Programs

  • Royce Fellowship
David
Shean

Concentration 

Geology, Physics and Mathematics

Award Year 

2003
Glaciers and Ancient Climates on Mars: Implications for Future Exploration

Faculty Sponsor: James W. Head III

David investigated features on Mars that appeared to be the result of glacial processes in the recent geologic past and possibly the present. The implications of this research range from documenting evidence for Martian climate change to selecting suitable landing sites for future human and robotic exploration of Mars.

David Shean joined the Polar Science Center as a research associate in 2016. His current research relies on satellite/airborne/UAS remote sensing observations to study ice dynamics and mass balance in Antarctica, Greenland, and the Pacific Northwest. David received his Ph.D. in Earth and Space Sciences (2016) at the University of Washington, with PSC supervisor Ian Joughin. His Ph.D. research documented the evolution of Antarctic ice-shelf basal melt and ice-stream dynamics using high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from commercial stereo imagery.