Shari Gearheard

shari.gearheard@nsidc.org

Dr. Shari Gearheard is a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. For over a decade, Dr. Gearheard has been working with Inuit communities in the eastern Canadian Arctic on a variety of environmental research topics, in particular on Inuit knowledge of climate and environmental change. Working collaboratively with hunters and elders, Dr. Gearheard has been documenting observations and knowledge of Inuit regarding environmental change and linking this knowledge with scientific studies. She is currently working with Inuit and other scientists on two projects - one on sea ice ("Siku-Inuit-Hila Project"), and the other on weather variability ("Silalirijiit Project"). Dr. Gearheard (nee Fox) was co-lead author of Chapter 3 ("The Changing Arctic: Indigenous Perspectives") of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and was part of the Coastal Working Group for ICARP II (International Conference on Arctic Research Planning II). Dr. Gearheard is part of the northern research supplement committee for NSERC and was an appointee to the National Academy of Sciences Study Committee on establishing an Arctic Observing Network.

Dr. Gearheard received her MES in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and her Ph. D. from the Department of Geography and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Gearheard lives full time in the Inuit community of Clyde River on Baffin Island, Nunavut, where she bases her studies.