91É«°É

Fall 2025 is bringing a new faculty member to the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.Ìý

Alia Khan is joining the 91É«°É as an associate professor in Smead Aerospace and the Environmental Engineering Program.Ìý

Khan comes fromÌýWestern Washington University, where she was an associate professor in their environmental sciences department, but she is no stranger to 91É«°É. She completed graduate school here, earning her master’s in environmental studies in 2012 and PhD in civil and environmental engineering in 2016. During that time, her research was conducted at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. She then went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at theÌý on campus.

A North Carolina native, Khan has had a life-long affinity for snow, which is central to her research. She combines environmental chemistry and optical remote sensing from uncrewed aerial vehicles and orbiting satellites to document snow and ice melt in mountainous and polar regions. Khan also has strong expertise in autonomous system development for environmental monitoring, aquatic biogeochemistry, aerosols, the cryosphere, and glacial and snow hydrology.

She has led research grants funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, which recognized her with aÌý in 2021 to investigate snow darkening in Antarctica.ÌýShe is beginning a new NASA-funded award to study Greenland’s dark ice zones from space.ÌýShe is a recipient of the US Fulbright Scholar Award and an Antarctic Service Medal.Ìý