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Search results for "climate change"

David E Adelman
Professor and Harry Reasoner Regents Chair in Law, School of Law
dadelman@law.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 0877
Expertise: David E. Adelman teaches and writes in the areas of environmental law, intellectual property law, and climate change policy. Professor Adelmans research focuses on the many interfaces between law and science. His articles have addressed such topics as the implications of emerging genomic technologies for toxics regulation, the tensions between legal and scientific evidentiary standards in regulatory decision making, and development of effective policies for promoting innovation relevant to addressing climate change.

Bethany L Albertson
Associate Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts
balberts@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 7276
Expertise: Political Psychology, Public Opinion, Political Participation, Religion and Race in US Politics,
Experimental Methods

Jay L Banner
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
banner@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5016, +1 512 471 6854
Expertise: Isotopic methods, sustainability, groundwater, oceans, ancient oceans, climate change, aquifers, caves, environmental science, geochemistry, paleoclimatology, urbanization, environmental justice.

Donald D Blankenship
Senior Research Scientist, Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences
blank@ig.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0489, +1 512 471 6156
Expertise: Antarctic ice sheets, robotic space missions to Europa, airborne and ground-based geophysical techniques (including laser altimetry, radar sounding, seismic reflection and refraction), West Antarctic rift system, West Antarctic Ice Sheet, climate change, global warming, remote sensing, Thwaites glacier, East Antarctica, Europa Clipper

R M Brown
Professor Emeritus, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
rmbrown2@gmail.com
Expertise: Cellulose is the most abundant macromolecule on earth, yet details about its biosynthesis and structure remain unclear. We are using broad, interdisciplinary advances and tools to study cellulose and its biosynthesis.

Joshua W Busby
Professor, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs
busbyj@mail.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 8946
Expertise: Busby is the author of several studies on climate change, national security, and energy policy from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, the German Marshall Fund, and the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Busby is one of the lead researchers in the Strauss Center project on Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS), a $7.6 million grant funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. He has also written on U.S.-China relations on climate change for CNAS and Resources for the Future.

M Bayani Cardenas
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
cardenas@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 6897
Expertise: Hydrology and Hydrogeology

Ginny Catania
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
gcatania@ig.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0403
Expertise: Ice sheet mass balance, ice dynamics, subglacial hydrology, ice sheet stratigraphy, radar, GPS methods, uncertainty in ice sheet response to climate, satellite observations, remote-sensing observations, outlet glaciers, Greenland, glaciology, Antarctica, sea level, ice-ocean interactions. <a href="https://utcryo.squarespace.com/">UT Cryosphere</a>.

Elizabeth J Catlos
Associate Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
ejcatlos@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4762
Expertise: Can also see https://www.catlos.work/
My primary research focus is <strong>geochemistry</strong>, and how the fundamentals of chemistry (mineral reactions, radiogenic and stable isotopes, major and trace elements) can be and are used to understand what the Earth was like in the past. In this, I have interests that span a broad range of range of plate boundary processes and laboratory approaches. Many ancient fault systems are clues to determine the evolution and migration of Earth's continents in the past, identify important economic resources that formed during specific times in Earth's history, and/or to assess geological hazards that result due to reactivation of older faults or mass movement of rocks. They are used to understand how plate tectonics operates today and how it operated in the past. I am interested in constraining the evolution of a number of fault systems and mountain ranges that formed during the closure of ancient ocean systems primarily across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
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<br>For example, a major portion of my <strong>Himalayan research </strong> agenda involves constraining past motion on the Main Central Thrust, a large-scale shear zone that worked to create the highest mountains on the planet. I currently use novel geochemical and geochronological approaches that take advantage of modern-day technology to understand how <strong> garnet-bearing rocks </strong> moved at a high-resolution scale within that structure. Garnets are chemical tape recorders, and their chemical elements can be used to ascertain the pressures and temperatures they experienced. They also enclose radioactive minerals, such as monazite, that can be dated to time their history. Data from numerous garnet-bearing rocks across the Main Central Thrust can be used to inform us regarding how and when the Himalayas uplifted in the past, and lend insight into the motion that affects it today. To this end, I collaborate and learn from other researchers, such as geophysicists and modelers.
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<br>I apply similar approaches to garnet-bearing rocks found in extensional systems in western <strong>Turkey</strong>. In this region, the plate boundary experienced a major switch in the geological past from compression to extension. Again, I apply new approaches in the thermodynamic modeling and geochronology to garnets in this locale to understand why and how this plate tectonic transition occurred.
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<br>In this portion of my research, I also include the study of <strong>granites</strong>, as these igneous bodies emplaced during the extensional phase. The timing of their formation is key pieces of information regarding how extension occurred in western Turkey, both in time and space. To this end, I pioneered new imaging approaches to their study, and collaborate with economic geologists in Turkey who are interested in how heat and fluid flow around these granite bodies are intricately involved in the formation of ore resources. Their research sparked my interest in granite petrology, and I also study this rock type in China and Slovakia. Some of these granites formed at ancient plate boundaries as continents collided, and their ages and chemistry constrain when and what types of geological processes operated during their formation.
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<br>The approaches I apply (geochemistry and geochronology) are of interest to a wide variety of researchers, so I collaborate and involve students in projects that include other geologists. An example of this is the dating of radioactive minerals from <strong>ancient meteorite impact craters and massive volcanic eruptions</strong>, events that are key for shaping how life evolved in Earth's history. These projects involve the use of modern and ever-evolving <strong>technological advances in geochemistry</strong>, such as the laser ablation of tiny zircon crystals, or the use of instruments that do not require minerals to be separated from rocks, such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).
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<br>I am interested in <strong>accessory minerals</strong>, such as zircon and monazite, and what controls their appearance in metamorphic and igneous rocks. Monazite, in particular, has been a focus of my research and I have key expertise in its formation, composition, geochronology, and its use as a rare earth resource.
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<br>Although my research primarily involves compressional and extensional plate boundaries and igneous and metamorphic rocks, I recently delved into understanding sedimentary rocks from along the North Anatolian Fault, a major strike-slip system in north-central Turkey. In this research, we obtained oxygen isotopes across transects along calcite-filled fractures in limestones using SIMS. These calcite-filled fractures have the potential to record their source and provide key insight into the history of the limestones as well as their use for recording modern day fluid flow driven by seismic activity along the active fault system.
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<br>Fundamentally, my research is <strong>field-based</strong> and involves the mapping and collection of rocks and understanding their importance in addressing research questions regarding what the Earth was like in the past. The research is <strong>laboratory-based</strong>, and I take advantage of modern advances in technology applied to geosciences, including numerous facilities at UT Austin and elsewhere.

