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Noah Diffenbaugh is the William Wrigley Professor and Chair of the Department of Earth System Science in Stanford University's Doerr School of Sustainability, as well as the Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Olivier Nomellini Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2003. Diffenbaugh began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University from 2004 to 2008, advancing to Associate Professor until 2009. He joined Stanford in 2009 as Assistant Professor of Environmental Earth System Science, becoming Associate Professor in 2013 and Professor of Earth System Science in 2016. He assumed the role of Department Chair in 2023. Additional appointments include Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment since 2013 and Affiliate at the Precourt Institute for Energy.
His research focuses on the dynamics of the climate system and its impacts on people and ecosystems, probing the interface between physical climate processes and natural and human vulnerabilities across spatial and temporal scales. Leading the Climate and Earth System Dynamics Group, his work emphasizes fine-scale processes shaping climate change impacts on extreme weather, water resources, agriculture, human health, and poverty vulnerability. Notable publications include "Global warming has increased global economic inequality" (PNAS, 2019), "Climate change hotspots in the CMIP5 global climate model ensemble" (Climatic Change, 2012), "Historical warming has increased U.S. crop insurance losses" (Environmental Research Letters, 2021), "Changes in Ecologically Critical Terrestrial Climate Conditions" (Science, 2013), "Robust increases in severe thunderstorm environments in response to greenhouse forcing" (PNAS, 2013), and "Uncertainties in the timing of unprecedented climates" (Nature, 2014). With over 37,900 citations, his scholarship has profoundly shaped understanding of regional climate responses and human dimensions of climate change. Diffenbaugh has earned the American Geophysical Union Fellowship (2020), William Kaula Award (2020), James R. Holton Award (2006), NSF CAREER Award (2010-2015), and Kavli Fellowships from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2010, 2016). He served as Lead Author for IPCC Working Group II, Editor-in-Chief of Geophysical Research Letters and Environmental Research: Climate, and has testified before U.S. Congressional committees while advising state leaders including California Governor Newsom.
Explore the groundbreaking Nature study from Stanford showing U.S. emissions since 1990 responsible for $10.2 trillion in climate damages, with implications for policy and academia.
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