Bio

Dr. M Jackson is a geographer, adventurer, environmental educator, 2018 TED Fellow, and National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer.

Dr. M Jackson studies and writes about glaciers and climate change. M earned a doctorate from the University of Oregon in geography and glaciology, where she examined how climate change transformed people and ice communities in Iceland. A veteran three time U.S. Fulbright Scholar in both Turkey and Iceland, M currently serves as a U.S. Fulbright Ambassador. M has served as an Arctic Expert for the National Geographic Society for nine years, holds a Masters of Science degree from the University of Montana, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia. She’s worked for over a decade in the Arctic chronicling climate change and communities, guiding backcountry trips and exploring glacial systems. Her 2015 book While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change weaves together the parallel stories of what happens when the climates of a family and a planet change. Her second book, The Secret Lives of Icelandic Glaciers, will be released in 2018. She is currently working on In Tangible Ice, a multi-year project partnering with NGS Explorers, filmmakers, and scientists examining the socio-physical dimensions of glacier retreat in near-glacier communities within all eight circumpolar nations.

Sub-specialties: Glaciology, Feminism, Feminist Glaciology, Social Impacts of Climate Change, Geography, Arctic