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Dr. Maddie Smith

Assistant Scientist
Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering Department

Contact Information:
madisonmsmith@whoi.edu
Location: Bigelow 105C

Mailing Address:
266 Woods Hole Road, MS #12
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543

Research Interests

Sea ice; waves and wave-ice interactions; upper ocean processes; Arctic and Antarctic fieldwork; integrating observations and climate models.

Awards

  • International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Early-Career Travel Funding
  • College of the Environment Postdoc Travel Funding
  • NCAR/CISL University Large Allocation Request
  • 2nd Place Oral Presentation by a Student, IGS Symposium on Sea Ice
  • Nece Award for Outstanding PhD, UW Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Marie
  • Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence
  • Andy Studebaker Travel Award (UW CEE) to attend AGU Fall Meeting in
    Washington D.C.
  • NSF Travel Award to attend the SCAR Open Science Conference in Davos, Switzerland
  • APECS Travel Award to attend the POLAR meeting in Davos, Switzerland
  • Best Oral Presentation by a Student, IGS Symposium on Polar Ice
  • IGS Symposium Student Travel Award
  • Valle Fellowship, UW Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
  • Sarah and James Bowdoin Scholar
  • Honors in Earth & Oceanographic Science, Bowdoin College
  • WHOI Summer Student Fellow Travel Award to attend Ocean Sciences in Honolulu
  • American Geophysical Union Student Travel Award to attend Ocean Sciences in Honolulu

Education

Ph.D.: Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2019. University of Washington, Seattle

M.S.: Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2016. University of Washington, Seattle

B.A. with Honors: Earth & Oceanographic Science, and Environmental Studies, 2014. Bowdoin College

Biography

Dr. Maddie Smith is an Assistant Scientist in the Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Motivated by the loss of sea ice in a rapidly changing climate, her research uses observations and modeling approaches to understand how sea ice interacts with the ocean. Her fieldwork has taken her to the oceans at both ends of the earth, including participation in the summer leg of the year-long MOSAiC expedition. Maddie completed her PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington, exploring the role of surface waves and turbulence in the autumn Arctic Ocean. She received her B.A. in Earth & Oceanographic Studies and Environmental Science from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she first dreamed of exploring the Arctic while learning about the transpolar drift of Fridtjof Nansen.