Biography

Dr. VanLooy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth System Science and Policy at UND.  Originally from Grand Forks, ND he has always had a passion for traveling, reading maps, and studying the physical landscape.  Dr. VanLooy attended the University of Idaho where he received B.S. degrees in Geography and Cartography in 2000.  During his time in Idaho as an undergraduate student he participated in the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP), where he gained a great interest in Glaciology.  As a master's student at Kansas State University, his focus shifted to fluvial geomorphology where he researched historical channel morphology changes along the Cimarron River in Southwest Kansas, receiving his M.A. in Geography in 2002.  At the University of Utah, Dr. VanLooy returned to his interest in Glaciology as a doctoral student, where he researched changing melt rates of North American glaciers and their contributions to sea level rise, earning a Ph.D. in Geography in 2007.

After three years in his first position as an Assistant Professor in Geography at Radford University in Virginia, Dr. VanLooy returned to Grand Forks in 2010 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth System Science and Policy in the School of Aerospace Sciences at UND.  Currently, Dr. VanLooy conducts research on the changing conditions of glaciers in the Wind River Range, Wyoming where he studies glacial melt rates and the contribution of melt water to stream flow.  Over the last 10 years, Dr. VanLooy along with his colleagues and numerous students, have conducted multiple field campaigns to the glaciers in Wyoming for data collection.  The opporunity to teach students in these natural settings is what he loves the most.