The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies presents a lecture by climate change researcher Brian O’Neill, entitled Population and the Climate Problem: Silver Bullet or Red Herring? , on Tuesday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. in 1361 Daniels Chemistry Building, 1101 University Ave. (corner of University Ave. and Mills St.)

O’Neill is a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He also leads the Population and Climate Change Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. He holds a PhD. in earth systems science and an M.S. in applied science, both from New York University.

His research interests are in the field of integrated assessment modeling of climate change, which links socio-economic and natural science elements of the climate change issue to address applied, policy-relevant questions. Particular areas of focus include the relationship between demographic change and greenhouse gas emissions, the characterization of uncertainty and its role in decision analysis, and scenario analyses linking long-term climate change goals to shorter-term actions.

He has worked on the science staff of the Environmental Defense Fund in New York and as an assistant and associate professor for research at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. He received a European Young Investigator award in 2004 to support work on demography and climate change. He is a lead author of Population and Climate Change, published by Cambridge University Press. He was a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report in a volume on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in a volume on scenarios.

The third program in this year’s Gaylord Nelson Lecture Series on the theme “Population and Resources.”