Cambridge Speakers
Biographies of Speakers and Theme Leaders
Cambridge, 10th-12th March
Note that biographies for speakers on the London day appear on a separate page.
Note that biographies for speakers on the London day appear on a separate page.
Professor Garry Clarke, University of British Columbia
As Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of British Columbia, Prof. Clarke's research is concerned with the physics of glaciers and ice sheets and with the role of land ice in the climate system. In particular, he is interested in identifying and characterizing the subglacial mechanical and hydrological processes that promote fast glacier flow and that cause flow instabilities. He has recently completed a 35-year field study of a small surge-type glacier in sub-arctic Canada and is engaged in developing models of ice sheet hydrology and of the regional glaciation (and deglaciation) of northwestern North America.
Professor Harry Elderfield, University of Cambridge
A co-convenor of the Symposium and a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Prof. Elderfield is the Director of the Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research and a Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Society. His research interests in ocean geochemistry and palaeochemistry. His main approach is to proxy seawater composition using the metal and isotopic contents of the carbonate shells of marine microfossils: planktonic and benthic foraminifera. He is also interested in biomineralisation and in models of seawater chemistry. His current research includes the evaluation of glacial-interglacial changes in the ocean carbonate system and the generation of million-year records of Southern Ocean surface and deep-sea temperature.
As Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of British Columbia, Prof. Clarke's research is concerned with the physics of glaciers and ice sheets and with the role of land ice in the climate system. In particular, he is interested in identifying and characterizing the subglacial mechanical and hydrological processes that promote fast glacier flow and that cause flow instabilities. He has recently completed a 35-year field study of a small surge-type glacier in sub-arctic Canada and is engaged in developing models of ice sheet hydrology and of the regional glaciation (and deglaciation) of northwestern North America.
Professor Harry Elderfield, University of Cambridge
A co-convenor of the Symposium and a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Prof. Elderfield is the Director of the Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research and a Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Society. His research interests in ocean geochemistry and palaeochemistry. His main approach is to proxy seawater composition using the metal and isotopic contents of the carbonate shells of marine microfossils: planktonic and benthic foraminifera. He is also interested in biomineralisation and in models of seawater chemistry. His current research includes the evaluation of glacial-interglacial changes in the ocean carbonate system and the generation of million-year records of Southern Ocean surface and deep-sea temperature.
Professor Joanna Haigh, Imperial College, London
Prof. Haigh is Head of the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at Imperial College. Her scientific interests include radiative transfer in the atmosphere, climate modelling, radiative forcing of climate change, and the influence of solar irradiance variability on climate. She has been Vice-President of the Royal Meteorological Society, Editor of the Quarterly Journal of the RMS, and a lead author on the IPCC 2001 report. She is UK representative to the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences and a member of the Royal Society Climate Change Advisory Group, the Advisory Board for NERC’s NCAS, and Oxford University's Physics External Advisory Committee. She received the Charles Chree Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics in 2004.
Professor Sandy Harrison, University of Bristol
Sandy Harrison, Professor of Climate Dynamics at Bristol University, is a palaeoclimate diagnostician with a special interest in the role of the land surface, terrestrial biosphere and hydrological processes on modulating regional climate. She is President of the INQUA Commission on Palaeoclimatology (PALCOMM), Co-leader of the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP), on the Scientific Steering Committee of the IGBP core project on Integrated Land Ecosystems and Atmospheric Processes (iLEAPS), and Coordinator of the IGBP cross-project activity on Fire. She has coordination roles in several palaeoclimate synthesis initiatives, including BIOME6000, the GLSDB, DIRTMAP, 21ka TROPICS, SNOWLINE and the Global Palaeofires Working Group.
Sandy Harrison, Professor of Climate Dynamics at Bristol University, is a palaeoclimate diagnostician with a special interest in the role of the land surface, terrestrial biosphere and hydrological processes on modulating regional climate. She is President of the INQUA Commission on Palaeoclimatology (PALCOMM), Co-leader of the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP), on the Scientific Steering Committee of the IGBP core project on Integrated Land Ecosystems and Atmospheric Processes (iLEAPS), and Coordinator of the IGBP cross-project activity on Fire. She has coordination roles in several palaeoclimate synthesis initiatives, including BIOME6000, the GLSDB, DIRTMAP, 21ka TROPICS, SNOWLINE and the Global Palaeofires Working Group.
Professor Peter Huybers, Harvard University
An assistant professor of climate at Harvard University, Prof. Huybers obtained a PhD from MIT in 2004 and was a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow and Harvard University Environmental Fellow. His research interests lie in understanding palaeoclimates and are rooted in the combination of observational analysis with ocean, ice, and atmospheric dynamics.
Professor Ralph Keeling, University of California, San Diego
Ralph Keeling is professor of climate science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD. His research focuses on the carbon cycle and climate change. Prof. Keeling developed his own method for measuring atmospheric oxygen levels, and since 1989 his group has been measuring changes in atmospheric oxygen levels from air samples collected at stations around the world. Prof. Keeling received a B.S. in physics from Yale University in 1979 and a Ph.D in applied physics from Harvard University in 1988. He has been affiliated with Scripps since 1992.
Professor Mike Lockwood, Southampton University
Prof. Lockwood is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Southampton University, Individual Merit Scientist in the Space Science and Technology Department at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and a current member of the NERC Council. His interests include solar variability effects in pre-industrial climate and Earth-like extra-solar planets.
Professor Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jean Lynch-Stieglitz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Her research group investigates past changes in ocean circulation and climate. She received her Ph.D. in 1995 from Columbia University and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution before serving on the faculty at Columbia from 1996-2003. She has been at Georgia Tech since 2003.
