Jeff Dozier, an environmental scientist, snow hydrologist, researcher, and academic died tragically on November 17. A resident of Mammoth Lakes, Jeff turned 80 in August 2024 and was looking forward to months of skiing this winter thanks to Mammoth Mountain’s free season passes to those over 80. The night before Jeff was to fly from Reno to attend a scientific conference, he was struck by a truck while in a crosswalk. He suffered multiple injuries that, despite the expertise and unrelenting efforts of the surgical and ICU teams at Renown Medical Center, resulted in his death.
Jeff was born and raised in Stockton, California, graduated in the class of 1962 from Stagg High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Cal State Hayward and received a Master’s and PhD from the University of Michigan. In 1971, he joined Cal State Hayward as a lecturer until he moved to the Geography Department at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1974, where he spent the remainder of his teaching career.
With his father and uncle, Jack and Bill Dozier, Jeff led six climbing expeditions to the Hindu Kush range of Afghanistan in the 1960s and 1970s, where he and his partners made multiple first ascents. On a snow-covered slope in Afghanistan, Jeff realized he had no idea whether it would avalanche and kill them all, and when he returned home, he turned to academic research in snow hydrology to find answers.
Jeff’s research combined field studies in high mountains and satellite remote sensing of snow properties. His findings and algorithms are used by hydrologists, water managers, and climate researchers worldwide. His work in the world’s mountains addresses the storage and melting of snow and has economic and social significance to the many people who depend on snow for their water resources.
|