Kerry Cook came to The University of Texas at Austin in August, 2008. She began her career at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab at Princeton University, followed by 18 years as a professor at Cornell University where she taught courses in Climate Dynamics, Atmospheric Dynamics, and Atmospheric Physics and was a founder of the Science of Earth Systems major. She is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and has served on the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and as an editor of the Journal of Climate. She is currently the Chair of the American Meteorological Society's Board of Climate Variability and Change and serves on the NSF GEO Advisory Council.
Dr. Cook's research centers on predicting and understanding climate change and climate variability around the world, including Africa, South America, the central U.S., and home in Austin, TX. She and her group use numerical models of the climate system, including atmosphere, ocean, and vegetation components, along with observational analysis to improve our understanding about how features and processes at the earth's surface interact with atmospheric circulation and precipitation fields.
Dr. Cook has published a text on Climate Dynamics (2013, Princeton University Press); a second edition is expected in 2024. Supplemental resources for Climate Dynamics are available at: https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/climate-dynamics-book/
Ph.D. North Carolina State University
Climate dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, global climate change, paleoclimate, climate and weather of Africa and South America, climate system modeling, climate change in Texas
Member,
Geological Sciences (GEO) Advisory Committee, National Science Foundation (2020)
Chair,
Climate Variability and Change Committee, American Meteorological Society (2018)
Member,
Working Group: Changing Width of the Tropics, US CLIVAR (2016 - Present)
Advisory Board,
Future Climate for Africa Program, UK Dept. Of International Development (2016 - Present)
Chair,
Endowment Committee, Jackson School of Geosciences (2016 - Present)
Co-chair,
Climate Variations and Change Meeting, 2018, American Meteorological Society (2016 - 2018)
Member,
Awards Nominating Committee, American Meteorological Society (2015 - Present)
Guest Editor,
Special issue of Earth Systems Dynamics on Climate, Land Use, and Conflict in Northern Africa, European Geosciences Union (2015 - Present)
Editor,
Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society (2014 - 2019)
Member,
Committee on Climate Change and Variability, American Meteorological Society (2014 - Present)
Member,
Scientific Organizing Committee, Workshop on Climate Change, Land Use and Conflict in Northern Africa, Max Planck Institute (2014 - 2015)
Editor,
Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society (2011 - 2015)
Member,
Committee on Communicating Climate Change, American Meteorological Society (2010 - Present)
Board of Trustees,
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), (2007 - 2013)
Executive Committee,
Board on Oceans and Atmosphere, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (2007 - 2013)
Joanne Simpson Tropical Meteorology Research Award
- American Meteorological Society (2020)
Outstanding Graduate Instruction
- Jackson School of Geosciences (2012 - 2012)
Fellow
- American Meteorological Society (2009)
Outstanding Educator
- Merill Presidential Scholar (2007)
Board of Trustees
- University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (2006 - 2013)
Outstanding Educator
- Merrill Presidential Scholar (2003)
Predicting 21st Century Climate Change over Africa,
Brown International Advanced Research Institutes, Brown University, Providence RI (2011)
African Climate Change and Variability,
Summer Colloquium, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (2011)
Toward confident and useful climate change projections: West Africa and the Sahel,
International Union of Geogesy and Geophysics, Melbourne, Australia
