Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder

Distinguished Lecture Series

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) seeks to promote global perspectives by sponsoring distinguished speakers whose work crosses disciplinary boundaries. The Distinguished Lecture Series is designed to bring outstanding scientists, as well as historians of science, science policy makers, and science journalists, and others who take imaginative positions on environmental issues and can establish enduring connections after their departure. Participants interests embrace those of the University departments and programs, and the NOAA labs affiliated with CIRES. The Lecture Series is presented in each academic year.

2023

0

Distinguished Lecture: Carbon Stocks of African Dryland Trees from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea South of the Sahara and North of the Equator

CIRES Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Compton Tucker, Carbon Stocks of African Dryland Trees from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea South of the Sahara and North of the Equator.

View Event

2019

0

Dr. William Lewis CU Distinguished Research Lecture

William M.

View Event
Feb 28

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Jean-Philippe Avouac

Title: “Silent uplift, Monsoonal swing and millenary quakes in the Himalaya”

View Event

2018

Nov 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Maria T. Zuber

Title: “The Crust of the Moon and Implications for Early Planetary Evolution”

View Event
Sep 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

The challenges of communicating climate science in a politically polarized environment

View Event
Apr 5

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Alan Robock

Climatic and Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear War

View Event
Feb 16

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Paul Wennberg

Improving Air Quality: Is less NOx always better?

View Event

2017

Nov 3

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. John J. Clague

Danger from the sea – Sea-level rise in a changing climate

View Event
Sep 29

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Benjamin Cook

The past and future of drought in the Western United States

View Event
Apr 7

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Roger S. Pulwarty

Slow onsets, abrupt changes, and fast reflexes: Research on adaptation in a changing world.

View Event
Jan 27

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Richard J. Johnson

Climate Change and the Evolution of Humans

View Event

2016

Dec 2

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Graeme L Stephens

The talk for December 2nd has been canceled; no date has been rescheduled at this time

View Event
Sep 23

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Thomas Painter

A snow hydrologist's apology: Ruining the mystery of mountain snows

View Event
Apr 29

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Steve Running

Is terrestrial net primary production a planetary boundary?

View Event

2015

Nov 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Barbara Finlayson-Pitts

Particle Formation from Sulfur Compounds in a Coastal Urban Area: Now and Then 

View Event
Oct 9

Distinguished Lecture Series: Jan Marco Müller

The quest for evidence: An insider's view on science and politics in Europe 

View Event
Sep 25

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. David Keith

Moderate, Temporary, and Responsive Solar Geoengineering 

View Event
Apr 24

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Dan Kahan

Culture, Rationality, and Risk Perception: the Tragedy of the Science-Communication Commons

View Event
Apr 3

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Steve Amstrup

Why should we care about polar bears?

View Event
Jan 23

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Gavin Schmidt

Piecing Together the Climate Story: Linking past, present and future in the climate story

View Event

2014

Oct 10

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Thomas H. Jordan

The Prediction Problems of Earthquake System Science

View Event
Sep 5

Distinguished Research Lecture 2014: Peter Molnar

View Event
Apr 4

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Pamela Matson

A new form of global change science:  Science for a Sustainability Transition

View Event

2013

Apr 26

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Mark Zoback

The Opportunities and Challenges of Shale Gas Development

View Event
Mar 22

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Steven Wofsy

Abbott Lawrence Rotch Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry

View Event
Feb 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dr. Richard Seager

The Dust Bowl and Other Great North American Droughts of the Past, Present, and Future

View Event

2012

Oct 25

Distinguished Lecture Series: Christopher Landsea

Hurricanes and Global Warming: Expectations Versus Observations
Watch the webcast

View Event
Oct 19

Distinguished Lecture Series: David Randall

A University Perspective on Climate Modeling
Watch the webcast

View Event
Apr 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Issac M. Held

Global Simulations of Tropical Cyclone Statistics, Interannual variability and the response to global warming

