century." Earth System Dynamics 13: 935-959. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-935-2022
Ultee, L., Felikson, D., Minchew, B., Stearns, L.A., and Riel, B. (2022). "Helheim Glacier ice velocity variability responds to runoff and terminus position change at different timescales." Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33292-y
Verjans, V., Robel, A., Seroussi, H., Ultee, L., and Thompson, A. (2022). "The Stochastic Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level System Model v1.0 (StISSM v1.0)." Geoscientific Model Development Article accepted. Preprint online: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-699
Teaching
Service and leadership
- MIT EAPS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
- Proposal reviewer: NASA Cryosphere section, NSF Office of Polar Programs, UK Natural Environment Research Council
- Reviewer: Nature, GRL, Global Environmental Change, The Cryosphere, Geosci. Model Dev., JAMES, Frontiers in Earth Sciences, Water Resources Research; IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
- Organizing committee chair, Michigan University-wide Sustainability & Environment Conference
- Skype a Scientist calls with 5 K-12 classrooms
Other skills
- Computing
- Python
- Mathematica
- LaTeX
- GitHub version control
- Languages
- Dutch (fluent)
- Spanish (good)
- German (fair)
- French (fair)
- Interpersonal
- Facilitation
- Mentoring
- Nonprofit management
