Guggenheim fellowship – Misryoum reports how geologist Mike Kaplan will use glacier history to understand climate variability before modern warming.
A major fellowship is shining a spotlight on the science of ice and climate: geologist Mike Kaplan has been named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow.
Kaplan. a research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory within the Columbia Climate School. received the honor after learning of the selection while heading to the dentist.. For Misryoum readers. the recognition matters because it elevates a research agenda focused on how glaciers responded to natural swings in climate long before human influence dominated the record.
His fellowship project. tied to the Kayden Guggenheim Fellowship in Climate Studies. looks at the period just before the intense warming that accelerated in the 20th and into the 21st century across South America and the Southern Hemisphere.. The goal is to reconstruct how glaciers and climate shifted over the last few thousand years using evidence preserved in the geologic archive. and then compare patterns across regions such as South America. the Alps. and the Western United States.
In this context, the big idea is not just to chart warming, but to understand the baseline rhythms of Earth’s climate system. That baseline can help scientists interpret what counts as unusual and what may fall within natural variability.
Kaplan’s research is grounded in the way glaciers act as living record-keepers.. In Misryoum’s account, his work focuses especially on small mountain glaciers that are sensitive to atmospheric changes.. Because those glaciers respond relatively quickly. they can reveal signals about past climate conditions. leaving behind traces in the landscape that can be studied later.
The path to this research started early.. Kaplan developed an interest in glaciers as an undergraduate at SUNY Buffalo. where geology courses and the study of geomorphology helped him connect physical processes to how landscapes evolve.. Later. research in Greenland on ice cores showed him how scientists reconstruct past climate change. while subsequent graduate training expanded his tools to include measuring the ages of rocks. sediments. and fossils.
Since joining Lamont in 2006. he has continued building on those questions. including what he calls the discovery that glacier behavior was not the same everywhere.. Two decades into that work. he emphasizes persistence as a key driver of progress in a field where experiments. datasets. and interpretations can take time to come together.
For Misryoum. the Guggenheim fellowship is best understood as a vote of confidence in a long-term effort to interpret Earth’s history from ice and terrain.. That kind of perspective is especially valuable as researchers try to clarify how today’s changes relate to both natural variability and the warming trend now reshaping global climate systems.
At the heart of Kaplan’s story is the belief that careful, sustained effort can unlock new insights from the geologic record. With the fellowship now in hand, his next chapter is likely to sharpen how scientists read glacier evidence from the critical centuries leading up to the modern warming era.