Director, Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
University of Utah
Bio:
Dr. William Anderegg grew up in southwestern Colorado, camping, hiking, and fishing across the deserts and mountains of the southwest. Dr. Anderegg is the director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy and associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah. He joined the faculty at Utah in 2015 and served as an Associate Research Scholar at the Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University until 2016. He was a NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral fellow at Princeton before that. Dr. Anderegg earned a B.A. in Human Biology and Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University. Dr. Anderegg has been recognized by National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, National Science Foundation Faculty Development Early Career Science Program (CAREER); Blavatnik Foundation National Laureate in Life Sciences, Web of Science Global Highly Cited Researcher; Packard Foundation Fellow for Science and Engineering; and Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America. Dr. Anderegg’s research centers around the intersection of ecosystems and climate change. He studies how drought and climate change affect ecosystems, including tree physiology, ecohydrology, carbon cycling, and nature-based climate solutions. His research spans a broad array of spatial scales and seeks to gain a better understanding of how climate change will affect ecosystems and society in the western US and around the world.
Title: Great Salt Lake Strike Team Data Updates and Policy Summaries
Abstract: In 2023 and 2024, the Great Salt Lake Strike Team synthesized the current scientific understanding of the Great Salt Lake hydrology and water budget within the basin.The reports compiled the most current data about water inputs and losses, past and present, and laid out different scenarios for restoring the Lake to healthy levels. Furthermore, these reports also provide key information about the impacts of future changes in climate and what they mean for restoring and maintaining Great Salt Lake. We will cover the key take-home messages and updates from this data synthesis and provide brief summaries of some of the policy levers to help restore Great Salt Lake.