Melillo ’65 Chairs National Climate Committee

Jerry M. Melillo ’65, Distinguished Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), was named chair of a joint public-private sector committee that will produce the next National Climate Assessment report for the United States.

Gary Yohe, Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and environmental studies, is also a vice-chair of the National Climate Assessment.

The National Climate Assessment analyzes the latest science and information about the current and projected effects of climate variability and change across the United States. The committee is an advisory body to the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

His appointment to lead the National Climate Assessment committee was announced by Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The committee includes individuals from academia, the private sector, local and state government, and the nonprofit sector from 22 states.

Mellio brings a wealth of experience to the position: He is co-author of the landmark report to Congress, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” issued by the USGCRP. He was also a lead author on both the 1990 and 1995 Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and he served in President Clinton’s Office of Science and Technology Policy from 1996 to 1997.

He has been on the scientific staff at MBL since 1976, and is also a professor of biology at Brown University. At Wesleyan, he majored in biology and then earned his MAT in 1968. Followed by his doctorate from Yale. he His research focuses on the impacts of human activities on the biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems, and modeling analysis of the feedbacks and impacts of climate change.