Guillaume S. Mauger

After working as a researcher for the Office of the Washington State Climatologist for much of 2009, Guillaume joined JISAO’s Climate Impacts Group in winter 2010 to study the implications of climate change for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.

Guillaume’s research is focused on ecosystem impacts – particularly the interplay between snowpack, large-scale climate, and forest ecosystems. He is also pursuing work on a smorgasbord of other projects including objectively designing observational networks, assessing the impact of climate change on dairy cows, a broad-scale climate impacts assessment covering much of the western United States, and a quantitative analysis (and consumption) of the desserts that colleagues bring to Thursday afternoon tea.

Coming from a physics and engineering background, Guillaume became interested in climate science because of its direct applicability to the issues and concerns of today’s society. As a graduate student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, his work focused on the use of satellite and field observations to assess the relationships between aerosol particles, climate, and stratocumulus clouds. A highlight of his graduate work was a trip to the Maldives to help with a field experiment conducting research flights over the northern Indian Ocean, after which he got to take paragliding lessons in India. Given the irony of studying atmospheric science in Southern California, a region that has no weather (stratocumulus clouds are about as close as San Diego gets to having weather), Guillaume decided to move to Seattle.

Outside of UW, Guillaume recently taught two introductory courses in environmental science at Seattle Central Community College. He is also a Science Communication Fellow with Pacific Science Center and occasionally volunteers at the museum to talk with visitors about his research. In his free time Guillaume likes to get around by bike as much as possible, participate in freestyle walking, jump onto things (or off of them), and bake bread.

Website http://jisao.washington.edu/press/staffspotlights/mauger