Rate My Professor Robert Davis

Robert Davis is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, where he also serves as Director of Undergraduate Programs. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1988. His research focuses on biometeorology and bioclimatology, examining interactions between weather, climate, and human health, with emphasis on heat mortality, respiratory morbidity and mortality, and linkages between climate and influenza. He investigates synoptic climatology, including the variability and change of large-scale weather systems, particularly in the United States. Additional areas include air quality linkages between near-surface pollutants and synoptic-scale systems, their impacts on human health, and climate influences on viticulture phenology and wine quality. Davis explores temporal and spatial variability of synoptic-scale weather events and their effects on environmental parameters such as air quality and human health outcomes, including severe respiratory distress from pollutants, aeroallergens, and short-term weather changes. His work addresses linkages between synoptic-scale and smaller spatial phenomena, climatologies of deep-water waves, pollutant stability and long-range transport, severe weather, and climate change in the context of synoptic-scale circulation.

Davis has published extensively on these topics. Key publications include 'Statistics for the evaluation and comparison of models' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 1985; 2820 citations), 'Climate influences on grapevine phenology, grape composition, and wine production and quality for Bordeaux, France' (American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 2000; 1099 citations), 'Humidity: A review and primer on atmospheric moisture and human health' (Environmental Research, 2016; 556 citations), 'Weather and human mortality: an evaluation of demographic and interregional responses in the United States' (Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1989; 499 citations), and 'Changing heat-related mortality in the United States' (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2003; 495 citations). Recent works feature 'Climate and Human Mortality in Virginia, 2005–2020' (Science of the Total Environment, 2023), 'The Association between Weather and Emergency Department Visitation for Diabetes in Roanoke, Virginia' (International Journal of Biometeorology, 2022), 'The impact of cold weather on respiratory morbidity at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta' (Science of the Total Environment, 2022), and 'A comparison of the effect of weather and climate on emergency department visitation in Roanoke and Charlottesville, Virginia' (Environmental Research, 2020). These contributions advance understanding of climate-health relationships and environmental impacts.