Julie Michelle Palais is an award-winning polar glaciologist who has made significant contributions to climate change research studying volcanic fallout in ice cores from both Greenland and Antarctica. For many years, starting in 1990, she played a pivotal role working at the National Science Foundation as Program Director of the Antarctic Glaciology Program in the Division of Polar Programs, including many trips to both North and SouthPolar regions. Both the Palais Glacier and Palais Bluff in Antarctica were named in her honor and she has received many further recognitions for her distinguished career.
For over 26 years Palais directed polar glaciology research as Program Director for the Division of Polar Programs Antarctic Glaciology Program at NSF. In an effort to understand the history and dynamics of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, NSF research programs focus on various glaciology aspects including the use of ice cores as global paleoclimate indicators. Palais made more than 27 trips to Antarctica and 3 to Greenland. Palais is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Geophysical Union, the International Glaciological Society, the American Polar Society, the Explorers Club and the .
Awards and honors
and Palais Bluff are two features in Antarctica named in her honor by by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names , Palais Glacier in 1995, and Palais Bluff in 2000. In 2007, the Explorers Club named her co-recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award for her contributions to breakthroughs in glaciology and climate science. In 2017, the International Glaciological Society awarded Palais the Richardson Medal for 'For insightful and steadfast service to the U.S. and international glaciological and ice core science communities by enabling discoveries that have impacted the course of climate science and enlightened understanding of the important role of glaciology and the polar regions in global climate change'. In 2019 The University of New Hampshire awarded Palais an honorary degree at its May 18 Commencement ceremony : "...for her contributions to climate change research, studying volcanic fallout in ice cores from both Greenland and Antarctica. She served as program director of the Antarctic glaciology program at the NSF’s Division of Polar Programs making many trips to Antarctica and Greenland to understand the history and dynamics of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets...." On September 27, the College of Engineering and Physical Science at UNH further honored Palais by naming her as its 2019 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to society. In presenting the award Dean Zercher said that “Julie’s service at NSF positioned her as a leader of the glaciology scientific community, Her impact on the science and on the profession has been impressive...." In reply Julie remarked that the part of her career of which she was the most proud was her role in the development of the U.S. ice core community that analyzes ice cores for the evidence of climate change. Early in her career, there were in the US few labs and a lack of groups that could properly collect, analyze and sample ice cores. As program manager of the Glaciology program at NSF, she was responsible for helping build the infrastructure and personnel in the United States, and it is now the U.S. science community at the top when it comes to the ability to plan and execute cutting-edge ice coring programs and contribute to the important dialogue about how climate is changing. Then, in October The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center announced that "Dr. Palais would receive the 2019 Goldthwait Polar Medal in recognition of her distinguished record of scholarship and service polar science. She is among the pioneers of ice core science and, particularly, in studies of the geochemical signatures of volcanic deposition and other processes within the ice record. Despite her success as a scientist, she left academia to serve for at the National Science Foundation, guiding the Antarctic Glaciology program through a critical time of expansion. In her role at NSF she also helped launch the successful careers of many young polar scientists and actively increased the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups in Antarctic research."
