Overview
Drew Shindell is Nicholas Professor of Earth Science at Duke University. From 1995 to 2014 he was at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City and taught at Columbia University. He earned his Bachelor's at UC Berkeley and PhD at Stony Brook University, both in Physics. He studies climate change, air quality, and links between science and policy. He has been an author on >250 peer-reviewed publications, received awards from Scientific American, NASA, the NSF and the EPA, and is a fellow of AGU and AAAS.
He has testified on climate issues before both houses of the US Congress (at the request of both parties), developed a climate change course with the American Museum of Natural History, and made numerous media appearances as part of his outreach efforts. He chaired the 2011 UNEP/WMO Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone, and was a Coordinating Lead Author on the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC and on the 2018 IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C. He also chairs the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of nations and organizations.
Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Scholarly Works
Coupled biogenic and soil emissions amplify heatwave-driven secondary pollution.
Journal article Environmental science and ecotechnology · July 2026 Global air pollution policies have drastically lowered anthropogenic emissions, yet climate change threatens regional air quality through poorly understood natural feedbacks. Extreme heat accelerates biogenic volatile organic compound and soil nitrogen emi ... Full text CiteCorrection for Wang et al., The role of reduced aerosol masking from air pollutant emission reductions in recent global warming acceleration (2013-2023).
Journal article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · July 2026 Full text CiteAuthor Correction: Atmospheric warming contributions from airborne microplastics and nanoplastics (Nature Climate Change, (2026), 16, 5, (598-605), 10.1038/s41558-026-02620-1)
Journal article Nature Climate Change · June 1, 2026 Correction to: Nature Climate Changehttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-02620-1, published online 4 May 2026. In the version of this article initially published, there was a citation error in the legend to Fig. 2b, which has now been amended to cite refs. 2 ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Supporting SLCP Assessments on Food/Agriculture and Economics
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by United Nations Environment Programme · 2025 - 2027Economic Assessment of Mitigation Measures of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by United Nations Environment Programme · 2025 - 2026The Potential Environmental Effects of Lithium Mining and Extraction
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by Albemarle Corporation · 2023 - 2024View All Grants