Science Team Leader
Helen Amanda Fricker is a Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, where she also co-leads the Scripps Polar Center. Helen is from the UK and went to University College London where she studied Maths and Physics, before moving to Australia for a PhD in Antarctic Glaciology at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), in Hobart. Helen has been involved in NASA's laser altimetry missions since she came to the US in 1999, as both an ICESat and ICESat-2 Science Team member, and was at both satellite launches. Beyond her NASA contributions, Helen served on the 2016-2017 ESAS Decadal Survey Steering Committee for ice sheets and was an author on the Rising Seas California report. Helen has shown strong commitment to mentorship, advising eight graduate students and nurturing the development of 14 postdoctoral researchers, continually advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout. Helen was awarded the 2010 Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica, became an AGU Fellow in 2017, and gave the AGU Cryosphere Section Nye Lecture in 2019. The Fricker Ice Piedmont was named after her by the British Antarctic Place-names Committee in 2020. She was awarded the UTAS International Alumni Award in 2023.
