Stephen H. Schneider

Dr. Stephen H. Schneider is the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor (by courtesy) of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Science and Policy in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. Dr. Schneider received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Plasma Physics from Columbia University in 1971. He studied the role of greenhouse gases and suspended particulate material on climate as a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 1972 and was a member of the scientific staff of NCAR from 1973-1996, where he co-founded the Climate Project.

Internationally recognized as one of the world's leading experts in climate change, Dr. Schneider focuses on climate change science, integrated assessment of ecological and economic impacts of human-induced climate change, and identifying viable climate policies and technological solutions. He has consulted with federal agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush administrations.

Actively involved with the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), an initiative of the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization since its origin in 1988, he is currently a Coordinating Lead Author of Working Group II Chapter 19, "Assessing Key Vulnerabilities and the Risk from Climate Change," as well as contributing to the Synthesis Report, which synthesizes the contributions of Working Groups I, II, and III, for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) to be published in 2007. AR4 will be used by governments world-wide as the definitive document regarding climate change science, impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, and mitigation until 2012.

In 1991, Dr. Schneider was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science/ Westinghouse Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology for furthering public understanding of environmental science and its implications for public policy. In 1992, he was honored with a MacArthur Fellowship for his ability to integrate and interpret the results of global climate research through public lectures, classroom teaching, environmental assessment committees, media appearances, Congressional testimony and research collaboration with colleagues. Dr. Schneider was elected to membership in the US National Academy of Sciences in April 2002. He received both the National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation and the Edward T. Law Roe Award of the Society of Conservation Biology in 2003. He and his spouse-collaborator, Terry Root, jointly received the Banksia Foundation’s International Environmental Award in 2006 in Australia.

Dr. Schneider is founder and Editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Climate Change. Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather and author of The Genesis Strategy: Climate and Global Survival; Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century? and Laboratory Earth: The Planetary Gamble We can’t Afford to Lose. In addition, he has authored or co-authored over 300 scientific papers, proceedings, legislative testimonies, edited books and book chapters, and 114 book reviews, editorials and popularizations.

Dr. Schneider teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Earth Systems, Civil Engineering, Biological Sciences, the Senior Honors Seminar in Environmental Science, Technology and Policy, and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources, as well as guides the work of Ph.D. candidates, post-doctoral scholars, and other researchers.

Currently, Dr. Schneider is counseling policy makers about the importance of using risk management strategies in climate-policy decision making, given the uncertainties in future projections of global climate change. In addition to continuing to serve as a noted advisor to decision-makers, he consults with corporate executives and other stakeholders in industry and the nonprofit sectors regarding possible climate-related events and is actively engaged in improving public understanding of science and the environment through extensive media communication and public outreach.