Meet the core team
Founder
John Moore
University of Lapland
John Moore is a Research Professor at the University of Lapland, Finland, and the Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Frozen Arctic Conservation. His main research activities relate to climate engineering, sea level change, and ice sheet dynamics. Moore is a Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters; he has been a member of 6 Antarctic, 4 Greenlandic and 20 Svalbard scientific expeditions; and he was the chief scientist on 2007-2009 International Polar Year project “Kinnvika.” Moore has authored over 200 articles (~21000 citations, H-index=61, 19 articles published in PNAS & the “Nature” group). He is the founder of the Seabed Curtain Project and co-lead.
Co-lead
Marianne Hagen
Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
Marianne Hagen is a former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway. She came to work with UArctic from the position of Executive Vice President of Aker Solutions. Marianne was Head of Communications at the Royal Court and has worked as an advisor to the CEO of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association. She has an extensive career in politics and as a board member of publicly listed companies. Within the Seabed Curtain project Marianne is co-lead together with John Moore. She is responsible for strategic development, government relations, communications, as well as overseeing the engineering.
David Holland
New York University
David Holland is a professor of mathematics and atmosphere/ocean science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, director of the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (EFDL) in New York City, and former director of the Center for Sea Level Change at New York University Abu Dhabi. He studies phenomena relating to the Polar Regions and their impacts on global climate. Holland’s current research focuses on the computer modeling of the interaction of the Earth’s ice sheets with ocean waters, and the acquisition and implementation of observational data for model improvements. Holland is a lead Principal Investigator on the MELT project. He and his team will measure the melting at the glacier’s ice-ocean interface, to understand the processes involved and its potential for triggering increased sea-level rise.
Ole Wroldsen
Aker Solutions
Ole Wroldsen leads Ocean Technology research and development at Entr, the consultancy arm of Aker Solutions. He is a skilled naval architect and structural designer who, for the last 25 years, has been working towards structural design, software development, certification, and realization of novel and innovative marine projects worldwide. Within all his projects, his goal has always been to create a “desirable realization of the impossible.”
Our UArctic Partners
Lars Kullerud
The University of the Arctic (UArctic)
Lars Kullerud has held the position of President of UArctic since May 2002. UArctic offers support via tax free and low overhead gifts to members, and has helped to provide the fjord testing and social licensing via Tromsø, and simulations via Dartmouth, Beijing and Lapland Universities. Throughout his UArctic Presidency, Lars has continued to foster an academic interest in the northern environment and development issues and published several academic papers on the issue in addition to representing UArctic. His academic background is in Precambrian Geology and Isotope Geochemistry, geostatistics, and petroleum resource assessments, as well as assessments of the Arctic environment.
Morgan Dulian
UArctic Foundation (US)
Morgan Dulian leads the international philanthropy program, strategy, and team for UArctic and oversees the UArctic Foundation (US), located in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was the former Director of Development for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dulian holds a master’s in Nonprofit Management from Regis University in Denver, Colorado, and a bachelor’s in communication from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dulian earned her Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) credential in 2021, and in 2022 was named one of Alaska’s Top Forty under 40 by the Alaska Journal of Commerce.
Board of Advisors
David Keith
Founding Faculty Director, Climate Systems Engineering Initiative
University of Chicago
Dr. David Keith is Professor of Geophysical Sciences and founding faculty director of the Climate Systems Engineering initiative at the University of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, he led the development of Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program
Mark Lynas
Science Advisor
Climate Vulnerable Forum
Mark Lynas is an author, campaigner and speaker. He is a science advisor with the Climate Vulnerable Forum and policy lead with WePlanet. He is based in the UK and is working on a new book about solar radiation modification.
Brian Buma
Senior Climate Scientist
Environmental Defense Fund
Dr. Brian Buma coordinates the Climate Innovation Initiative at EDF, a program that explores high risk, high reward opportunities to mitigate climate change and protect the planet. He is a former tenured professor, published author, and interested in creative thinking that matches the scale of the challenge.
Børge Ousland
Explorer of Antarctica and the Arctic
Børge Ousland worked several years as a deep-sea diver in the North Sea before he devoted his life to exploration. He has kept pushing the limits of human endurance ever further and is regarded as one of the leading polar explorers of our time.
Douglas R. MacAyeal
Professor, Emeritus
Department of Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago
Douglas MacAyeal has worked in Antarctic glaciological research for 50 years, focused on developing models of ice-stream flow that can be applied to understanding Antarctica’s role in sea-level rise. In 1982 he published what may be the first glaciological conference abstract suggesting that human-engineered interventions might be possible on Antarctic Ice Shelves. In retirement, he continues to work on Antarctic field projects that collect data relevant to understanding ice-shelf buttressing.
Ellen Haaslahti
Executive Director
Operaatio Arktis
Ellen Haaslahti is a Founding Member and the Executive Director for Operaatio Arktis, a next-generation climate strategy agency. With roots in environmental activism, she holds a Master’s degree in Social Science, looking into environmental and socio-technical change and desirable futures.
Shaun Fitzgerald
Professor & Director of Centre for Climate Repair
University of Cambridge
Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald is Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge. He has a wealth of experience in mechanical engineering, science, business, and public engagement. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was awarded an OBE in 2021.
Julie Pullen
Independent Scientist
Dr. Julie Pullen is an Earth-system scientist and technologist. A former naval oceanographer and engineering professor, she has held leadership roles across nonprofits, government, private industry, and scientific societies. Her expertise spans science, business, and security.
Jesse Reynolds
Chief of Staff
The Degrees Initiative
Dr. Jesse Reynolds is an international environmental policy expert focused on governance of emerging climate technologies. He helps lead the Degrees Initiative and has written extensively on solar geoengineering, carbon dioxide removal, and responsible decision-making under climate risk.
Seabed Curtain Project Funders
Funder
Thomas Wilhelmsen
Thomas Wilhelmsen is the current Chief Executive Officer at Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA. He is the fifth generation of the Wilhelmsen family to run the company. He has been with the Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA company since 2009 and has worked with other branches of the company since 1999. Sitting on several strategic holdings, such as Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA and Treasure ASA, Thomas is also active in maritime and business networks.
Funder
Mike Schroepfer
Mike Schroepfer is a partner at Gigascale Capital with a long history in technology and science. He graduated from Stanford with a degree in Computer Science, was a Mozilla lead in engineering, and founded a company now acquired by Sun Microsystems. In his time as Meta’s CTO, Schroepfer scaled products to billions of users, shipped millions of hardware units, constructed data centers, built teams, and made AI breakthroughs. In philanthropy, he has helped provide funding to Additional Ventures, the Carbon-to-Sea Initiative, and grants aimed at accelerating climate science and policy responses to the crisis.
Our Partners
Partnering organizations and institutions are groups that we have an economic relationship with, including donors and grantees.
Our Network
