Properties of Sea Ice. Current active research involves laboratory work in walk-in freezers, as well as conducting field work in and around McMurdo Sound, Antarctica in collaboration with NIWA and the University of Canterbury (and formerly with Industrial Research Limited/Callaghan Innovation), and international collaborators.

Pat obtained her PhD at the Scott Polar Research Institute of Cambridge University, studying the relationship between crystal alignment and current flow. As part of her PhD project, she worked in Arctic Canada. Since coming to New Zealand and the University of Otago in 1988, Pat has contributed to research on the cyclic loading of sea ice and its break-up by ocean waves, as well as participating in the research projects.