In May 2009, Dr. Erica Key joined the Office of Polar Programs staff as Associate Program Director for the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) program. She is at the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Visiting Scientists, Engineers, and Educators (VSEE) program.

Erica is an atmospheric physicist and oceanographer; she earned an MS and PhD in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) at the University of Miami in 2004. After completing her postdoctoral fellowship at RSMAS, she then served as a Researcher First-Class in air-sea interaction at the Centre d'Etudes des Environnements Terrestre et Planetaires (now the Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales [LATMOS]) near Paris.

She returned to the U.S. to work on marine biophysics at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) before joining the ARCSS program. She has extensive field experience, having worked in all five oceans collecting data for both oceanographic and atmospheric research. She uses these observations to further advancements in remote sensing retrievals, modeling, and forecast analyses.

Erica can be contacted at:
Email: ekey@nsf.gov
Phone: 703-292-7427