Rate My Professor TJ Young

Dr. TJ Young serves as Lecturer in Physical Geography in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews, having joined in April 2023 after spending ten years intermittently at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. His research centers on geophysical glaciology, utilizing radar and other field-based geophysical techniques to investigate ice sheet dynamics, including englacial fabric anisotropy, subglacial hydrology, and rheological controls on ice flow. Young co-leads the Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution (TIME) project within the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (NSF/NERC), applying polarimetric radar methods to characterize the eastern shear margin of Thwaites Glacier and assess West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability. He also leads the EGGS on TOAST (NSF) project, which examines processes at the grounding zone of Eastwind Glacier through tomographic surveys, and the upcoming IGIS (NERC) project testing subglacial groundwater influences on ice stream flow at Institute Ice Stream. As an external collaborator, he contributes to projects like AEGIR on Greenland ocean dynamics, SLIDE on subglacial lakes, and REASSESS on Greenland Ice Sheet meltwater response.

In parallel, Young advances sustainable urban water resilience in Dundee via geospatial and remote sensing frameworks in partnership with Scottish Water and Abertay University. His publication record features key works such as 'Rapid basal melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet from surface meltwater drainage' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022), 'Inferring ice fabric from birefringence loss in airborne radargrams: application to the eastern shear margin of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2021), 'Thermodynamics of a fast-moving Greenlandic outlet glacier revealed by fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing' (Science Advances, 2021), 'Resolving the internal and basal geometry of ice masses using imaging phase-sensitive radar' (Journal of Glaciology, 2018), and 'Physical conditions of fast glacier flow: 1. Measurements from boreholes drilled to the bed of Store Glacier, West Greenland' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2018). Young supervises PhD students including Emma Cameron and Anusha Goswami, delivers public lectures like 'Echoes from the Edge of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica,' and serves as an emergency geospatial responder for MapAction, supporting UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs deployments to natural disasters. His interdisciplinary work enhances predictions of ice sheet contributions to sea-level rise and informs climate adaptation strategies.