M Jackson

Geographer, adventurer, environmental educator, and 2017 National Geographic Emerging Explorer M Jackson studies and writes about glaciers and climate change. M earned a doctorate from the University of Oregon in geography and glaciology, where she examined how climate change transformed people and ice communities in Iceland. A veteran U.S. Fulbright Scholar in both Turkey and Iceland, M currently serves as a U.S. Fulbright Ambassador. M holds a Masters of Science degree from the University of Montana, where she focused on climate change and Alaskan glaciers.

M served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia and is a nationally registered emergency medical technician with extensive experience "in search and rescue, firefighting, and removing cats from trees" in Southeast Alaska. She’s worked for more than ten years in Alaska and the Yukon Territory guiding backcountry trips and exploring glacial systems. Her 2015 book While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change weaves together the parallel stories of what happens when the climates of a family and a planet change. M has led National Geographic Student Expeditions programs in Alaska and Iceland.