Current Lab Members
Kaitlin Keegan (PI)
I’m fascinated by paleoclimate records and what they can tell us about Earth’s climate in the past and also how it may change in the future. I study the structure of snow, firn, and ice to help interpret the climate records that come from ice.
Contact: kkeegan@unr.edu
Drake McCrimmon (PhD Student)
I am interested in the relationship between glaciers, ice sheets, and climate. In the past, I’ve studied carbon cycling within glacial cryoconite, dark debris that increasingly covers glacier surfaces as they melt. Here at UNR, I’m investigating the link between ice chemistry and ice formation on ice sheets. Additionally, I’m interested in the use of ice cores for paleoclimate reconstruction. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, skiing, photography, and playing the banjo.
Dylen Swan (MS Student)
Dylen is investigating impact of accumulation rate on firn compaction and evolution at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. Outside of research, some of her hobbies include attending concerts/festivals, skiing, slacklining, hula-hooping, paddleboarding, and climbing.
Samantha Regalado (Undergraduate)
Sami is an undergraduate student in the Materials Science & Engineering department at UNR, and is working on quantifying firn microstructure complexity.
Lab Alumni
Ian McDowell (PhD, 2024)
Ian defended his dissertation “Advancing Observational and Modeling Capabilities of Meltwater-Firn Interactions in Ice Sheet Percolation Zones” in November 2024. He continues working on meltwater-firn interactions as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University (Ian’s website)
Justin Toller (MS, 2023)
Justin defended his thesis “Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method to Estimate the Air Transport Properties of Polar Firn” in May 2023, and is now a Geophysicist at the Desert Research Institute.
