ABBIE HILARY TINGSTAD
E-mail: abbie1@ucla.edu
Office: Bunche A-121

EDUCATION

Education and Professional Experience

2009: Summer Associate; Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment; RAND Corporation
Mentors: Robert Lempert and David Groves

2007- June 2010: Ph.D. Candidate; Department of Geography; University of California, Los Angeles
Advisor: Glen MacDonald
Dissertation Title: An investigation of paleoclimate in the Uinta Mountains, Utah using diatoms and tree-rings

2005-2007: Ph.D. student; Department of Geography; University of California, Los Angeles
GPA: 4.0/4.0

2004-2005: M.Sc. student; Oxford University Centre for the Environment
Advisor: Heather Viles
Dissertation Title: Sub-aerially transported salts and the breakdown of coastal cliffs in South Gower, Wales, U.K.
Course Assessment: 2-1

2000-2004: Undergraduate; Department of Mathematics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor: Michael Artin
Senior paper title: The application of Nash Equilibrium Theory to the Kyoto Protocol
Fields of study: Applied Mathematics, Social Science, German language, Geology
GPA: 4.7/5.0

SUBFIELDS

Paleoclimatology, Geomorphology, Public Policy

NOTES

Professional Organizations

American Geophysical Union
Association of American Geographers

University Service and Teaching Experience

2007-2008: UCLA Department of Geography Teaching Fellow
Courses: Coastal Geomorphology, Cultural Geography, Principles of Geomorphology

2006-2008: UCLA Department of Geography graduate student representative

2006-2007: UCLA Department of Geography Teaching Assistant
Courses: Cultural Geography, Earth’s Physical Environment, Principles of Geomorphology

2005-2006: UCLA Department of Geography colloquium committee

2005-2006: UCLA graduate student financial aid committee

2005-2008: UCLA Geography Department undergraduate research mentor

2002-2003: MIT science research mentor

2001-2002: MIT women’s track recruitment officer

RESEARCH

My dissertation research develops paleoclimate records for the Uinta Mountains, northeastern Utah (Upper Colorado River Basin) using tree-rings and the remains of diatoms (environmentally-sensitive unicellular algae) in lake sediments. I am also interested in the application of paleoclimate data to questions that arise in public policy.

PUBLICATIONS

Tingstad, A.H.; Groves, D.G.; Lempert, R.J. Tree-ring based climate scenarios to inform decision making in water resource management: A case study from the Inland Empire, CA. In preparation for submission to Global and Environmental Change.

Tingstad, A.H.; MacDonald, G.M. Long-term Relationships Between Ocean Variability and Water Resources in Northeastern Utah. In preparation for submission to the Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

Tingstad, A.H.; Moser, K.A.; MacDonald, G.M.; Munroe, J.S. A ~13,000-year paleoenvironmental record from the Uinta Mountains, Utah inferred from diatoms and loss-on-ignition analysis. Submitted to Quaternary International.

Tingstad, A.H. (2008) A laboratory simulation of salt weathering in a temperate coastal environment. Geografiska Annaler, 90(2), 165-171.

MacDonald, G.M.; Tingstad, A.H. (2007) Recent and multi-centennial precipitation variability and drought occurrence in the Uinta Mountains region, Utah. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 39, 549-555.

Tingstad, A.H.; Smith, D.E. (2007) El Niño and sea level anomalies: A global perspective. Geology Today, 23, 213-217.

Acosta, P.; Bassa, A.; Chaikin, A.; Riehl, A.; Tingstad, A.; Kleitman, D.J. (2003) On a conjecture of Brualdi and Shen on block transitive tournaments. Journal of Graph Theory, 44(3), 215-230.

GRANTS AND AWARDS

2009: Dissertation Year Fellowship; University of California, Los Angeles

2009: Geoscience Grant, ExxonMobil Corporation

2008: Evelyn L. Pruitt Fellowship; Department of Geography; University of California, Los Angeles

2008: Dissertation Research Improvement Grant; Geography and Regional Science; National Science Foundation

2008: Graduate Student Publication Award; Department of Geography; University of California, Los Angeles

2007: Fellowship; Society of Woman Geographers

2007: Student Research Grant; Geological Society of America

2005: Chancellor’s Prize Fellowship, Department of Geography; University of California, Los Angeles

2005: Faculty Fellowship; Columbia University (not accepted)

2005: Fellowship; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (not accepted)

2002: Undergraduate Fellowship; Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2001: Excellence in German Language Studies Award; Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lufthansa Corporation

ADVISORS

Dr. Glen MacDonald

Other committee members:
Dr. Antony Orme
Dr. Marilyn Raphael
Dr. Katrina Moser (The University of Western Ontario)

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Tingstad, A.H. Tree-ring and diatom-based records of environmental change in the
Uinta Mountains, northwestern Colorado River Basin
The University of Southern California, October 2009.

Tingstad, A.H. Tree-ring based climate scenarios to inform decision making in water resource management: A case study from the Inland Empire, CA
RAND Corporation, September 2009.

Tingstad, A.H. The Science of Reconstructing Past Climate: A Case Study from the Upper Colorado River Basin
RAND Corporation, June 2009.

Tingstad, A.H.; MacDonald, G.M. 1,000 years of climatic variability in the Colorado River Basin
American Geophysical Union annual meeting, December 2008.

Tingstad, A.H.; MacDonald, G.M. Drought in the Paleoclimate Record
2008 California Climate Change and Adaptation Summit, California Department of Water Resources, November 2008.

Tingstad, A.H.; MacDonald, G.M.; Moser, K.A.; Koerner, D.; Paulin, K. From research to resource management: Applying multi-proxy paleo-drought data for the Uinta
Mountains, Utah to environmental policy
Association of American Geographers annual meeting, April 2008

Tingstad, A.H.; MacDonald, G.M. Multi-Century Drought Records for the Uinta Mountains, Utah with Implications for Colorado River Water Supply Variability
American Geophysical Union annual meeting, December 2007
Tingstad, A.H.; MacDonald, G.M. Reconstructing drought patterns in the Uinta Mountains, Utah and implications for understanding water supply vulnerability in the western United States
Association of American Geographers annual meeting, April 2007

MacDonald, G.M.; Tingstad, A.H. Climate variability in the Uinta Mountains, Utah
UINTAS 2006 meeting, May 2006

Tingstad, A.H. Sub-aerially transported salts as geomorphic agents on the South Gower coastline, Wales, U.K.: Implications for the future of rocky coast geomorphology
Association of American Geographers annual meeting, April 2006