Professor Alley studies the great ice sheets to help predict future changes in climate and sea level, including multiple trips to Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska, and elsewhere. He has been honored for research (including election to the US National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Membership in the Royal Society), teaching, and service. Dr. Alley participated in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize), and has provided requested advice to numerous government officials in multiple administrations. He has authored or coauthored over 300 refereed scientific papers. He was presenter for the PBS TV miniseries on climate and energy Earth: The Operators’ Manual, and author of the book. His popular account of climate change and ice cores, The Two-Mile Time Machine, won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.

Professor Alley is the 2019-2020 Carl F. Cranor Visiting Scholar.