Dr. Syed Umer Latief is an assistant professor of geography in the Higher Education Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. He obtained his MSc in geography from the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, and PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. His doctoral research focused on analyzing the impact of climate change on the Kolahoi glacier in the Kashmir Valley. During his PhD, he was awarded a travel grant by the International Council for Science to attend the ISMASS workshop in Portland, Oregon which was jointly organized by SCAR, Cambridge, England, and the IASC Secretariat, Potsdam, Germany. In 2015, he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi as a post-doctoral research associate, where he worked on the glaciers of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Dr. Umer’s research interests include glaciology, geomorphology, remote sensing, climate change and paleo-climate. He has published many research articles and book chapters on glaciers and climate change.

During his Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Academic and Professional Excellence, Dr. Umer is investigating climatic variability and glacial dynamics in the upper Liddar Valley in the geological past, as well as in the future. He will use detailed field stratigraphy aided by OSL and CRN chronology of erosional and depositional features to ascertain the timing, magnitude and pattern of glaciations during the late Quaternary period.