Valentina did her PhD at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (found in collaboration with MIT) in 2022 on destabilization of gas hydrates in permafrost due to natural and technogenic salt solution. She joined the department in Spring 2024 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and also she is a UVA Environmental Institute Climate Fellow under the supervision of prof. Howard Epstein. Valentina will work on Arctic cities project aimed to understand the influence of the climate change on permafrost dynamics through the terrestrial micrometeorological data analysis.