Press release written by the University of Bergen:
Fiametta (Fiamma) Straneo (1968) is one of the worlds leading experts in Arctic climate, especially its northern extension. The justification states:
"She has been a pioneer in showing how this warm water, through its detours, also contribute to the Greenland ice shelves melting from the underside,"
Cooperator and inspirator
Fiamma Straneo is a professor of oceans and climate at Scripps, and co-director of the Polar Center ved Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.
She is described as a central cooperator both to students and researchers at the Bjerknes Centre of Climate Research through two decades.
An Honorary Doctorate is the highest honour the University can award a person not employed at the UiB. Straneo is one of eight researchers granted an Honorary Doctorate in a seremony in the University Aula on June 2nd.
Straneo is from Italy, where she took her Masters degree at the University of Milan, and later a Doctorate at the University of Washington (PhD, 1999), then a post.doc. at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. There she built a research group of her own, before becoming Director of the Scripps Polar Center at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and a Professor at the University of California, San Diego.
A champion of gender balance and diversity
She is also described as a pioneer outside the science itself.
"Straneo has been and is a champion of gender balance and diversity within academia, as shown in her leadership in the network Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention, and as a pioneer for inclusive research cooperation across nations and disciplines. She is a co-chair in The Climate and Cryosphere Program (CliC) and one of the authors of the IPCC Sixth Assesment Report."
With a close connection to climate research in Bergen
The ocean researcher is closely connected to the climate research in Bergen, with several stays in the city, and a two-year membership of the Bjerknes Centre Scientific Advisory Council. She has a Professor II position at the Geophysical Institute, where she contributes to the education.
Straneos research has been published in renowned journals like Nature and Science, and has also reached widely through society with articles in New York Times and the Guardian.
"Straneo is a skilled educator and a fantastic communicator. Her research and extensive field-based efforts, are built around cooperation with international colleagues – with Straneo in leading roles. She has a unique ability to meet both students and colleagues in dialogue, with a combination of openness, deep knowledge, and encourangement of critical reflection which inspires, and gives us all something to strive for," states the nomination.
- Guest lecture June 3rd 11.00-13.00 at VilVite - Bergen Science Center: "An oceanographer's journey to the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet through collaborative, inclusive, interdisciplinary science”