Originally from New Mexico, Matthew Sturm earned his Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1989. He has spent thirty years studying snow, ice and permafrost in the Arctic. His research concentration is thermal effects of snow cover, spatial distribution of snow and vegetation, and effects of climate change. He has been the leader of more than thirty winter expeditions in pursuit of his science, including many long-distance snow machine treks across Alaska and Canada where he has gained first hand understanding of rivers, snow and ice. From 1987 to 2012, Matthew was Chief Scientist at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory - Alaska. He currently is a professor at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he continues to investigate snow and ice processes. Matthew shared his scientific understanding of and personal experience with interior Alaska ice and snow on the March 8, 2010 Tanana River field trip and post-trip meetings for the Dangerous Ice Project. He also is interviewed in the Climate Change Project Jukebox.