Jonathan Taylor Overpeck (born 1957) is an American climate scientist. Since 2017, he has served as the Samuel A. Graham Dean of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

School for Environment and Sustainability. Overpeck has authored more than 220 scientific publications. In 2007, he was a coordinating lead author on a report for the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 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 Met ...

, which was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Early life and education

Overpeck obtained an undergraduate degree in geology from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

in Clinton, New York. He has an MSc and PhD in Geological Sciences (1981 and 1985) from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in Rhode Island and then became a Post-doctoral Research Scientist 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 ...

jointly with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Career

Prior to joining the

, Overpeck was faculty at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, where he was the director of Institute for the Study of Planet Earth. He became the Samuel A. Graham Dean of the University of Michigan's School for Environment and

Sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

in 2017. He has been active in university, city and state efforts to

mitigate climate change Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include energy conservation, conserving energy and Fossil fuel phase-out, repl ...

. In 2015, Overpeck was elected fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

Selected publication

* Jansen, E., J. Overpeck, K.R. Briffa, J.-C. Duplessy, F. Joos, V. Masson-Delmotte, D. Olago, B. Otto-Bliesner, W.R. Peltier, S. Rahmstorf, R. Ramesh, D. Raynaud, D. Rind, O. Solomina, R. Villalba and D. Zhang (2007). "Paleoclimate." ''Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis''. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change olomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

References

External links

Faculty profile page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overpeck, Jonathan American scientists Paleoclimatologists University of Michigan faculty Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors Hamilton College (New York) alumni Climate change mitigation researchers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1957 births Brown University alumni