DANBURY, CONN. —Nobel laureate Dr. Berrien Moore III, executive director of Climate Central and a leading advocate of scientific research to study climate trends and their long-term impact on the global environment, will discuss “Climate Change: A Crucial Environmental Issue Facing Modern Society” on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Western Connecticut State University.

Moore’s lecture, presented as part of the WestConn “Science at Night” series and cosponsored by the WCSU Weather Center and Meteorology Club, will be at 7 p.m. in Room 125 of the Science Building on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend.

As a participant in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and coordinating lead author of the concluding section of the panel’s Third Assessment Report in 2001, Moore shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore for their work in advancing public understanding of global warming and its environmental consequences. The UN panel was founded in 1988, bringing together a network of scientists worldwide to collaborate on climate-related research and publish a series of reports tracking scientific, social and policy developments in the field.

Since 2008, Moore has headed Climate Central, a nonpartisan and nonprofit think tank based in Princeton, N.J., and Palo Alto, Calif., that seeks to provide objective research on climate change and propose viable solutions that will inform government policy decisions and public debate of the issue.

Recipient of a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Virginia, Moore joined the faculty of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in 1969, and from 1987 to 2008 served as director of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space. In addition to his role in the IPCC, he also has chaired committees for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Academy of Science (NAS) and the National Research Council (NRC), and participated as a member of advisory boards for NASA, NAS, NRC, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.

Moore has published more than 150 papers on research topics related to the global carbon cycle, the earth’s biochemistry, and analysis of satellite-based scientific observation of the earth over time to correlate physical and chemical changes with long-term climate trends. He has authored major policy papers and testified before Congress on themes such as global warming, climate change and NASA scientific research priorities.

“Moore has helped to lead the scientific charge on how best to study and address global climate change issues,” David Sims, science writer at the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, said in a recent article. “In particular, he has focused his attention on steering the scientific community toward a more holistic, earth-system approach to investigating the changing planet through long-term, satellite-based observation of the earth’s physical and biogeochemical processes.

“Moore notes that scientists are looking for very small patterns that tend to take a long time to unfold in the immense and immensely complex atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial interplay that drives climate change,” Sims added. “He recognizes that convincing policy makers that time, patience and money is required to uncover these patterns is tough sledding.”

For information, call WCSU Assistant to the Director of Meteorological Studies Gary Lessor at (203) 837-8552, or the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

 

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