Mark Cane

M.A. Program in Climate & Society, Columbia University
International Research Institute for Climate & Society (IRI)
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University
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mac6@columbia.edu
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Mark A. Cane is the founder of the M.A. Program in Climate and Society as well as G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University. Dr. Cane received his Ph.D. in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975. Currently, he is chief physical scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate & Society (IRI). With Lamont colleague Dr. Stephen Zebiak, Dr. Cane devised the first numerical model able to simulate El Niño. In 1985 this model was used to make the first physically based forecasts of El Niño. He has worked extensively on the impact of El Niño on human activity, including agriculture, health and conflict. His efforts over many years were instrumental in the creation of the IRI. Dr. Cane’s recent research interests include paleoclimate problems from the Pliocene to the last millennium and future climate change. Dr. Cane has written some 250 papers and 1 book on a broad range of topics in oceanography and climatology. In 1992 Dr. Cane received the Sverdrup Gold Medal of the American Meteorological Society, in 2003 he received the Cody Award in Ocean Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and in 2013 he will receive the Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2013 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.