Allow me some chest-thumping on behalf of my adopted home state.
It's great to welcome Dr. Philip W. Mote, the soon-to-be erstwhile Washington State Climatologist, to Oregon, where he will head the new Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI). He will also become a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science at Oregon State University, where the institute will be located. He will begin his new duties on a part-time basis in the spring, transitioning to full-time in the summer of 2009.
Phil has been Washington’s state climatologist since 2003, a research scientist with the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, where he has worked since 1998, and an affiliate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. He has a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the UW and received his undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard University.
Mote is a leading scientist on the impacts of climate change, including variations in Pacific Northwest and national snowpacks, sea levels, water resources, precipitation and temperatures. He was a lead author for the fourth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received a Nobel Prize for its efforts.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said, "I am pleased that Phil Mote has agreed to be the first director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute. This institute will be critical to advancing Oregon’s position as a leader in climate change research and policy development, and Phil’s world class background in this area will help ensure Oregon continues to be a leading resource on climate science nationally and around the globe."
“I am really excited to lead this new institute, building partnerships both among researchers across the Oregon University System and between researchers and people who need to understand what climate means for them – whether in state government, the private sector, or whatever,” Mote said.
“The level of enthusiasm among researchers and many other Oregonians for this new institute is part of what made this job so appealing,” Mote added.
Read the entire media release (the source of most of the above).
I am very excited about having Phil as a colleague. His reputation and expertise are legendary, not just in the Pacific Northwest, but around the globe.
In the vernacular, his dance card will be quite full.
Welcome, Phil!
“We must dare to think “unthinkable” thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world.” – former Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-AR)
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