Drew T. Shindell
Duke University
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Primary Section: 64, Human Environmental Sciences Secondary Section: 16, Geophysics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2023)
Photo Credit: Duke University |
Biosketch
Drew Shindell is Nicholas Professor of Earth Science at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. He earned his BA in Physics from UC Berkeley and his PhD in Physics from Stony Brook University. He was a NASA EOS postdoctoral fellow at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in NY and worked as a NASA climate scientist there through 2014 when he moved to Duke. He is an author on more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and is a fellow of American Geophysical Union and AAAS. He has testified before both houses of the US Congress (at the request of both parties), developed a climate change course with the American Museum of Natural History and made numerous media appearances. He chaired the 2011 UNEP/WMO Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone, was a Coordinating Lead Author of the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC and of the 2018 IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C and chaired the 2021 Global Methane Assessment from UNEP & the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). He chairs the Scientific Advisory Panel to the CCAC and serves on the Science Advisory Board of the US EPA.
Research Interests
Dr. Shindell’s research group studies the consequences of policies to mitigate climate change or improve air quality. These include impacts on human health, agricultural yields, climate and the economy. Much of the research involves simulating the coupled climate and atmospheric chemical systems using computer models. These studies attempt to unravel the fundamental physical workings of these systems, for example how the Earth responds to different drivers of climate change, and to better understand interactions between climate and atmospheric composition such as the effects of climate change on air quality or vice versa. These types of interactions can be important on many time scales, so simulations have explored times from 55 million years ago to the 17th century to the 20th century as well as the future. Most of the team’s analyses aim to provide a broad picture of the human and environmental impacts of policy options, including the economic impacts of changes to labor productivity, agricultural systems, and the mortality and morbidity effects of exposure to air pollution and heat.
