Cynthia E. Rosenzweig
# Cynthia E. Rosenzweig

Cynthia E. Rosenzweig (née Ropes) (born c. 1958) is an American agronomist and climatologist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, located at Columbia University, "who helped pioneer the study of climate change and agriculture." She is an adjunct senior research scientist at the Columbia Climate School and has over 300 publications, over 80 peer-reviewed articles, has authored or edited eight books. She has also served in many different organizations working to develop plans to manage climate change, at the global level with the IPCC as well as in New York City after Hurricane Sandy.

## Education and academic career

Rosenzweig attended Cook College (at Rutgers University) earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in agricultural sciences in 1980. Rosenzweig's focus on agriculture began in 1969, when she and her future husband rented and operated a farm in Tuscany, Italy, picking grapes and olives and raising animals like goats, pigs, ducks, and geese. She decided to return to university to study agriculture, earning a Master of Science degree in Soils and Crops from Rutgers University in 1983. During her Master's, she was hired by NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies to study cropland using satellite data. She then earned her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences in 1991.

She has continued working for NASA, where she has been the head of the Climate Impacts Group since 1993. Her work with the IPCC Task Force on Data was recognized when the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Al Gore and the IPCC.

She also currently serves as an adjunct professor at Barnard College and is also an adjunct senior research scientist at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University.

Rosenzweig has spent decades dedicated to her work in the field following the fundamental question, “what will happen to food?” With such disturbing projects for the future in regards to climate change it was only natural to start to become concerned with what will happen to the world food supply. Having experience with both advanced science as well as farming, Rosenzweig felt that she was the right person to tackle what would become an ever-increasing issue around the world.

## Community engagement and advocacy

While at NASA and Columbia's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Rosenzweig has pioneered the study of climate change's impact on agriculture and human cities. She has been involved in numerous working groups attempting to assess and establish plans for managing climate change, including:

* Co-Chair, New York City Panel on Climate Change
* Co-Leader, Metropolitan East Coast Regional Assessment of the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, sponsored by the U.S. Global Change Research Program
* Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report ("Observed Changes" chapter)
* Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land
* Member, IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenarios for Impact and Climate Assessment
* Co-Editor, UCCRN First Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3).
* Panel member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change.
* Co-founder and member of the Executive Committee of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)
* On October 20, 2022 Rosenzweig was awarded the World Food Prize
* Rosenzweig founded the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project in 2010

## Publications

An overview of Rosenzweig's research can be obtained at her Google Scholar profile. A complete list of her publications can be obtained from her bibliography on the NASA Goodard Institute for Space Studies website.

* Rosenzweig, C.; Parry, M. L. (1994). "Potential impact of climate change on world food supply". Nature. 367 (6459): 133. Bibcode:1994Natur.367..133R. doi:10.1038/367133a0. S2CID 4320662.
* C.L. Rosenzweig & M.L. Parry, "Climate Change and Agriculture", 1990
* Rosenzweig, C.; Karoly, D.; Vicarelli, M.; Neofotis, P.; Wu, Q.; Casassa, G.; Menzel, A.; Root, T. L.; Estrella, N.; Seguin, B.; Tryjanowski, P.; Liu, C.; Rawlins, S.; Imeson, A. (2008). "Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change". Nature. 453 (7193): 353–357. Bibcode:2008Natur.453..353R. doi:10.1038/nature06937. PMID 18480817. S2CID 2774470.
* Testimony before Congress, April 17, 2007.

## Awards

* Guggenheim Fellow
* GSFC Honor Award - Science (2011)
* GISS Best Publication Award (2009)
* GSFC Honor Award - Earth Science Achievement (2007)
* Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2006)
* Named as one of Nature's 10: Ten People Who Mattered in 2012" by the journal Nature
* World Food Prize (2022)
