Conquering Climate Change — Creatively
On Sept. 28, 2026, the esteemed named climate scientist Marika Holland (Math’90; MAeroEngr’94; PhD’97) a .
Each year, the foundation awards an $800,000, “no-strings-attached” grant to exceptionally creative change-makers who are navigating the world’s most pressing social issues. Holland is now one of the 1,195 fellows in history.
As a senior scientist in the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Marika’s research on polar sea ice and global climate dynamics helps scientists and policymakers better understand and predict the wide-ranging implications of our changing climate.
Read on to learn more about her research, thoughts on climate change and life in Boulder.
How did you receive the news that you were named a MacArthur Fellow?
I was on a walk in Central Park with my daughter and my husband when the news was publicly announced, but I found out about a month before. I had a missed call from an unknown number; they left a voicemail saying it was someone from the MacArthur Foundation and that they’’d call me back. They broke the news during that phone call, and I was stunned. I can be a little emotional, so I got choked up. It was not what I was expecting.
Why is sea ice imperative to our climate?
Sea ice acts as a refrigerator for the planet. It’’s very bright, so it reflects a lot of sunlight away from Earth’s surface — some of which escapes to space. But as the Earth loses sea ice and this bright, reflective surface, it begins to absorb more sunlight. This causes Earth’s system to warm further, which causes more sea ice loss, which causes more solar energy absorption and further heats the globe.
The loss of sea ice also impacts multiple global and local ecosystems, climates, socioeconomic conditions and communities. Understanding all of the implications and intersections really requires working beyond the physical sea ice system. I’ve done a lot of work with biologists, decision-makers and local Arctic communities to try to understand those influences.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career?
Working with people from areas of expertise that differ from mine. We’re all living through changes in our climate, yet these changes are not just about climate. They ripple through Earth’s systems. They affect people. They affect ecosystems. In order to understand that complexity, you really need interdisciplinary teams.
How do you integrate creativity into your research?
Earth systems are incredibly complicated. There are lots of questions you can ask about why things are changing, how things are changing and what those changes mean. Some of the creativity is in thinking about what the really important questions are; what tools and teams we can build to tackle them; and how I can broaden my narrow focus of expertise to better understand the bigger repercussions of these questions.
How do you plan to use the stipend to advance your research?
It’s all still pretty fresh, so I don’t quite know yet. I have been thinking a lot about how to build scientific community spaces and how to enable solution practitioners. In the past, I’ve done field schools in Utqiagvik, Alaska, which is the northernmost U.S. city. We brought together people with very different perspectives on sea ice and spent a week thinking through the changing ice cover. With this grant, I think there are opportunities to enhance that kind of collaborative work and space.
What would you tell people who are experiencing climate anxiety?
Climate change is really complicated, which I think is why it’s such a challenging issue to attack. Sometimes it just feels paralyzing not knowing what to do. But I think if all of us are thinking, ‘What can I do?’, it makes an impact. Controlling the changing climate is beyond what one individual can do, but many individuals thinking and acting in beneficial ways have an influence. Some of that can be as simple as voting and supporting policies that bring environmental solutions into being, but there are also many different solutions across the globe. It’s a global problem, and it requires responses across every region. Everyone can help contribute to the solutions.
What do you do outside the lab?
I grew up in Boulder, so I love the outdoors. I spend a lot of time hiking and skiing. It’s maybe not a surprise that I ended up in an Earth science field because the natural world is just amazing to me. I have also raised two amazing young women who are now doing very cool things on their own, so I spend a lot of time focusing on my family outside of work.