Brianna Rick

A Minnesota native, Bri Rick is a current ORISE Post-doctoral fellow with the AK CASC. She studies cryo-geohazards with an emphasis on remote sensing of glaciers and ice-marginal lakes. Bri received her undergraduate degree in geology from Carleton College which included study-abroad research in Norway and field work on Baranof Island in southeast Alaska. After doing research in Switzerland on a Fulbright scholarship she did her Master’s work at the University of Montana in Missoula with a field site at UAF’s Toolik Field Station studying permafrost dynamics and the effects of vegetative greening on active layer thickness. During her PhD she worked as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, focusing more directly on the connections between human systems and geohazards across the cryosphere.

Bri continues this work with the AK CASC. An aspect of her work focuses on remote sensing to monitor changes in ice-marginal lakes, including glacier dammed lakes where cyclical draining has impacts on downstream ecosystems and infrastructure. Additionally, she is working with hydrologists to better understand how changes in glacier characteristics can shift streamflow regimes in glacier-fed stream systems. Bri has also served as a science instructor for the AK CASC-hosted Girls* on Ice expedition in 2023.