THIS PAGE WAS LAST UPDATED JULY 3, 2024.
With the approach of the hurricane season, here are some of the many scientists at Columbia University’s Climate School who can help journalists cover the story. Feel free to contact scientists directly. If you need more help, contact Kevin Krajick, senior editor for science news: kkrajick@climate.columbia.edu or Caroline Adelman, associate director for strategic communications: cadelman@climate.columbia.edu.
Suzana Camargo, professor of ocean and climate physics at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is an expert on hurricanes and cyclones, their genesis, intensity and their relationship to climate, from intra-seasonal to centennial time scales. Suzana@ldeo.columbia.edu / 845-365-8640
Andrew Kruczkiewicz is a senior staff associate with the Columbia Climate School. He integrates remote sensing into early warning systems for extreme events and works with the humanitarian, development and disaster management sectors, including Red Cross, World Food Programme and World Bank. Andrew conducts research on extreme weather and climate events focusing on both individual hazards, such as cyclones, floods and other hydrometeorological hazards, as well as compound events. ajk2207@columbia.edu / 212-854-9896
Radley Horton is a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School and has done a wide variety of interdisciplinary work on the physics of storms, their interaction with climate and socioeconomic risk factors, especially in coastal areas. He has advised the mayor of New York City and the U.S. president on climate and weather risks, and is involved in a wide variety of interdisciplinary studies including managed retreat and extreme heat. rh142@columbia.edu / 212-678-5649
Mona Hemmati researches extreme weather events and assesses actions communities can take to resist or retreat from them, including storm surge and other flooding events. mh4232@columbia.edu
Jason Smerdon studies how climate has evolved over past decades to centuries. Co-director of the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development, he frequently appears in media to explain and discuss a wide variety of basic climate-related questions. Some of his specific research has been on megadrought in the U.S. West. jsmerdon@ldeo.columbia.edu / 845-365-8493
Kai Kornhuber investigates drivers, impacts and future risks of extreme climatic events such as heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall and floods. He has identified recent changes in the jet stream linked to such phenomena. kk3397@columbia.edu / 212-854-3830
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, has broad expertise relating to disaster policy, preparedness and response, including their application to wildfires. js4645@columbia.edu / 212-853-NCDP
Chia-Ying Lee uses models to study typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes, along with drought, and their relationship to climate change and cycles such as El Niño/La Niña. cl3225@columbia.edu / 845-365-4420
Adam Sobel, atmospheric scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Department of Applied Physics and Mathematics, heads the university’s Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate. Author of a book on Hurricane Sandy, he has studied a wide variety of topics, from hurricane physics to related social issues. Ahs129@columbia.edu / 212-854-6587
Mingfang Ting is an atmospheric physicist who studies climate and the regional effects of the jet stream and other circulation patterns such as atmospheric rivers on droughts, heat waves and extreme precipitation, including rain and snow in North America and elsewhere. mt2204@columbia.edu / 845-365-8374
Michela Biasutti is an atmospheric scientist who focuses on monsoons and climate in the tropics and subtropics, in particular on what controls the location and intensity of rainfall during hurricanes, cyclones and other extreme weather. biasutti@ldeo.columbia.edu / 845-365-8512
Lorenzo Polvani’s research encompasses many aspects of atmospheric dynamics, including the response of climate to ozone-depleting substances, and the effect of Arctic and Antarctic climate change on the lower latitudes. lmp@columbia.edu / 212-854-7331
Klaus Jacob, special research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is an expert in the consequences of coastal storms. As an advisor to the New York City mayor on climate, he accurately predicted the flooding of the city’s subways that took place during Hurricane Sandy. jacob@ldeo.columbia.edu / 845-365-8440
