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Daniel P. Schrag

Faculty
  • Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering; Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Daniel P. Schrag

Contact Information

Nickname: Dan
Office: Hoffman 309
Email: schrag [ AT ] seas [ DOT ] harvard [ DOT ] edu
Office Phone: (617) 495-7676

Education

  1. B.S., 1988, Geology & Geophysics and Political Science, Yale University
  2. Ph.D., 1993, Geology, University of California at Berkeley

Research Interests

    • Energy & Environmental Systems
    • Atmospheric and Climate Modeling
    • Energy and Environmental Technologies
    • Oceans and Geophysics
    • Science, Technology, & Public Policy
    • Energy, Environment, and Sustainability

Primary Teaching Area

Environmental Science & Engineering

Profile

Professor Daniel Schrag studies climate and climate change over the broadest range of Earth history. He has examined changes in ocean circulation over the last several decades, with particular attention to El Niño and the tropical Pacific. He has worked on theories for Pleistocene ice-age cycles including a better determination of ocean temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum, 20,000 years ago.

Dan also helped develop the Snowball Earth hypothesis, proposing that a series of global glaciations occurred between 750 and 580 million years ago that may have led to the evolution of multicellular animals. Currently he is working with economists and engineers on technological approaches to mitigating future climate change.

Positions & Employment

Harvard University

  • 2009-Present: Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University
  • 2007-Present: Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering
  • 2000-Present: Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
  • 1997-2000: Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Princeton University
  • 1994-1997: Assistant Professor, Deptartment of Geosciences
Indiana University
  • 1993: Visiting Researcher
Newmont Mining
  • 1998: Geologist

Other Experience

  • Member, President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
  • Member, American Geophysical Union
  • Member, Geochemical Society
  • Member, American Meteorological Society
  • Member, American Academy for the Advancement of Science
  • Member, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
  •  Advisory Committee for Earth Institute of Columbia University, 2002-Present
  • Board of Reviewing Editors, Science, 2002-2005
  • Associate Editor, Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst., 1999-Present

Honors

  • James B. Macelwane Medal, American Geophysical Union, 2001
  • MacArthur Fellow, 2000)
  • Technology Review TR100 - 100 young innovators for the next century, 1999
  • Ocean Drilling Program Fellowship (Berkeley), 1992
  • Samuel Lewis Penfield Prize in Mineralogy (Yale), 1988
  • Katherine K. Walker Prize in Political Science (Yale), 1988
  • Frank M. Patterson Prize in Political Science (Yale), 1987
  • Westinghouse Science Talent Search Finalist, 1984