Kerry H Cook
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
kc@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 7931
Expertise: Climate dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, global climate change, paleoclimate, climate and weather of Africa and South America, climate system modeling, climate change in Texas

Kenneth H Dunton
Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
ken.dunton@utexas.edu
+1 361 749 6728, +1 361 749 6744
Expertise: marine science, Arctic, seagrass, climate change, global warming, food webs, marine ecology, ecosystem dynamics

Andrew J Esbaugh
Associate Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
a.esbaugh@austin.utexas.edu
+1 361 749 6835
Expertise: Marine science; effects of climate change, toxins and ocean acidification on fish; fish physiology; environmental physiology; respiratory gas exchange; acid-base and osmoregulatory balance; the evolution of physiological systems; aquatic toxicology;

Christine V Hawkes
Adjunct Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
chawkes@austin.utexas.edu
Expertise: Ecosystem responses to climate change, invasive species, plant community ecology, soil microbial ecology

Susan D Hovorka
Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences
susan.hovorka@beg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4863
Expertise: Geologic carbon sequestration in deep sedimentary environments as part of carbon capture and storage. PI of the Gulf Coast Caron Center (www.gulfcoastcarbon.org) focused on research relevant to commercial development of geologic sequestration in regions where it is both needed and possible. Monitoring field projects.
Petrography and sedimentology supporting hydrogeology in karst and contaminated systems.
K-12 and public outreach and education.

Charles S Jackson
Research Associate Professor, Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences
charles@ig.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0401
Expertise: global warming, abrupt climate change, sea level rise, ocean mixing, Bayesian Inference, inverse modeling, simulation, climate projections, uncertainty quantification

Timothy H Keitt
Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
tkeitt@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5004
Expertise: Keitt is an expert on the ecological impacts of a proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Gregory W Knapp
Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography and the Environment, College of Liberal Arts
gwk@utexas.edu
Expertise: Adaptive dynamics, cultural landscapes, and archaeology of Andean agriculture; regional identities, ethnogeography, linguistic geography and ethnic territoriality; mapping; modernization as contextualized in historical cultural ecology and feminist political ecology; history of geographic thought; Latin America

Benjamin D Leibowicz
Associate Professor, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering
bleibowicz@utexas.edu
+1 512 475 9550
Expertise: Integrated assessment modeling; technological change; energy and climate policy analysis; energy system modeling; energy economics; innovation

Beili Liu
Leslie Waggener Professor, College of Fine Arts
beili@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 6071
Expertise: Visual art, contemporary art, installation art, sculpture, Arctic art research, art and climate change, art and science collaboration, environmental art, art activism, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, fiber art, performance art, public art, feminist art, craft, indigenous craft, contemporary Asian-American art, contemporary Chinese-American art, Asian diaspora

Ashley M Matheny
Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
ashley.matheny@jsg.utexas.edu
Spanish Speaker
Expertise: Ecohydrology, Bio- and Micro-meteorology, Vegetation Hydrodynamics, Watershed Hydrology, Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Biogeochemistry, Water and Carbon Cycles, and Modeling

Mikhail V Matz
Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
matz@mail.utexas.edu
+1 512 992 8086
Expertise: climate change, ecology, epigenetics, evolution

Jennifer A Miller
Professor, College of Liberal Arts
jennifer.miller@austin.utexas.edu
Expertise: GIScience, integration of GIS and Remote Sensing, environmental/ecological modeling, spatial analysis, biogeography, climate change, species movement and interaction

Michael W Mosser
Associate Professor of Instruction, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts
mosserm@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 7280
Expertise: International relations; security studies; comparative foreign policy; Western Europe; European security; military art and science; military sociology

Sheila M Olmstead
Professor, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs
sheila.olmstead@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 2064
Expertise: Olmstead is an environmental economist whose current research projects examine the environmental externalities associated with shale gas development in the United States, regulatory avoidance under the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act, the influence of federal fire suppression policy on land development in the American West, and free-riding in dam placement and water withdrawals in transboundary river basins. She has worked extensively on the economics of water resource management, focusing on water demand estimation, water conservation policy, and access to drinking water services among low-income communities. Climate and energy policy are additional topics of her research, especially with regard to the application of market-based environmental policy instruments.

