Catherine Pomposi

Catherine Pomposi joins the FAS as Lecturer in Earth and Planetary Sciences. She is a trained climate scientist with a passion for engaging in public policy development and implementation. Most recently, Pomposi served as a Climate Program Officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) where she supported the development and implementation of climate adaptation and mitigation programs and disaster risk reduction programs throughout the world. Prior to her work at USAID, Pomposi served on then-Senator Kamala Harris’s energy and environmental policy team, where she worked primarily on issues surrounding water resource management, energy policy, and climate adaptation. She holds a PhD in Climate Science from Columbia University and completed her postdoctoral research appointment with the Climate Hazards Center at the University of California Santa Barbara where she studied variability of the West African Monsoon system and other semi-arid regions’ precipitation patterns over the twentieth century. Her research interests include understanding climate variability and change on timescales ranging from sub-seasonal to decadal. She is additionally interested in understanding and applying policy approaches to improve individual and community level resilience to climate change and how to promote the continued use of science and evidence-driven approaches to tackle complex environmental challenges.