An assistant professor of climate at Harvard University, Prof. Huybers obtained a PhD from MIT in 2004 and was a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow and Harvard University Environmental Fellow. His research interests lie in understanding palaeoclimates and are rooted in the combination of observational analysis with ocean, ice, and atmospheric dynamics.
Professor Ralph Keeling, University of California, San Diego
Ralph Keeling is professor of climate science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD. His research focuses on the carbon cycle and climate change. Prof. Keeling developed his own method for measuring atmospheric oxygen levels, and since 1989 his group has been measuring changes in atmospheric oxygen levels from air samples collected at stations around the world. Prof. Keeling received a B.S. in physics from Yale University in 1979 and a Ph.D in applied physics from Harvard University in 1988. He has been affiliated with Scripps since 1992.
Professor Mike Lockwood, Southampton University
Prof. Lockwood is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Southampton University, Individual Merit Scientist in the Space Science and Technology Department at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and a current member of the NERC Council. His interests include solar variability effects in pre-industrial climate and Earth-like extra-solar planets.
Professor Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jean Lynch-Stieglitz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Her research group investigates past changes in ocean circulation and climate. She received her Ph.D. in 1995 from Columbia University and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution before serving on the faculty at Columbia from 1996-2003. She has been at Georgia Tech since 2003.
Professor Anthony Payne, University of Bristol
Tony Payne is Professor of Glaciology in Bristol and co-director of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), a NERC Earth Observation Centre of Excellence. He acted as a contributing author on ice-sheet modelling for the 3rd (2001) and 4th (2007) Assessment Reports of the IPCC. He is interested in the use of numerical models to understand the growth, decay and dynamics of ice sheets and, particularly, on the role of ice streams in regulating the their response to climate change. His recent work focuses on understanding contemporary and predicting future change in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.
Dr Gavin Schmidt, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Gavin Schmidt is a scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where he works on the large-scale modelling of climate. He is particularly interested in how models can be combined with palaeoclimate data to increase our confidence in future projections. He was cited by Scientific American as one the top 50 Research Leaders in 2004 and is co-chair of the PAGES-CLIVAR Intersection Panel. He is a co-founder of and contributing editor to RealClimate.org.
Tony Payne is Professor of Glaciology in Bristol and co-director of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), a NERC Earth Observation Centre of Excellence. He acted as a contributing author on ice-sheet modelling for the 3rd (2001) and 4th (2007) Assessment Reports of the IPCC. He is interested in the use of numerical models to understand the growth, decay and dynamics of ice sheets and, particularly, on the role of ice streams in regulating the their response to climate change. His recent work focuses on understanding contemporary and predicting future change in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.
Dr Gavin Schmidt, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Gavin Schmidt is a scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where he works on the large-scale modelling of climate. He is particularly interested in how models can be combined with palaeoclimate data to increase our confidence in future projections. He was cited by Scientific American as one the top 50 Research Leaders in 2004 and is co-chair of the PAGES-CLIVAR Intersection Panel. He is a co-founder of and contributing editor to RealClimate.org.
Professor Daniel Sigman, Princeton University
Prof. Sigman studies the cycles of biologically important elements, today and in the past, with an analytical focus on nitrogen. His work seeks to explain the correlation between climate and atmospheric CO2 over glacial cycles and the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation 2.7 million years ago. His focus is on the vertical stability and nutrient status of the polar ocean as a central control on the storage of CO2 in the ocean. His palaeoclimate activities involve the isotopic analysis of N in sediments and held within microfossils and the use of simple models to investigate the interaction of ocean circulation and biogeochemistry.
Prof. Sigman studies the cycles of biologically important elements, today and in the past, with an analytical focus on nitrogen. His work seeks to explain the correlation between climate and atmospheric CO2 over glacial cycles and the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation 2.7 million years ago. His focus is on the vertical stability and nutrient status of the polar ocean as a central control on the storage of CO2 in the ocean. His palaeoclimate activities involve the isotopic analysis of N in sediments and held within microfossils and the use of simple models to investigate the interaction of ocean circulation and biogeochemistry.
Professor Martin Visbeck, Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences, University of Kiel
Martin Visbeck holds a Ph.D (1993) in Physical Oceanography from the University of Kiel. After a postdoc at MIT and an Associate Professorship at Columbia University, New York, he became a Full Professor at the Liebniz Institute in October 2004. His current research are: ocean and climate variability and change, with particular emphasis on the circulation of the Subpolar North Atlantic; climate-biogeochemical interactions in the tropical ocean; observations of ocean circulation and mixing using modern robotic platforms, including profiling floats and gliders; and development of ocean observatories for long-term observations of the water column.
Martin Visbeck holds a Ph.D (1993) in Physical Oceanography from the University of Kiel. After a postdoc at MIT and an Associate Professorship at Columbia University, New York, he became a Full Professor at the Liebniz Institute in October 2004. His current research are: ocean and climate variability and change, with particular emphasis on the circulation of the Subpolar North Atlantic; climate-biogeochemical interactions in the tropical ocean; observations of ocean circulation and mixing using modern robotic platforms, including profiling floats and gliders; and development of ocean observatories for long-term observations of the water column.
Dr Eric Wolff, British Antarctic Survey
Eric Wolff is a Principal Investigator at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. He works mainly on the study of Quaternary palaeoclimate, using ice cores, and on polar tropospheric chemistry. He chairs the science group of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), and co-chairs the future planning group, International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS).
Eric Wolff is a Principal Investigator at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. He works mainly on the study of Quaternary palaeoclimate, using ice cores, and on polar tropospheric chemistry. He chairs the science group of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), and co-chairs the future planning group, International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS).
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