Richard Alley

Infobox Scientist
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name = Richard Alley


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residence = State College, Pennsylvania
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workplaces = Pennsylvania State University
alma_mater = Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison
doctoral_advisor = Charles Bentley
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known_for = Research of glaciology and ice sheets [citeweb|title=NASA People|url=http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/sealevel_alley_bio.html|publisher="NASA"|accessdate=2008-10-01]
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Dr. Richard B. Alley (born 1957) is an American geologist and Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University. He has authored more than 170 refereed scientific publications about the relationships between Earth's cryosphere and global climate change,citeweb|title=Citation for Richard Alley|url=http://www.geosc.psu.edu/documents/alley_seligman.pdf|publisher="Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences"|accessdate=2008-09-30] and is recognized by the Institute for Scientific Information as a "highly cited researcher." [citeweb|title= Alley, Richard B.|url=http://hcr3.isiknowledge.com/author.cgi?&link1=Search&link2=Search%20Results&AuthLastName=alley&AuthFirstName=richard&AuthMiddleName=&AuthMailnstName=&CountryID=-1&DisciplineID=0&id=2481|publisher="Institute for Scientific Information"|accessdate=2008-09-30]

History

In 1999, Alley was invited to testify about climate change by Vice President Al Gore, [citeweb|title=Guest Speakers|url=http://academic.ursinus.edu/ftn/speakers.htm|publisher="Ursinus College"|accessdate=2008-09-30] in 2003 by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and again before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology in 2007. [citeweb|title=Changes in Ice: The 2007 IPCC Assessment|url=http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/Commdocs/hearings/2007/full/08feb/alley_testimony.pdf|publisher="United States House of Representatives"|accessdate=2008-09-30]

Alley's most recent testimony was due to his current role as a lead author of "Chapter 4: Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice and Frozen Ground" for the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has participated in the joint UN/WMO panel since 1992, having been a contributing author to both the second and third IPCC assessment reports.

Alley has written several papers in the journals "Nature "and" Science",citeweb|title=Dan and Carole Burack President's Distinguished Lecture Series|url=http://www.uvm.edu/president/DLS/alley.html|publisher="University of Vermont"|accessdate=2008-09-30] and chaired the National Research Council on "Abrupt Climate Change". In 2000, he published the book "The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future". He has appeared in numerous climate change-related television documentaries and has given many public presentations and media interviews about the subject.

Awards

Alley was awarded the Seligman Crystal in 2005 for his "prodigious contribution to our understanding of the stability of the ice sheets and glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland, and of erosion and sedimentation by this moving ice."

In 2005 he was also the first recipient of the Louis Agassiz Medal for his "outstanding and sustained contribution to glaciology and for his effective communication of important scientific issues in the public policy arena". His award citation stated "He is imaginative, sharp and humorous, and remains a thorn in the backside of the Bush administration."citeweb|title=EGU Louis Agassiz Medallist 2006|url=http://www.cosis.net/members/meetings/sessions/information.php?p_id=207&s_id=3784|publisher="European Geosciences Union"|accessdate=2008-09-28]

Bibliography

*cite book|author=Richard Alley|title=The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future|date=July 1, 2002|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691102962
*cite book|author=Richard Alley|editor=Robert Bindschadler|title=The West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Behavior and Environment (Antarctic Research Series)|date=September 2000|publisher=American Geophysical Union|isbn=978-0875909578
*cite book|author=Richard Alley| title =Rocking the parks: Geological stories of the national parks| publisher = Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co| year = 1999| isbn = 978-0787257064

References

External links

* [http://www.uvm.edu/president/DLS/alley.html Personal and academic information]
* [http://www.geosc.psu.edu/documents/alley_seligman.pdf Award citation for Seligman Crystal]
* [http://www.geosc.psu.edu/people/faculty/personalpages/ralley/index.html Penn State faculty page]