Tim Shanahan (he/his) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and the Director of the Environmental Science Program (Undergraduate Major). His research is focused on understanding climate change and climate variability and the impacts of climate changes on landscapes, ecosystems and hydrogeology. He uses a variety of geochemical tools (stable isotopes, organics, sediments) to reconstruct past climate changes on a range of timescales, and uses paleoclimate data and climate model simulations to understand the causes of past climate changes. His teaching interests include climate change and water resource availability, sustainability and environmental science. He is also the primary instructor for GEO303 - Introduction to Geology.
You can learn more about the Shanahan research group here:
Click here for the Shanahan Research Group Website
Ph.D.
in Geosciences, University of Arizona, 2006
M.S.
in Hydrology, University of Arizona, 2001
B.S.
in Geology, Brown University, 1994
climate variability, climate change, paleoclimatology, geochemistry, stable isotopes, organic geochemistry, sedimentology, environmental science
If you are interested in learning more, please visit <a href="https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/paleoclimatology-environmental-geochemistry-lab/" target="_blank">research website.</a>
Director, EVS (Environmental Science) Academic Program,
(2022)
Graduate Assembly Admissions & Enrollment committee,
(2022)
Graduate Assembly member,
(2022)
Shanahan, T.M., et al, Atlantic forcing of persistent drought in West Africa, Science, 17 April 2009
Knebel Distinguished Teaching award
- Department of Geological Sciences (2020)
Kavli Fellow
- National Academy of Sciences (2012)
NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship
- NOAA (2006)
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2006)
NSF-IGERT research traineeship in Anthropology
(2003)
McGinnies Fellowship for Arid Lands Studies, U. Arizona
(2002)
NSF research traineeship in hydrology
(1997)
Outstanding Graduating Senior, Dept. of Geosciences, Brown U.
(1994)
National Association Of Geology Teachers Undergraduate Award
(1994)
Sigma Xi
(1994)
Megadroughts in the tropics: insights from the geological record,
National Academy of Sciences Kavli Symposium: Indonesia, Solo, Indonesia (2012)
New constraints on the use of IP25 as a paleo-sea ice proxy,
First workshop of the PAGES Sea Ice Proxy (SIP) working group on the basis of sea ice proxies, Montreal (2012)
Megadroughts, abrupt climate changes and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon,
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, New York (2011)
Ecosystem feedbacks and changes in the West African monsoon,
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (2011)
Abrupt climate change and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon,
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY (2011)
Abrupt climate change and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon,
Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, TX (2011)
Megadroughts, abrupt climate changes and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon,
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK (2011)
ICDP Drilling at Lake Bosumtwi: Progress and challenges,
Workshop on drilling of East African Lakes, Brown University, RI (2011)
Late Holocene megadroughts and temperature changes in the tropics: coherent century-scale climate variability across the tropics,
American Geophysical Union annual meeting, San Francisco, CA (2011)
Lakes as archives of environmental change in Southeast Asia,
Greater Mekong Delta meeting, Cambodia (2010)
Two millennia of climate change in tropical West Africa: a review.,
First workshop of the PAGES Africa 2k working group, Ghent, Belgium (2010)
