David Easterling

Dr. David Easterling is an internationally renowned climate scientist and is currently the Chief Scientist at Future Climate LLC.  He recently retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA/NCEI) in Asheville, North Carolina, where he was Chief of the Assessments Section and Director of the Technical Support Unit (TSU) for the U.S. National Climate Assessment.

David received his Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served as an Assistant Professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Program, Department of Geography, Indiana University-Bloomington from 1987 to 1990.  In 1990 he moved to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center as a climate scientist, was appointed Principal Scientist in 1999, Chief of the Scientific Services Division in 2002, and Director of the Technical Support Unit in 2013.  He is an adjunct Professor in the Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at N.C. State University.

He has authored or co-authored more than 120 research articles and book chapters on climate science with expertise in extreme climate events.  David was a Lead Author on the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC Special Report on Climate Extremes, the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, a Convening Lead Author for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP) 3.3 on Climate Extremes, and a Convening Lead Author on the Fourth National Climate Assessment.  He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and has been awarded four NOAA Administrator’s Awards, four NOAA Bronze Medals, and one Department of Commerce Silver Medal.