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William D. (Bill) Collins

Associate Laboratory Director, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area

Building 84, Room 322

M/S 74R316C

Phone: 510-495-2407

Fax: 510-486-5686

wdcollins@lbl.gov

Curriculum Vitae

  • Education
  • Experience
  • Awards
  • Boards & Committees
  • Scholarly Service
  • Service for Climate Assessments

Biography

Dr. William Collins is an internationally recognized expert in climate modeling and climate change science. He is the Associate Laboratory Director of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and was the director of the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division (CESD) from 2015 to 2022. Collins is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California and the director of the Carbon Negative Initiative at LBNL.

Dr. Collins is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Physical Society (APS). Dr. Collins was awarded the DOE Secretarial Honor Award for launching DOE’s Accelerated Climate Model for Energy in 2015.

Before joining UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab, Dr. Collins was a Senior Scientist and Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for the DOE/NSF Community Climate System Model project at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Dr. Collins is a Coordinating Lead Author of the Sixth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a Lead Author of the Fifth IPCC Assessment, and a Lead and Collaborating Author of the Fourth IPCC Assessment, for which the IPCC was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Research Interests

Dr. Collins' personal research concerns the interactions among sunlight, heat, the coupled climate system, and global environmental change.

Education

  • Ph.D. Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 1988, "The theory of magnetohydrodynamic wave generation by localized sources"
  • M.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 1984
  • B.A. Physics (cum laude), Princeton University, 1981, "Thermodynamics of apparent horizons"

Experience

  • Associate Laboratory Director, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, 2022-Present
  • Director, Environmental Resilience Accelerator (Era), 2018-2020
  • Director, Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division, EESA, LBNL, 2015-2022
  • Director, Climate Readiness Institute, 2013-2018
  • Professor in Residence, University of California, Berkeley, 2007-Present
  • Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), 2007-Present
  • Department Head, LBNL, 2007-2015
  • Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 2007-2008
  • Deputy Section Head, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 2006-2007
  • Adjunct Professor, PAOS Program, University of Colorado, 2001-2007
  • Scientist III, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 2001-2007
  • Scientist II, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1997-2001
  • Visiting Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1996-1997
  • Lecturer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1994-1994
  • Assistant Research Physicist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1992-1997
  • Post-Graduate Research Associate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1990-1992
  • Post-Graduate Research Associate, University of Chicago, 1989-1990

Awards

  • Election to Full Membership of Sigma Xi, 2022-Present
  • Named a Five Sigma Physicist Awardee by the American Physical Society, 2022
  • AGU Fellow, Class of 2020
  • James and Katherine Lau Chair in Sustainability, University of California, Berkeley, 2018-2020
  • Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2017-Present
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2015-Present
  • NASA Langley Reid Award for best scientific or technical paper, 2015
  • U.S. Department of Energy Secretary's Achievement Award, for launch of the ACME Project, 2015
  • Lawrence Award for best Earth science paper at NASA Langley for CLARREO mission paper in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), 2014
  • NASA Group Achievement Award to the CLARREO Mission Concept Team, 2012
  • Contributor (lead author) for the Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, 2007

Advisory Boards, Committees, and Councils

  • Member, CCSM Scientific Steering Committee, Climate Modeling Activity, 2006-2013
  • Member & Meeting Organizer, Organizing Committee, IPCC Working Group I Workshop on Climate Sensitivity, Paris, France, 2004
  • Chair, DOE-NSF Community Climate System Model Scientific Steering Committee, Climate Modeling Activity, 2003-2005
  • Co-chair, NCAR Atmospheric Model Working Group, Climate Modeling Activity, 2001-2003

Scholarly Service

  • Associate Editor, Review of Modern Physics, 2017-Present
  • Editor, Journal of Climate, 2007-2008

Service for Climate Assessments

  • Contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):
    • Coordinating Lead Author, IPCC Working Group I, Sixth Assessment Report, 2018-2020
    • Lead Author, IPCC Working Group I, Fifth Assessment Report, 2010-2013
    • Lead and Collaborating Author, IPCC Working Group I, Fourth Assessment Report, 2004-2007
  • Committees and activities:
    • Expert reviewer, IPCC Working Group I Fourth Assessment Report, 2005-2006
    • Lead and collaborating author, IPCC Working Group I Fourth Assessment Report, 2004-2007
    • Invited participant, Joint WGCM CFMIP/IPCC expert meeting on Climate Sensitivity and Feedbacks, 2004
    • Panelist, National Academy Climate Sensitivity Workshop, 2003
  • Public Dissemination of Assessment Results:
    • Collins, W., R. Colman, J. Haywood, M.R. Manning, and P. Mote, 2007: The Physical Science behind Climate Change. Scientific American, August issue.
  • Climate modeling activities:
    • Member, CCSM Scientific Steering Committee, 2006-Present
    • Chair, DOE-NSF Community Climate System Model Scientific Steering Committee, 2003-2005
    • Co-chair, NCAR Atmospheric Model Working Group, 2001-2003
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