In 2018, Maddie earned a BSc in Geology & Geophysics and Environmental Engineering from Yale University, where she studied on geochemistry and paleoclimatology. She then pursued her interest in the ocean’s impact on climate through an MSc in Physical Oceanography (Distinction) in 2020 at Bangor University. Here she developed a passion for inter-disciplinary research at the nexus of physical circulation and wider ocean biogeochemistry and climate. In her dissertation, Maddie investigated an outstanding question about a future ice-free Arctic by coupling and biogeochemical ocean models to demonstrate the contribution of sea ice retreat and resultant wind-driven mixing on observed trends of increasing primary productivity.

Maddie then pursued a PhD at the University of St Andrews, supported by a St Leonard’s World-Leading Doctoral Scholarship. Here she continued conducting multidisciplinary research, studying the role of the Southern Ocean in driving atmospheric CO₂ change over the last ice age. Maddie had the unique experience of developing expertise in both proxy data and numerical simulations to explore her research questions. She first quantified glacial deep-ocean carbon content by generating multi-proxy records of pH, temperature, salinity, and other properties over the last ~100 thousand years from a deep ocean site. She then ran a suite of numerical simulations of ocean circulation to test various dynamics hypothesized to drive this carbon storage. With a particular focus on the influence of remote forcings (i.e., forces originating in the far-flung North Atlantic and North Pacific) on Southern Ocean conditions, Maddie’s thesis provided a novel perspective on the canonical Southern Ocean processes believed to drive glacial-interglacial CO₂ change.

Maddie now works as a post-doctoral researcher in the Ocean Dynamics group within the School of Earth and Environmental Science, continuing to use idealized numerical simulations as tools to investigate fundamental dynamics driving ocean circulation. Her research specifically focuses on identifying the leading forces that govern circulation in high-latitude subpolar gyres (important yet poorly understood features of global ocean circulation, especially when compared to the relatively well-studied subtropical gyres). In this work, Maddie remains motivated by wider questions relevant to ocean biogeochemistry and global climate, such as circulation’s role in carbon and heat uptake in these gyres and how this might change in the future. When she’s not running models, Maddie spends her time serving on the School’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee, supervising undergraduate research, and enjoying hobbies like running and gaming!