View Event
Mar 16

Distinguished Lecture Series: Diana Liverman

Regents Professor in the School of Geography and Development

View Event

2011

Nov 4

Distinguished Lecture Series: Peter Webster

Probability, Prediction and Decisions: A Pathway to the alleviation of poverty in the developing world

View Event
Sep 9

Distinguished Lecture Series: Brian Toon

The Anti-Greenhouse Effect along the Spiral of Geologic Time

View Event
Apr 29

Distinguished Lecture Series: Peter Rhines

Exploring the Cold Oceans of the North

 

View Event
Feb 4

Distinguished Lecture Series: David Goldston

Loving Science to Death: Problems at the Intersection of Science and Policy

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: Peter Rhines

Exploring the Cold Oceans of the North

View Event

2010

Nov 5

Distinguished Lecture Series: Mike Hulme

Why We Disagree About Climate Change

View Event
Oct 8

Distinguished Lecture Series: Daniel Jacob

Mercury in the environment: where does it come from, where does it go?

View Event
Mar 12

Distinguished Lecture Series: Peter B. Kelemen

In situ mineral carbonation in peridotite for geological capture and storage of CO2

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2010

Mike Hulme:

Why we disagree about Climate Change

Paul B Kelemen:

In situ mineral carbonation in peridotite for geological capture and storage of CO2

View Event

2009

Oct 23

Distinguished Lecture Series: Steve Rayner

The Problem of Uncomfortable Knowledge in Science Policy Debates

View Event
Apr 17

Distinguished Lecture Series: Raymond Bradley

Recent Climatic Change and Deglacierization of the Tropics

View Event
Mar 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Greg Carmichael

What Goes Around Comes Around: The globalization of air pollution and the implications for the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat

View Event
Jan 30

Distinguished Lecture Series: Alan Robock

Smoke and Mirrors: Is Geoengineering a Solution to Global Warming?

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2009

Raymond Bradely:

Recent Climatic Change and Deglacierization of the Tropics

Steve Rayner:

The Problem of Uncomfortable Knowledge in Science Policy Debates

View Event

2008

Oct 31

Distinguished Lecture Series: Gerard Roe

The shape of things to come: what are the limits to global climate predictions?

View Event
Sep 26

Distinguished Lecture Series: Susan Solomon

A world of change: Climate yesterday, today, and tomorrow

View Event
Feb 8

Distinguished Lecture Series: Mark Z. Jacobson

Air Pollution Effects of and a Renewable-Energy Solution to Global Warming

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2008

Gerard Roe:

The shape of things to come: what are the limits to global climate predictions?

Mark Z. Jacobson:

View Event

2007

0

Distinguished Lecture Series: Gerald North

Climate Change over the Last Thousand Years and the Next Hundred

View Event
Oct 12

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dorthe Dahl-Jensen

Greenland Ice Cores tell tales on the Eemian Period and beyond

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Prasad Gogineni

Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging of Ice-bed Interface and Radar Sounding of Fast-Flowing Glaciers

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Stephen Hickman

Structure and Properties of the San Andreas Fault at Seismogenic Depths: Recent Results from the SAFOD Experiment

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: John Wallace

Year-to-year Variability and Long-term Trends in the Circulation over High Latitudes

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Stefan Hastenrath

Variations of East African climate, glaciers and lakes over the past two centuries

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2007

Prasad Gogineni:

Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagine of Ice-bed Interface and Radar Sounding of Fast Flowing Glaciers

Stephen Hickman:

View Event

2006

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Amanda Lynch

A factorial analysis of storm surge flooding in Barrow, Alaska: an adaptation study

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Walter Pitman

Evidence for and Implications of the Black Sea Noah's Flood: Geology, Archaeology, Language and Myth

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Steve Boyes

The Okavango Delta - Africa's Wetland Wilderness

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: George Philander

State of Fear the Day After Tomorrow? (A Geological Perspective on Global Warming) 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Lonnie Thompson

Glaciological Evidence of Abrupt Tropical Climate Change: Past, Present and Future

 

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2006

Steve Boyes:
 

The Okavango Delta - Africa's Wetland Wilderness

George Philander:

View Event

2005

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Bernard Hallet

Self-Organization in Landscapes

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Meghan Miller

GPS constraints on seismic hazard in the Pacific Northwest

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: James C. Zachos

A Rapid Rise in Greenhouse Gas Concentrations 55 Million Years Ago: Lessons for the Future

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Myles Allen

How much carbon can we afford to emit?

