This interview was conducted as part of a series documenting the history of scientific work on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The interview discussions Doug MacAyeal's undergraduate education in physics at Brown University, and the project to apply catastrophe models to the Paleoclimate, which brough him to work with Bob Thomas, Terry Hughes, and George Denton at the University of Maine. While pursuing an MS degree, he obtained experience working on the Ross Ice Shelf Geophysical and Glaciological Survey (RIGGS). Also covers his exposure to broader climate modeling issues while pursuing his PhD in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program at Princeton University. MacAyeal's work in modeling ice stream behavior is discussed in some depth, as is his field work as part of the Siple Coast project of the 1980s, including important changes in field equipment. Finally, it covers some of his more recent work, his perceptions of the relationship between his work and efforts such as the WAIS initiative and the models undertaken as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments, as well as more general discussion of the philosophy and recent history of the computer modeling of ice physics, including in comparison with climate modeling.