Bio

Cecilia Bitz, Chair and Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Washington, is also faculty in the university's Program on Climate Change and the Future of Ice Initiative, with a research focus on ice and climate interactions, especially involving sea ice. Her research group is actively investigating Arctic sea-ice predictability. She co-leads the Sea Ice Prediction Network, which manages the SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook, and she also co-leads the Polar Climate Prediction Initiative of the World Climate Research Program.

She testified before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Arctic climate change. She is an active volunteer and science advisor to Polar Bears International. She is a member of the Washington State Academy of Science. She won the 2013 Rosenstiel award for Oceanography and Meteorology and the 2013 Ascent award for the Atmospheric Sciences section of the American Geophysical Union. She holds a master of science degree in physics (1990) and a doctorate in atmospheric science (1997), both from the University of Washington, where she has spent most of her professional career. In 2013-14, Bitz was a Fulbright Senior Scholar to New Zealand, during which time she did field work in Antarctica.

She is the principal author or co-author of upwards of 100 refereed and non-refereed publications and reports. Apart from her service and teaching at the University of Washington, her professional service includes most recently membership on the Advisory Committee for the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs; the National Academy of Sciences Committee on "Subseasonal-to-Seasonal Prediction"; and the Advisory Board of the Community Climate System Model.

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