Dr. Richard Alley is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University. He has ranged from Antarctica to Greenland to help learn the history of Earth’s climate, and whether the great ice sheets will fall in the ocean and flood our coasts. With over 225 scientific publications, he has been asked to provide advice to the highest levels of government, and been recognized with numerous awards for teaching, research and service including election to the US National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Alley hosted the recent PBS miniseries Earth: The Operators’ Manual , and has been compared to a cross between Woody Allen and Carl Sagan for his enthusiastic efforts to communicate the excitement and importance of science to everyone. He is happily married, with two daughters, two cats, two bicycles, and a pair of soccer cleats.