The 33rd Kuehnast Lecture in the Fields of Meteorology and Climatology will be held from 3-4:30 PM on Monday, November 9, 2026, featuring Alison Criscitiello. Dr. Criscitiello is an ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at University of Alberta, and co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada. Criscitiello explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Criscitiello's work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. She has earned the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, three American Alpine Club climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, and the 2025 Summit of Excellence Award from the Banff Centre in recognition of her contributions to Arctic science and the Canadian mountain community.
"Perspectives from new Canadian high Arctic and Mountain Ice Cores"
In this lecture, Dr. Criscitiello will share how Canada's first national ice core lab launched, and how her team of all women has built it into a hub for high altitude and northern climate research. We will look at the drilling success and first results from the 2022 Mount Logan ice core (327m), and the 2025 Axel Heiberg Island ice core (613m). These two ice cores represent significant advances in Canadian-led ice core science, with surprising results emerging from both climate records.
About the lecture series
In 1992, the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate was honored by the establishment of an endowment provided by the family of former Minnesota State Climatologist, Earl Louis, and his wife, Leila (Newbrough) Kuehnast. The endowment is used to further teaching and research programs in climatology and meteorology. The Kuehnast Lecture Series is sponsored by this endowment.