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Lucile Jones

The Politics of Earthquake Prediction

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Michael Tjernström

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2005

Myles Allen

How much carbon can we afford to emit?

Lucile Jones

The Politics of Earthquake Prediction

Michael Tjernström

View Event

2004

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Tanya Atwater

A Half-Billion Years of Plate Tectonics in the Western United States, or How the West Was Made

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Wallace Broecke

Sea Ice and Global Climate

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Kerry Emanuel

A Simple Model of Multiple Climate Regimes

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Paul Gipe

Overview of Worldwide Wind Energy Development

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: V. Ramanathan

Asian Brown Cloud

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Jeff Severinghaus

How air bubbles trapped in glacial ice have changed our view of abrupt climate change

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dianne Dumanoski

Understanding the Planetary Emergency as a "Human Crisis"

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Philip England

The Viscosity of the Continents

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Daniel Kevles

Patenting Life: Innovation and Controversy in the Political Economy of Patent Law

 

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: William Ruddiman

The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began Thousands of Years Ago

 

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2004

Dianne Dumanoski

Understanding the Planetary Emergency as a "Human Crisis"

Philip England

The Viscosity of the Continents

View Event

2003

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Inez Fung

Carbon-Climate Interactions: A Contemporary View

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Richard Alley

Looking back to our future: Is the IPCC optimistic on climate change?

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Daniel Sarewitz

Science, Values, and Climate Change: Probing the Limits of Objectivity

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Thure Cerling

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Claude Jaupart

Physical Controls on Volcanic Eruptions

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series:2003

Richard Alley:

Looking back to our future: Is the IPCC optimistic on climate change?

Inez Fung:

Carbon-Climate Interactions: A Contemporary View

View Event

2002

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Andrew Revkin

The Daily Planet: Why the Media Stumble over the Environment

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: James Holton

The Tropical Tropopause Layer, the Quasibiennial Oscillation, and Stratospheric Dehydration

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Michael Bender

An Absolute Age Scale for the Vostok Ice Core: Implications for the Role of Milankovitch Forcing of Glacial-Interglacial Climate Change

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Carl Wunsch

A Revisionist View of the Milankovitch Hypothesis for Climate Change

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Dennis Lettenmaier

Implications of Hydrologic Variability and Change for Western Water Management

View Event
Jan 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Christopher Green

Stabilizing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: What will it take?

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2002

Michael Bender

James Holton:

The Tropical Tropopause Layer, The Quasibiennial Oscillation, and the Stratospheric Dehydration

Andrew Revkin:

View Event

2001

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Roger Kennedy

The Abrasion of Human and Natural Systems: Fire, Flood, Risk and Responsibility

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2001

Roger Kennedy:

The Abrasion of Human and Natural Systems: Fire, Flood, Risk and Responsibility 

View Event

2000

Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: David Anderson

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Jim Rustad

View Event
Jun 6

Distinguished Lecture Series: Roger Pielke Jr

Seasonal Climate Forecasts: Opportunities for and Obstacles to Use in Decision Making

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 2000

David Anderson:

Jim Rustad:

Roger Pielke Jr:

Season Climate Forecasts: Opportunities for and Obstacles to Use in Decision Making

View Event

1998

Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: 1998

Joyce Penner:

Cort Wilmont:

Spatially Interpolating and Mapping Climate Fields from Lousy Weather-Station Networks

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: Cort Wilmott

Spatially Interpolating and Mapping Climate Fields from Lousy Weather-Station Networks 

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: Cort Wilmott

Spatially Interpolating and Mapping Climate Fields from Lousy Weather-Station Networks

View Event
Jan 1

Distinguished Lecture Series: Joyce Penner

View Event