williams

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A. Park Williams
Lamont Associate Research Professor
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Biology and Paleo Environment
Tree Ring Lab
61 Route 9W - PO Box 1000
Palisades
NY
10964-8000
US
Phone: 
(845) 365-8193
Fax: 
(845) 365-8150
williams@ldeo.columbia.edu
CV: 
PDF icon WilliamsAP_CV_2018.pdf

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I am a bioclimatologist whose research straddles the fields of climatology and ecology. I am especially interested in the climatological causes and the ecological consequences of drought. My research aims to improve understanding of drought and its effects on terrestrial systems, including forests, the carbon cycle, agriculture, and humanity. My ultimate goal is to advance scientific knowledge in ways that are relevant to policy makers and future scientific endeavors, and also interesting to the public and other scientists.

Education
List of degrees from highest to lowest:
Ph.D.
University of California, Santa Barbara
09/2009
M.A.
University of California, Santa Barbara
09/2006
B.S.
University of California, Irvine
06/2003
Honors & Awards: 
2017 Palisades Geophysical Institute Young Scientists Award - Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
2016-2018 Fellowship from Columbia University's Center for Climate and Life
2013 Ecological Society of America's Gene E. Likens award for best paper by an early-career scientist in Biogeosciences
2009 Graduate Student Researcher of the Year - UC Santa Barbara Geography

Lamont/DEES Student List: 
Daniel Bishop
Colleen Baublitz
Xiaomeng Jin
Arianna Varuolo-Clarke

Referenced in the Following News Items:

Increasing Heat Is Driving Off Clouds That Dampen California Wildfires
The 100th Meridian, Where the Great Plains Begin, May Be Shifting
Improving Tools for Predicting Wildfires
How Will Climate Change Impact Water Resources?
Climate Change Has Doubled Western U.S. Forest Fire Area, Study Says
How Will Shifting Climate Change U.S. Forests?
Center for Climate & Life Announces 2016 Fellows
Translating Nature’s Historians: The Tree Ring Lab Turns 40
Warming Climate is Deepening California Drought

Featured in the Following Videos:

How Will Climate Change Impact Water?
Park Williams Discovers History and Science in a Tree Ring
The Impact of Human-caused Warming on Drought and Fire in the Western United States

Selected Publications:

Effect of reduced summer cloud shading on evaporative demand and wildfire in coastal southern California Williams, A. Park; Gentine, Pierre; Moritz, Max A.; Roberts, Dar A.; Abatzoglou, John T. Geophysical Research Letters Volume: 45 Issue: 11 p.: 5653-5662 (2018) 10.1029/2018GL077319
The Curious case of projected twenty-first-century drying but greening in the American West Mankin, Justin; Smerdon, Jason; Cook, Benjamin; Williams, A. Park; Seager, Richard AMS Journal of Climate (2017)
The 2016 southeastern US drought: an extreme departure from centennial wetting and cooling Williams, A. Park; Cook, Benjamin I.; Smerdon, Jason E.; Bishop, Daniel A.; Seager, Richard; Mankin, Justin S. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres Volume: 122 Issue: 20 p.: 10888-10905 (2017) 10.1002/2017JD027523
Recent advances and remaining uncertainties in resolving past and future climate effects on global fire activity Williams, A. Park; Abatzoglou, John T. Current Climate Change Reports Volume: 2 Issue: 1 p.: 1-14 (2016) 10.1007/s40641-016-0031-0
Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests Abatzoglou, John T.; Williams, A. Park Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA Volume: 113 Issue: 42 p.: 11770–11775 (2016) 10.1073/pnas.1607171113
Urbanization causes increased cloud-base height and decreased fog in coastal southern California Williams, A. Park; Schwartz, R.; Iacobellis, S.; Seager, R.; Cook, Benjamin I.; Still, Christopher J.; Husak, Gregory; Michaelsen, Joel Geophysical Research Letters Volume: 42 Issue: 5 p.: 1527-1536 (2015) 10.1002/2015GL063266
Contribution of anthropogenic warming to California drought during 2012–2014 Williams, A. Park; Seager, Richard; Abatzoglou, John T.; Cook, Benjamin I.; Smerdon, Jason E.; Cook, Edward R. Geophysical Research Letters Volume: 42 Issue: 16 p.: 6819-6828 (2015) 10.1002/2015GL064924
Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest-drought stress and tree mortality Williams, A. Park; Allen, Craig D.; Macalady, Alison K.; Woodhouse, Connie; Meko, David; Swetnam, Thomas W.; Cook, Edward R.; Griffin, Daniel; Rauscher, Sara A.; Seager, Richard; Dean, J.; Grissino-Mayer Henri D.; Gangodagamage C.; Cai, M., McDowell, N. Nature Climate Change Volume: 3 Issue: 3 p.: 292-297 (2013) 10.1038/nclimate1693