Biographical Information

How harmful is global warming going to be? Current estimates of future climate change span a range of potential futures, some with less severe damages and some with catastrophic impacts. What are the risks of climate change? What can we learn from past experience to help estimate the dangers of global warming?

These are types of questions that Carolyn Snyder investigates as a Ph.D. candidate in Stanford's Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER), with her two lead advisors: Professors Christopher Field and Stephen Schneider. The goal of her research is to better characterize important uncertainties in our understanding and predictions of climate change. Her research earned her a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, a Gabilan Stanford Graduate Fellowship, and a Lieberman Fellowship.

In one of her research projects, Carolyn studies the Earth's history to better understand how the global climate has responded in the past to large changes to the atmosphere, as the Earth moved in and out of ice ages. Sediment from the bottom of the ocean and layers of ice from the polar ice cap serve as her history books, providing insight into our potential future.

In another research project, she studies recent extreme events in California, such as heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and droughts. Extreme events are likely to be some of the most important impacts that we will experience in the coming decades from global warming. She combines historical data records with climate model projections to assess how extreme weather events in California might change with global climate change and to help inform California's adaptation planning.

Carolyn's research has taken her across the globe to a variety of internationally renowned institutes. In 2003, she was chosen as one of forty Marshall Scholars, funded by the British Parliament to study at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for two years. In 2006, she was selected to participate in a program on Complex Systems in Beijing, co-sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2007, she was chosen by the National Academies of Sciences to research at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. In 2008, Carolyn worked as a MAP Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council in their climate center and in their federal energy program. She completed a variety of projects, including co-writing an internal strategic assessment of federal energy policy priorities for the next administration and next Congress. In 2009, Carolyn participated in the American Meteorological Society's Summer Policy Colloquium in Washington, D.C.

In her desire to understand the natural world, Carolyn studied a variety of scientific fields as an undergraduate at Amherst College, including a double major in Biology and Geology. At Amherst College, she was one of only four students to be awarded Phi Beta Kappa in their Junior year. At the University of Oxford, she completed an M.S. in Environmental Change and Management (with distinction), studying the economic, social, and international context of environmental issues and investigating sustainable business questions with a case study of Ford Motor Company. At the University of Cambridge, she completed an M.Phil. in Quaternary Science (with distinction), researching past climate conditions to inform projections of future climate change.

Carolyn strongly believes in environmental education and thus has spent a significant amount of time and energy helping improve and enrich her academic communities, including active roles on several committees across Stanford.