Current Group Members
Ph.D. Student (2022- present)
Nicolas Sartore
I study ice shelf-ocean interactions, with a particular focus on improving model representations of this important boundary region. Projects include wave erosion of ice cliffs, melt-plume/ice-shelf feedback processes, and improving calving laws in ice sheet models.
Publication with us:
N. Sartore, T.J.W. Wagner, M. Siegfried, N. Pujara, L. Zoet, "Wave erosion, frontal bending, and calving at Ross Ice Shelf", The Cryosphere 19, 249–265 (2025)
Ph.D. Student (2022-present)
Clark Zimmerman
I am interested in questions regarding the stability of the climate system. In particular I have been looking at whether we can anticipate a potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.
Publication with us:
C.C. Zimmerman, T.J.W. Wagner, E.A. Maroon, D.E. McNamara, "Slowed response of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation not a robust signal of collapse", Geophys. Res. Lett. 52, e2024GL112415 (2025)
Ph.D. Student (starting fall 2025)
Olivia Doty
Research project: how icebergs calve, erode, and move around the oceans.
Postdoc (2023-present); co-advised with J. Franck
Ben Smith
Research project: I investigate bio-physical processes and wave-ice interactions in lakes. Other interests include boundary layer flows, hydrodynamic stability, computational fluid dynamics and numerical methods for partial differential equations. I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Plymouth and later a master’s degree in Physics from Cardiff University. I received my doctorate from the University of Leicester for research on the surprisingly complex flow around a rotating sphere.
Undergraduate Student (2024-present)
Abby Heiser
Research project: I investigate the impact of sea ice melt on algae blooms. In particular I'm studying how well state-estimates such as ECCO-Darwin reproduce recent superblooms in the Arctic.
Undergraduate Student (2023-present)
Jeremy Shodell
Research project: I investigate how ice formation on lakes around the Madison, WI area impacts the occurrence of waves, and how in turn waves impact ice formation and break-up.
Former Group Members (at UNC Wilmington)
Mark England
Postdoc (2019-2021)
(then postdoc at UCSB, then Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 research fellow, from summer 2025 Assistant Professor at UC Irvine)
Co-advised by Till Wagner and Ian Eisenman to improve modelling of sea ice and icebergs. Current iceberg models do a poor job of simulating gigantic icebergs, which account for over 90% of the mass of ice lost from Antarctic ice shelves. Our aim is to significantly improve the simulation of these rare, but important, icebergs. I completed my PhD at Columbia University in 2019 with Lorenzo Polvani on a range of polar topics, most recently on the climate response to projected Antarctic sea ice loss. To learn more, visit my personal website markrossengland.com.
Publications with us:
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M. R. England, I. Eisenman, and T.J.W. Wagner, "Spurious climate impacts in coupled sea ice loss simulations", Journal of Climate, 35 (22), 3801-3811 (2022)
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M. R. England*, I. Eisenman, N. Lutsko, and T.J.W. Wagner, "The recent emergence of Arctic Amplification", Geophys. Res. Lett., e2021GL094086 (2021)
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M. R. England, T. J. W. Wagner, and I. Eisenman, "Modeling the breakup of tabular icebergs", Science Advances, 6 (51) eabd1273 (2020)
Andrew Castagno
M.S. Student (2019-2021)
(then Fulbright in Iceland, now at Opensignal)
M.S. in Marine Science (with Data Science focus) at UNCW. Research focus on the impact of sea-ice sourced meltwater on the development of Arctic phytoplankton blooms. I received my B.S. in Biology from Cornell University in 2015, where I then worked for several years as a lab manager in a terrestrial biogeochemistry lab. After M.S. continued Arctic research in Iceland on a Fulbright grant.
Publication with us:
A. P. Castagno, T.J.W. Wagner, M.R. Cape, C.W. Lester, E. Bailey, C. Alves-de-Souza, R.A. York, A.H. Fleming, "Increased sea ice melt as a driver of enhanced Arctic phytoplankton blooming", Global Change Biology, 29, 5087–5098 (2023)
Melia Eaton
Undergraduate Student (2020-2021)
UNCW research assistant as part of the FYRE (First Year Research Experience) program 2020.
Undergraduate Student (2018-2020)
(now graduate student at New York University)
Hassan Mason
My research is focussed on how sea ice motion influences the Antarctic sea ice cover. My physics undergrad thesis at UNCW was dealing with representing flow around a cylinder using a Lattice Boltzmann methods.
Publication with us:
T. J. W. Wagner, I. Eisenman, and H. C. Mason, "How sea ice motion influences sea ice extent", Geophys. Res. Lett., e2021GL093069 (2021)
Undergraduate Student (2019-2020)
(now graduate student at Yale University)
Elizabeth Bailey
My research is primarily on the differences in characteristics of first and multi year sea ice. As well as the relationship between sea ice melt and the local ecosystem.
Publication with us:
A. P. Castagno, T.J.W. Wagner, M.R. Cape, C.W. Lester, E. Bailey, C. Alves-de-Souza, R.A. York, A.H. Fleming, "Increased sea ice melt as a driver of enhanced Arctic phytoplankton blooming", Global Change Biology, 29, 5087–5098 (2023)
Undergraduate Student (2018-2020)
(now graduate student at Duke University)
Conner Lester
Working on a project that involves studying the dynamical behavior of plankton blooms in the Arctic and their responses to varying sea ice conditions. This is a highly complex system that behaves in fascinating ways that I hope to understand.
Publications with us:
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C.W. Lester, T.J.W. Wagner, D.E. McNamara, "A model of near-sea ice phytoplankton blooms", Limnology and Oceanography Letters, doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10449 (2024)
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C.W. Lester, T. J. W. Wagner, D. E. McNamara, and M. R. Cape, "The Influence of Meltwater on Phytoplankton Blooms Near the Sea-Ice Edge", Geophys. Res. Lett., 48 (2) e2020GL091758 (2021)
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A. P. Castagno, T.J.W. Wagner, M.R. Cape, C.W. Lester, E. Bailey, C. Alves-de-Souza, R.A. York, A.H. Fleming, "Increased sea ice melt as a driver of enhanced Arctic phytoplankton blooming", Global Change Biology, 29, 5087–5098 (2023)
Undergraduate Student (2018-2019)
(then Fulbright at U Southampton, now Oceanographer at U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)
Amanda Ceroli
Amanda graduated in May 2019 with a BS in Physics (Physical Oceanography concentration). For her senior honors thesis she investigated how surface winds and ocean currents determine the drift of floating objects. She went on to a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Southampton, UK.
Publication with us:
T.J.W. Wagner, I. Eisenman, A. Ceroli*, and N. Constantinou "How winds and ocean currents influence the drift of floating objects", J. Phys. Oceanogr., 52 (5), 907–916 (2022)