Goddard, Lisa

<h3>Short Bio</h3>

<p>Lisa Goddard is the Director of Columbia University’s International

Research Institute for Climate and Society and leads IRI’s research

efforts on understanding and predicting climate change on the 10-20 year

horizon. She is also an adjunct associate professor in Columbia’s

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Goddard is a

globally recognized expert on El Niño and La Niña, decadal prediction

and near-term climate change. She sits on the Board on Atmospheric

Sciences and Climate of the U.S. National Academies of Science, as well

as four others. She also co-chairs CLIVAR, which advises and coordinates

international research on climate and the oceans under the World

Climate Research Programme. In 2007, she developed PACE, a national

post-doctoral program that explicitly links recent climate Ph.D.s with

decision making institutions.

&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Background</h3>

<p>Lisa Goddard is the director of the IRI and an adjunct associate

professor within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of

Columbia University. She has been involved in El Nino and climate

forecasting research and operations since the mid 1990s. She has

extensive experience in forecasting methodology and has published papers

on El Nino, seasonal climate forecasting and verification, and

probabilistic climate change projections. Currently leading the IRI’s

effort on near-term climate change, Goddard oversees research and

product development aimed at providing climate information at the 10-20

year horizon and how that low frequency variability and change interacts

with the probabilistic risks and benefits of seasonal-to-interannual

variability. Most of Goddard’s research focuses on diagnosing and

extracting meaningful information from climate models and available

observations. She also developed and oversees a new national

post-doctoral program, the Post-docs Applying Climate Expertise Program

(PACE), which explicitly links recent climate PhDs with decision making

institutions. In addition, she sits on five scientific advisory panels

and co-chairs two working groups.

Goddard holds a PhD in atmospheric and oceanic sciences from

Princeton University and a BA in physics from the University of

California at Berkeley.</p>

<h3>Research Interests</h3>

<p>Goddard pursues several lines of research aimed at improving the

quality and content of climate predictions. This goal is approached with

a focus on climate diagnostics and predictability. Research areas

include</p>

<ul><li>Near-term climate change,</li><li>El Nino/La Nina and their impact on climate variability and predictability,</li><li>Methodologies for identifying the relative importance of regional SSTs to regional climate variability,</li><li>Assessment of climate prediction tools, and</li><li>Strategies for advancing research, development and implementation of climate forecasts.</li></ul>

Goddard also contributes to the real time production of IRI’s ENSO outlook and seasonal climate forecasts