Robert A. Bindschadler is a senior fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and has been an active field researcher in the Antarctic for over 25 years.[1] He is a past president of the International Glaciological Society, chairs the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative, is an editor for the Journal of Glaciology and has led 14 expeditions to Antarctica and has participated in numerous other expeditions around the world including Greenland. He has also testified before Congress and has briefed the U.S. vice president concerning ice-sheet stability and is often quoted or featured in the media. He was born in Pittsburgh and received a B.S. in astronomy and physics in 1971 from the University of Michigan and earned his PhD in geophysics from the University of Washington in 1978 and did postdoctoral work in Switzerland prior to working at NASA.
His work revolves around the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets using remote sensing technology. He has developed applications used to measure ice velocity and elevation using radar imagery which monitors the melting of ice sheets and detects changes in the volume of ice-sheets using radar altimetry. He has received numerous awards including Exceptional scientific achievement by NASA in 1994 as well as the Goddard Senior fellow in 2000.[2]