Sharing Her Enthusiasm for Earth Science: Allie Balter-Kennedy ’10

On Wednesday, March 25, Allie Balter-Kennedy ’10 returned to Dana Hall to speak to students during a Flex Block in Waldo Auditorium. She is the 2025 recipient of Dana Hall's Distinguished Young Alumna Award (see below) and is currently Assistant Professor, Earth and Climate Sciences at Tufts University. Balter-Kennedy shared details of her post-Dana Hall career that has taken her to the far corners of the planet, including Antarctica and Greenland, in support of her research that centers on the study of the rocks that lie below enormous ice sheets and what they can tell us about rising sea levels. She shared highlights from her undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research, spoke about the importance and impact of her field of study, and answered a round of thoughtful questions from Upper School students. 

Five Questions with Allie Balter-Kennedy ’10

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2025 Dana Hall Bulletin.

At Reunion 2025, Director of Alumnae Relations Harriet Groppe Prince ’06 announced Dr. Allie Balter- Kennedy ’10 as this year’s Distinguished Young Alumna Award recipient. Balter-Kennedy, a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, studies the past and future of Earth’s ice sheets to better understand rising sea levels. Her work focuses on uncovering what lies beneath massive ice sheets — like those in Greenland and Antarctica — to determine how stable they are and what changes could mean for our planet.

In the summer of 2023, Balter-Kennedy became one of the first scientists in the world to collect bedrock samples from beneath Greenland’s Ice Sheet, drilling through more than 1,600 feet of ice to reach ancient rock that holds clues about past climate conditions. This groundbreaking expedition, part of the GreenDrill Project, made headlines across the country and is helping scientists estimate just how much melting from Greenland could raise global sea levels. This fall, Balter-Kennedy will bring her expertise stateside to Tufts University as an assistant professor.

We caught up with her via email to find out how she made the jump from classrooms on Grove Street to ice sheets in Greenland.

What has been your journey from Dana Hall to the present?
After Dana, I went to Bates College where I was a Geology major. While at Bates, I was lucky to have an incredible advisor who took me to Svalbard, in the Norwegian High Arctic, to do research about how glaciers there respond to changing climate. After college, I worked as an outdoor educator for a year in Colorado, then spent a year as a field geologist at an environmental consulting firm. I really loved working as an environmental consultant, but got an opportunity I couldn’t pass up to do fieldwork in Antarctica as a master’s student at UMaine. There, I researched Antarctic ice sheet behavior during particular times in Earth history when climate was warmer than it is now. After my master’s, I went on to earn my Ph.D. from Columbia doing similar research in Greenland, Antarctica, Alaska and even the northeastern U.S. (which a mile-thick ice sheet covered about 20,000 years ago). I then stayed on at Columbia as a postdoctoral scientist.

What teachers or classes were influential in helping you find your career path?
At Dana, I discovered that I really love learning how the natural world around me works, and I particularly remember building this fascination in biology, calculus, chemistry, Earth science and creative writing classes. My fascination for the natural world grew when I had the opportunity to spend a semester at the High Mountain Institute in Colorado, made possible by Dana’s partnership with HMI. From these experiences at Dana, I entered college knowing I wanted to study a science, and found that Earth science was a perfect blend of the interests I had begun building in high school.

What impact do you hope to make with your research?
At its core, my research aims to understand how much smaller ice sheets got when the climate was similar to or slightly warmer than it is now. While this work is exciting to me on its own, it really only becomes impactful once I’m able to work with other scientists — especially those that model ice loss and sea-level rise — who are able to incorporate my findings into the work they’re doing to project future changes. My hope is that I can continue to collaborate with modelers to ensure the data I am creating can help inform these projections.

What does it mean to be honored with this award?
Dana Hall is where my love for science really began thanks to my wonderful teachers. I’m not sure I even realized it at the time, but the supportive environment of an all-girls education gave me the confidence to build towards this career I dreamed of having. I credit my time at Dana for helping me grow my voice and have the space to discover my passion for learning. I am so beyond honored to receive this award.

What’s next for you?
I’m starting as an assistant professor at Tufts this fall where I’m excited to be teaching courses about how climate and landscapes interact. I’ll also have a lab so that I can continue my research to understand ice sheet response to warming climate.

The Distinguished Young Alumna Award is presented each year to a young Dana alumna who personifies the school’s motto: Amor Caritas. The winner of the Distinguished Young Alumna Award will have demonstrated outstanding distinction by giving back to her community, providing an inspiring role model for students.