Dr. Alison Criscitiello
The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival celebrates Dr. Alison Criscitiello as the recipient of the 2025 Summit of Excellence Award—which, since 1987, has recognized outstanding individuals who have made a significant contribution to mountain life in Canada.
Dr. Alison Criscitiello is a world-renowned ice core scientist, glaciologist, advocate for gender equity, mother, and high-altitude mountaineer. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at University of Alberta, and co-founder of Girls* on Ice Canada.
As a scientist, her work has taken her to ice caps around the world including Antarctica, Greenland, and the Canadian High Arctic. Criscitiello explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions by tracking environmental contaminant histories using ice core chemistry. Criscitiello is at the forefront of data capture and documentation of ice loss in these volatile zones.
Criscitiello’s expedition to collect ice core samples from the summit of Mount Logan was groundbreaking (and back-breaking) work. While polar ice coring science has been around for half a century, no one had conducted such an extensive collection from such a high altitude.
Criscitiello is committed to making science more accessible to young women and as a founder of the Girls* on Ice Canada program, Criscitiello hopes to merge science, art, and adventure to inspire leadership and confidence in the next generation of leaders. Her work has motivated a community of young women to pursue their interests in science and dive into their passions in the outdoors.
She was elected into Canadian Geographic Society’s College of Fellows and has been recognized as a Fellow by The Explorer’s Club. She was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal and is the recipient of three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, The John Lauchlan Award, the Mugs Stump, and the Alpine Climbing Award.
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“Her work has motivated a community of young women to pursue their interests in science and dive into their passions in the outdoors.”
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