Expertise
Ice sheets, glaciers, sea-level rise, climate change
Profile
Minchew's research addresses two broad societal-level questions: How fast will sea-levels rise within the lifetimes of today's children and what can we do to safeguard coastal cities and communities? He studies the physics of ice flow, which means he works to understand how, and how fast, ice sheets contribute to global sea-level rise using satellite observations, field measurements, and theoretical and computational models.
Languages Spoken
English;
Faculty Bio
B.S., University of Texas at Austin, 2008; M.S., 2010; Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 2016. Visiting Associate, Caltech, 2024-25; Professor, 2025-.
Caltech Affiliations
Caltech Seismological Laboratory
Related News
Computer Model Shows Breakup of Iceberg Logjams
March 01, 2017
A new computer model from Caltech shows how sea ice can freeze icebergs together into a bulwark against glacial movement—and how thinning sea ice can suddenly break apart.
Satellites Observe "Traffic Jams" in Antarctic Ice Stream Caused by Tides
December 19, 2016
Nine months of continual radar observation reveals the complex changing patterns of ice stream movement in three dimensions that can inform predictions for the speed at which the ice caps will respond to a warming climate.
Airborne Over Iceland: Charting Glacier Dynamics
Read more news
March 13, 2014
Mark Simons, professor of geophysics at Caltech, along with graduate student Brent Minchew, recently logged over 40 hours of flight time mapping the surface of Iceland's glaciers.