I LOVE IT HERE.
I'm a climate scientist, which means I get to study my favorite planet: Earth.
I'm also a writer, storyteller, and human. And I'm so glad you've stopped by.
DAY JOBS
Studying my favorite planet
MA Program in Climate and Society
Faculty
I teach Dynamics of Climate Variability and Change to the smartest, most dedicated students in the world.
Columbia University and NASA GISS
Associate Research Scientist
I study climate forcings (things that affect the planet's energy balance) and feedbacks (processes that speed up or slow down warming). Our work here has shown that observational estimates of the Earth's sensitivity to greenhouse gases are probably biased low: assuming climate changes will be small is not a very good idea. We've also shown that human influences are already apparent in global drought patterns, cloud cover, and in the timing and amount of regional rainfall.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Postdoctoral Researcher
We identified a "fingerprint" of human influence on global precipitation patterns and showed that we are already changing rain and snowfall. This is both reassuring, because it suggests climate model projections are credible, and terrifying, because it suggests climate model projections are credible.
Carnegie Institution
Postdoctoral Scholar
How much wind power could we theoretically extract from the atmosphere before severe climate consequences result? Our work showed that this geophysical limit is large- an order of magnitude greater than worldwide electricity demand. So go ahead and put those turbines in the jet stream!
Stanford
Science Fellow
As a Science Fellow at Stanford, I worked on policy-relevant scientific issues like nuclear power safety, climate model downscaling, and electrical grid resilience. Our work suggested that distributed grids, with electricity generated at local scales, can be inherently more fault-tolerant than centralized grids.
Writing
Articles for a wider audience
A Handful of Dust
I'm so thrilled to be included in this stellar group of women climate leaders.
The Parallel Universes of a Woman in Science
Nautilus Magazine
Personal essay about science, love, and choices
The Hidden Importance of Clouds
Nautilus Magazine
Will Nature save us from ourselves?
What's Really Warming the World?
Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi's splendid visualization of our data
Things to Say
My blog
How it all started
INTERVIEWS
Questions and answers
Five Books
Recommendations on climate change and uncertainty
TALKS AND PODCASTS
Speaking and listening
Recommendations
My favorite places for climate information
Hot Take
Climate change is a story, and how we tell that story matters. Mary Annaise Heglar and Amy Westervelt (who also hosts the gripping Drilled podcast) are funny, engaging, and passionate about climate storytelling. They’re careful to get the science right, but they recognize that climate isn’t a problem for scientists- it’s everyone’s problem
How To Save a Planet
Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is my personal climate hero, Kendra Pierre-Louis is the absolute best science reporter out there, and Alex Blumberg really knows how to pull together a great podcast. This supergroup might not save the planet by themselves (I think we should probably help them out on that) but they’ve made a really interesting podcast that I find useful and almost soothing to listen to.
A Matter of Degrees
Some of the questions I’m asked most frequently are the questions I’m not well-equipped to answer: How do we solve this? What can I do? Which policies do you support? I’m a physicist; my job is to solve equations, not long-standing social problems. All I can do is direct you to people who do know what they’re talking about. Leah Stokes and Katharine Wilkinson are those people. They’re also incredibly knowledgeable, warm, funny, and engaging, and their podcast is great for climate solutions.
Climate Feedback
How accurate is that article you just read? Does it capture the science accurately, or is it leaving something out or just plain wrong? At Climate Feedback, you can see what scientists actually say about claims made in the media.
Global Weirding with Katharine Hayhoe
Everything Katharine Hayhoe does is worth checking out! This is an accessible, engaging web series that explains what you need to know about the science.
