Rate My Professor Gregory Leonard

Dr. Gregory H. Leonard is a Senior Lecturer in the National School of Surveying at the University of Otago. He earned his BS in 1995, MS in 1998, and PhD in 2001 from Clarkson University, USA, and holds MEngNZ status. After his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Otago Department of Physics from 2002 to 2005, including wintering over in Antarctica in 2003 to study sea ice-ocean interactions. Between 2005 and 2008, he was employed as a civil engineer at a Dunedin consultancy firm. Since joining the School of Surveying in 2008, he has led the civil engineering curriculum, built industry connections, and chaired the undergraduate teaching committee while leading course advising and serving on the marketing committee.

Leonard's research centers on Antarctic sea ice physics, ice-ocean-shelf interactions, remote sensing of the cryosphere, polar geophysics, and urban engineering infrastructure. He uses geospatial tools to examine both polar environments and civil infrastructure, with regular Antarctic fieldwork since 2010 alongside collaborators from Otago Physics, University of Canterbury, and NIWA. Key publications include 'Antarctic landfast sea ice: A review of its physics, biogeochemistry and ecology' (Reviews of Geophysics, 2023), 'Observations of platelet ice growth and oceanographic conditions during the winter of 2003 in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2006), 'The interannual variability of Antarctic fast-ice thickness in McMurdo Sound and connections to climate' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2024), and 'A glimpse into the future: How the timing of sea ice formation influences associated microalgal communities' (iScience, 2025). In 2021, he co-received a Marsden Fund grant for research titled 'Can Snow Change the Fate of Antarctic Sea Ice?'. His contributions advance knowledge of sea ice dynamics and their climatic implications.