Britney E. Schmidt
2024 National Award Winner — Faculty
Current Position:
Associate Professor
Institution:
Cornell University
Discipline:
Physical Earth Sciences
Recognized for:
Advancing climate science and planetary habitability studies through groundbreaking research on ice-ocean interactions and innovative exploration of Earth’s polar regions and icy planetary bodies.
Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Planetary Science, Polar and Climate Science, Robotics
Previous Positions:
Associate Professor, Assistant Professor Georgia Tech
Associate Director, Georgia Tech Center for Space Tech and Research
Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Scientist, University of Texas, Austin
PhD in Physics, University of California Los Angeles (Christopher Russell)
MS in Physics, University of California Los Angeles (Christopher Russell)
BS in Physics, University of Arizona
Research Summary:
Understanding ice-ocean interactions is crucial for predicting the impacts of climate change and exploring planetary habitability. Britney Schmidt, PhD, and her team designed, built, and deployed Icefin, a remotely operated vehicle that provides unprecedented insights into Antarctic ice shelf melting and ocean circulation. Schmidt’s work solves key problems in ice dynamics and interaction with the ocean and offers novel comprehensive views of sub-ice environments. Critically, this research shows how interactions between the ice, ocean, and seafloor control how glaciers respond to the warming ocean. Schmidt also applies Earth-based ice studies to solar system icy worlds to further our understanding of extraterrestrial environments. Schmidt’s contributions have earned widespread recognition, including inclusion in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
“We work at the intersection of science & engineering—asking how our world and others work and finding new ways to explore them. We focus on ice and oceans, both as possible habitats on other worlds and as witnesses to changes on our home planet.”
Key Publications:
- BE Schmidt, KHG Hughson, HT Chilton, JEC Scully, T Platz, A Nathues, et al. Geomorphological evidence for ground ice on dwarf planet Ceres. Nature Geoscience, 2017.
- BE Schmidt, HG Sizemore, KHG Hughson, KD Duarte, VN Romero, JEC Scully, et al. Post-impact cryo-hydrologic formation of small mounds and hills in Ceres’s Occator crater. Nature Geoscience, 2020.
- BE Schmidt, P Washam, PED Davis, KW Nicholls, DM Holland, JD Lawrence, et al. Heterogeneous melting near the Thwaites Glacier grounding line. Nature, 2023.
- JD Lawrence, PM Washam, C Stevens, C Hulbe, HJ Horgan, G Dunbar, … , BE Schmidt. Crevasse refreezing and signatures of retreat observed at Kamb Ice Stream grounding zone. Nature Geoscience, 2023.
Other Honors:
2024 Explorer’s Club EC 50
2023 American Geophysical Union John F. Nye Lectureship
2023 Cornell University College of Engineering Research Excellence Award
2023 Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People of 2023
2018 National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow
2017 Charles Immel Award for Early Career Teaching, Georgia Tech
2015 CSTAR Faculty Fellowship Award, Georgia Tech
2014 International Astronomical Union Awarded Named Asteroid 24413 Britney Schmidt
2013 University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Outstanding Early Career Researcher
2012 NASA Early Career Fellow
In the Media:
Time Magazine – The 100 Most Influential People of 2023
The New York Times – Scientists Get a Close-Up Look Beneath a Troubling Ice Shelf in Antarctica
The Wall Street Journal – The Hunt for Alien Life Starts in Earth’s Most Extreme Places
BBC’s Infinite Monkey Cage with Brian Cox – Extreme Exploration - Anneka Rice, Mike Massimino, Britney Schmidt and Jess Phoenix
NASA Astrobiology Program Ask an Astrobiologist – Robot Explorers on Icy Worlds