Fran Ulmer

Fran Ulmer is chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, where she has served since being appointed by President Obama in March 2011. In June 2010, President Obama appointed her to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Ulmer was chancellor of Alaska's largest public university, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). Before that, she was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at UAA. She is a member of the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy and on the Board of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Ms. Ulmer served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, a state representative, and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. She previously worked as legal counsel to the Alaska Legislature, legislative assistant to Governor Jay Hammond, and Director of Policy Development for the state. In addition, she was the first Chair of the Alaska Coastal Policy Council and served for more than 10 years on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. She has served on numerous local, state, and federal advisory committees and boards. Ulmer earned a J.D. cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and has been a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government,  the Cox Visiting Professor at Stanford and is now a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center.

Because the Arctic region is warming at twice the global average, a formerly white ocean is turning blue. For example, the spatial coverage of floating sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has diminished by more than 50% over the past 30 years and the volume of sea ice (sea ice thickness) has diminished by 75% in summer. This “opening” of a new, northern ocean impacts the geopolitical interests of not only the eight Arctic nations, but others, as well, in Asia and Europe. The new ocean provides greater opportunities for expanding marine activities, such as fishing, oil and gas exploration and development, destinational and trans-Arctic shipping, tourism, and scientific research. The increasing accessibility of the Arctic region also has major implications for national security interests, starting with domain awareness. Other changes in the Arctic have direct impacts on the lower latitudes, where the majority of the global population lives. For example, the increasing melting rate of glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet, contributes to sea level rise, globally which will challenge many coastal communities. The resulting national security concerns include exacerbated societal instabilities, human migration, degradation of critical military infrastructure, and compromised operational readiness.