Cynthia Rosenzweig
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Cynthia E. Rosenzweig (''
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
'' Ropes) (born c. 1958) is an American agronomist and
climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...
at
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Goddard Institute for Space Studies The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in Ne ...
, located at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, "who helped pioneer the study of climate change and agriculture."Justin Gillis
"A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', June 5, 2011.
She is an adjunct senior research scientist at the
Columbia Climate School The Columbia Climate School is Columbia University's school of trans-disciplinary climate research. Announced in July 2020, the Climate School is the first new school to be established at the university in 25 years. Since 2021, the Columbia Clim ...
and has over 300 publications, over 80 peer-reviewed articles, has authored or edited eight books. She has also served in many different organizations working to develop plans to manage climate change, at the global level with the
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...
as well as in New York City after
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...
.


Education and academic career

Rosenzweig attended
Cook College The School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) is a constituent school of Rutgers University's New Brunswick-Piscataway campus. Formerly known as Cook College—which was named for George Hammell Cook, a professor at Rutgers in ...
(at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
) earning a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree in
agricultural sciences Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professiona ...
in 1980. Rosenzweig's focus on agriculture began in 1969, when she and her future husband rented and operated a farm in Tuscany, Italy, picking grapes and olives and raising animals like goats, pigs, ducks, and geese. She decided to return to university to study agriculture, earning a
Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...
degree in Soils and Crops from Rutgers University in 1983."Cynthia Rosenzweig"
(profile), NASA GISS (last visited Aug. 15, 2012).
During her Master's, she was hired by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Goddard Institute for Space Studies The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in Ne ...
to study cropland using satellite data. She then earned her Ph.D. from the
University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
in Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences in 1991. She has continued working for NASA, where she has been the head of the Climate Impacts Group since 1993."An Interview with Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA – Q&A with Anna Lappé"
''Take a Bite Out of Climate Change'', Sept. 2008
Her work with the IPCC Task Force on Data was recognized when the
2007 Nobel Peace Prize The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (founded in 1988) and United States former vice president, Al Gore (b. 1948) "for their efforts to build up and disseminate gr ...
was awarded jointly to
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...
and the
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...
. She also currently serves as an adjunct professor at Barnard College, where she leads the Climate Impacts research group, and is also an adjunct senior research scientist at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University.


Climate research

Rosenzweig has been a leader in the field of food and climate change research since the early 1980s. She has led large-scale interdisciplinary research studies on the impacts of climate change in both rural and urban settings. Her research has shaped how we understand the close relationship between food and climate change, most notably predicting the impacts of the interaction between climate and food systems. Rosenzweig's research has been used by thousands of decision-makers in more than 90 countries in their efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. She is also the founder of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP), a global and interdisciplinary network of over one thousand researchers studying climate and food systems modeling.


Community engagement and advocacy

While at NASA and Columbia's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Rosenzweig has pioneered the study of climate change's impact on agriculture and human cities. She has been involved in numerous working groups attempting to assess and establish plans for managing climate change, including: * Co-chair, New York City Panel on Climate Change * Co-Leader, Metropolitan East Coast Regional Assessment of the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, sponsored by the
U.S. Global Change Research Program The United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The program began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was codified b ...
* Coordinating Lead Author of the
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...
Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report ("Observed Changes" chapter) *Coordinating Lead Author of the
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...
Special Report on Climate Change and Land * Member,
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...
Task Group on Data and Scenarios for Impact and Climate Assessment * Co-Editor, UCCRN First Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3). * Panel member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change. *Co-founder and member of the executive committee of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) *On October 20, 2022,  Rosenzweig was awarded the World Food Prize. *Rosenzweig founded the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project in 2010


Publications

An overview of Rosenzweig's research can be obtained at he
Google Scholar
profile. A complete list of her publications can be obtained from he

* * C.L. Rosenzweig & M.L. Parry
"Climate Change and Agriculture"
1990 *
Testimony before Congress
April 17, 2007. * Rosenzweig, C., C.Z. Mutter, and E.M. Contreras (Eds.), 2021: ''Handbook of Climate Change and Agroecosystems: Climate Change and Farming System Planning in Africa and South Asia: AgMIP Stakeholder-driven Research.'' Series on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, and Mitigation, Vol. 5. World Scientific, doi:10.1142/q0259. * Rosenzweig, C., M. Parry, and M. De Mel (Eds.), 2022: ''Our Warming Planet: Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation'': ''Lectures in Climate Change'', Vol. 2. World Scientific, doi:10.1142/12312.


Awards

*
Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...
*GSFC Honor Award - Science (2011) *GISS Best Publication Award (2009) *GSFC Honor Award - Earth Science Achievement (2007) * Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2006) *Named as one of
Nature's 10 ''Nature'' 10 is an annual listicle of ten "people who mattered" in science, produced by the scientific journal ''Nature (journal), Nature''. Nominees have made a significant impact in science either for good or for bad. Reporters and editorial s ...
: Ten People Who Mattered in 2012" by the journal Nature *
World Food Prize The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize laureate No ...
(2022) *NASA Blue Marble Award (2024)


References


Further reading


"An Interview with Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA – Q&A with Anna Lappé"
''Take a Bite Out of Climate Change'', Sept. 2008 (interview transcript)
"Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig Talks About Urban Climate Change Solutions at Michigan State University"
April 9, 2010 (video)

(NASA profile of Rosenzweig for children) * Kristin Jobin

MLive, May 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenzweig, Cynthia E. American climatologists American women climatologists NASA people Columbia University faculty Barnard College faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Rutgers University alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Natural Sciences alumni Living people Scarsdale High School alumni 20th-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American women scientists Climate change mitigation researchers 1958 births