For more than two decades, Eric Anderson has studied where large bodies of water meet the atmosphere — and where federal science meets academic research. Now, he brings both areas of expertise to CIRES as the institute’s new associate director for science.

Anderson sees his new role as fundamentally one of service to the institute and the people in it.

"I see this role as service to the science and scientists — not just in my own research area, but across the full breadth of what CIRES does. That means listening first, understanding where the strengths and opportunities are, and then working together to build a community where there's room to grow and implement new ideas. I bring a vision, but the best version of that vision comes from the people at CIRES," Anderson said.

Anderson’s path to CIRES began at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he earned both his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering. After graduating, he made a deliberate pivot toward the environmental sciences, becoming a postdoctoral fellow at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor. That postdoc, funded through the National Academy of Sciences, launched a career focused on the Great Lakes and beyond.

Following his postdoc, Anderson joined the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) at the University of Michigan where he worked as a research scientist before becoming a federal employee at NOAA GLERL. Over those years, he worked on both the university and federal sides without ever changing desks, giving him a rare, end-to-end view of how science flows from fundamental research to public-facing products. That firsthand experience at the academic-government interface is precisely what drew him to CIRES.

His research centers on surface water, specifically lakes, rivers, and coastal ocean, and how these large water bodies interact with the atmosphere. The Great Lakes are massive enough to shape regional weather, driving the intense lake-effect snowstorms familiar to anyone in the Midwest, as well as more unusual phenomena like meteotsunamis. Anderson has worked to build forecast systems predicting currents, water temperatures, waves, and ice, while also advancing the fundamental science that makes those forecasts possible.

That work brought him into contact with CIRES more than a decade ago. Anderson collaborated with CIRES and NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) on early versions of what would become the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), a short-range weather forecast model, working to improve how it represented lake and surface water dynamics. That project eventually bore fruit: the HRRR is now coupled with Great Lakes models, meaning atmosphere and surface water models are, as Anderson put it, talking to each other. Watching that arc unfold from early research conversations in Boulder to a fully operational model is one of the experiences that drew him to this new role.

That commitment to fundamental science, even when the payoff isn't obvious, is something Anderson feels strongly about. He recalls a scientist at GLERL who had been counting a particular water bug since the lab opened in the 1970s — work that was difficult to justify for decades until the bug's sudden collapse turned out to be an early warning of an impending fishery collapse. 

"That's always stuck with me," Anderson said. “You're learning something, and the picture might not be clear at first, but eventually it could be a huge contributor.”

Most recently at the Colorado School of Mines, Anderson continued his surface water–atmosphere research while mentoring the next generation of scientists he hopes will fill federal roles at agencies like NOAA and NASA. He speaks enthusiastically about watching students take a kernel of an idea, like satellite remote sensing, and run with it into territory he doesn’t yet know himself. “Teaching is a great way to learn,” he said. “It’s learning from all directions.”

"Eric has navigated federal science, cooperative institutes, and academic leadership — and done each of them well,” said CIRES Director Waleed Abdalati. “That breadth, combined with his passion for fostering the next generation of scientists, makes him exactly the kind of leader CIRES needs in this role." 

Anderson looks forward to engaging with scientists and staff on both the CU Boulder and NOAA sides of CIRES, listening to understand where strengths lie, where barriers exist, and where new collaborations might take root. He is excited about opportunities at the frontier of observations and modeling — including the growing role of artificial intelligence in guiding scientific inquiry — and about CIRES’ potential to communicate complex climate science to the public in ways that build trust and show impact. 

“Some of the most rewarding parts of my career have been when I could see how somebody used the thing I made and it hopefully made their life better,” Anderson said.

Anderson has lived in Colorado for five years, relocating from Michigan with his wife and daughter. Outside of work, he’s a long-distance runner who is still making his peace with Colorado’s trails after years as a road runner in the Midwest. He plays the banjo and is hoping to pick it up more often — and is on the lookout for fellow musicians at CIRES. He and his daughter share a fondness for a good cheesy movie. He looks forward to getting to know the broader CIRES and CU Boulder community.