Camille Parmesan
Adjunct Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
parmesan@austin.utexas.edu
Expertise: Global warming, climate change, insect ecology, butterfly biology

Judson W Partin
Research Scientist, Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences
jpartin@ig.utexas.edu
+1 512 418 6676
Spanish Speaker
Expertise: Paleoclimate, Stable and Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry, climate change

Geeta Persad
Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
geeta.persad@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5983
Expertise: Atmospheric Aerosols, Climate Change, Climate Modeling, Air Pollution, Global Hydrologic Cycle, Monsoon Systems, Western U.S. Climate Impacts, Climate Policy and Decision-Making
Varun Rai
Professor, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs
rai@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4697, +1 512 471 5057
Expertise: Dr. Rai's principal research interests are in technological change, innovation and diffusion; economics of climate change/integrated assessment models; and energy and development. His research combines energy systems modeling with the political economy of energy markets to understand how changes in energy technologies, market conditions, policies and regulation, and environment could impact energy generation. The emphasis of his research is on interdisciplinary and integrative research in engineering and policy to ensure that the insights from his policy research are rooted in the underlying technical realties.

Carlos E Ramos
Associate Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, College of Liberal Arts
cramos@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 2067
Spanish Speaker
Expertise: Hydro-geomorphology; terrestrial sediment and carbon budgets; sediment routing; road erosion; infiltration and runoff routing modeling; land use and climate change effects on hydrologic/geomorphic processes and their consequences on water quality, sustainable development, stream habitat, and marine ecosystems; development of GIS-based sediment budget/hydrologic applications; mass wasting processes; spatial scale issues; natural hazards.

Bridget R Scanlon
Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences
bridget.scanlon@beg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1534, +1 512 471 8241
Expertise: Evaluation of the impact of climate variability and land use change on groundwater recharge, application of numerical models for simulating variably saturated flow and transport, controls on nitrate contamination in aquifers

Timothy M Shanahan
Associate Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
tshanahan@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 7051
Expertise: The Shanahan research group uses a combination of geochemical and stable isotopic proxy reconstructions of past climate, in combination with climate model simulations, to understand past and future climate change. Our primary focus is the use of organic geochemical and stable isotopic techniques applied to marine, lacustrine and terrestrial sediment records to understand changes on timescales ranging from interannual to millennial, and orbital to tectonic. If you are interested in learning more, please visit our <a href="https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/paleoclimatology-environmental-geochemistry-lab/" target="_blank">research website.</a>

Byron D Tapley
Professor and Clare Cockrell Williams Centennial Chair in Engineering, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Cockrell School of Engineering
tapley@csr.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5573
Expertise: Orbital Mechanics; Satellite Orbit Determination; Earth Satellite Applications

Melinda E Taylor
Executive Director, Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business
mtaylor@law.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 3641
Expertise: Melinda E. Taylor is a Senior Lecturer and Executive Director of the Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration and Environmental Law. Taylor joined the faculty of the Law School in January 2006. Prior to joining the faculty, she was the director of the Ecosystem Restoration Program of Environmental Defense where she managed a staff of attorneys, scientists and economists engaged in projects to protect endangered species and water resources across the United States. Taylor has also served as deputy general counsel of the National Audubon Society in Washington, D.C. and was an associate at Bracewell & Patterson in Washington.

Clark R Wilson
Professor Emeritus, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
crwilson@jsg.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5008
Expertise: Geophysics, including gravity, space geodesy, and applied seismology

Kristopher Wilson
Journalism Affiliate, School of Journalism and Media, Moody College of Communication
drkris5.kw@gmail.com
Expertise: Environmental Journalism, Climate Change, Global Warming, Weather, Broadcast News, Media Convergence

Kenneth W Wisian
Program Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences
kenneth.wisian@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 2003
Expertise: Geothermal Geophysics, SETI, Exoplanets, Space Exploration, Disaster Response, Recovery & Resiliency, Military Technology Applications, International Affairs, Innovation, Curriculum Development

Kenneth R Young
Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, College of Liberal Arts
kryoung@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 8311, +1 512 471 5116
Expertise: Biogeography; Landscape Ecology; Climate Change; Sustainability; Tropical Environments; linking biogeography to environmental conservation at local to landscape to global scales, with emphasis in developing countries, tropical ecosystems, Latin America, biodiversity, climate change, and landscape change