Principal Investigator
Kevin J Anchukaitis
Professor of Earth Systems Geography
School of Geography, Development and Environment
ENR2 Building, Office S514
email: kanchukaitis@arizona.edu
github: kanchukaitis
Google Scholar: [link]
cv: [PDF]
Kevin is a climate scientist, paleoclimatologist, dendrochronologist, and earth systems geographer specializing in the reconstruction and analysis of climate variability and change over the Common Era and the interactions between climate and human society. He uses an array of techniques to develop and interpret evidence for past, present, and future climate dynamics across a range of temporal and spatial scales, from local to global and interannual to millennial. These include dendroclimatology, climate field reconstruction and spatiotemporal data analysis, stable and radiogenic isotopes, forward and numerical modeling of paleoclimate proxies, and the integration of paleoclimate data with climate models. He holds joint faculty appointments in Geosciences and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, is affiliated faculty in Latin American Studies, and is currently the chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Global Change.
Professor of Earth Systems Geography
School of Geography, Development and Environment
ENR2 Building, Office S514
email: kanchukaitis@arizona.edu
github: kanchukaitis
Google Scholar: [link]
cv: [PDF]
Kevin is a climate scientist, paleoclimatologist, dendrochronologist, and earth systems geographer specializing in the reconstruction and analysis of climate variability and change over the Common Era and the interactions between climate and human society. He uses an array of techniques to develop and interpret evidence for past, present, and future climate dynamics across a range of temporal and spatial scales, from local to global and interannual to millennial. These include dendroclimatology, climate field reconstruction and spatiotemporal data analysis, stable and radiogenic isotopes, forward and numerical modeling of paleoclimate proxies, and the integration of paleoclimate data with climate models. He holds joint faculty appointments in Geosciences and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, is affiliated faculty in Latin American Studies, and is currently the chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Global Change.
Graduate Students
Talia Anderson
Ph.D., 2024, Geography
M.A. 2020, Geography
email: taliaanderson@email.arizona.edu
Google Scholar: [link]
website: https://taliaanderson.github.io/
Talia graduated from the University of Minnesota with a dual-degree in Geography and Spanish Studies. She specializes in the study of Latin American coupled socio-environmental systems across different spatiotemporal scales and during her undergraduate training developed and analyzed new Guatemalan tree-ring chronologies in order to study how climate change might impact forests in Central America. She continues to investigate the past, present, and future of climate change impacts on Central American using climate model simulations and observational data, focusing on both the geophysical aspects of climate variability and change and societal vulnerability. Before moving to Arizona, she worked for the TRACE (Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment) project, a forest warming experiment in Puerto Rico. For her master's research, Talia was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study the hydroclimate variability of montane wetland environments in the Chilean Altiplano. For her Ph.D. research, Talia investigated climate variability and the socio-ecological impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in Guatemala, supported by a grant from the US National Science Foundation as well as the Transect of the Americans Pathways Program. Talia defended her dissertation in April 2024 and will join Dr. Karen McKinnon's group at UCLA as a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow in autumn of 2024. She has also been awarded a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Minnesota.
Ph.D., 2024, Geography
M.A. 2020, Geography
email: taliaanderson@email.arizona.edu
Google Scholar: [link]
website: https://taliaanderson.github.io/
Talia graduated from the University of Minnesota with a dual-degree in Geography and Spanish Studies. She specializes in the study of Latin American coupled socio-environmental systems across different spatiotemporal scales and during her undergraduate training developed and analyzed new Guatemalan tree-ring chronologies in order to study how climate change might impact forests in Central America. She continues to investigate the past, present, and future of climate change impacts on Central American using climate model simulations and observational data, focusing on both the geophysical aspects of climate variability and change and societal vulnerability. Before moving to Arizona, she worked for the TRACE (Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment) project, a forest warming experiment in Puerto Rico. For her master's research, Talia was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study the hydroclimate variability of montane wetland environments in the Chilean Altiplano. For her Ph.D. research, Talia investigated climate variability and the socio-ecological impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in Guatemala, supported by a grant from the US National Science Foundation as well as the Transect of the Americans Pathways Program. Talia defended her dissertation in April 2024 and will join Dr. Karen McKinnon's group at UCLA as a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow in autumn of 2024. She has also been awarded a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Minnesota.
Julie Edwards
Ph.D. student, Geography
M.A. 2020, Geography
email: julieedwards@email.arizona.edu
Google Scholar: [Link]
website: https://julieedwardspaleo.github.io/
Julie received her bachelor’s degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from UCLA. She then worked as a GIS technician at an international aid and development nonprofit. Before coming to the University of Arizona, Julie was also a research assistant at UCLA and California State University, Northridge. Julie's research focuses on using high-resolution quantitative analysis of tree rings for climate reconstruction and to identify and interpret climate variability and extremes (including volcanic eruptions) in the paleoclimate record. Julie is a specialist in using Quantitative Wood Anatomy to understand seasonal and finer scale temperature signals in tree rings, and her dissertation research on high-resolution reconstructions of temperature variability at the North American treeline is supported by a grant from the US National Science Foundation. Upon completing her Ph.D. in August 2024, she will join the University of California Santa Barbara as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow.
Ph.D. student, Geography
M.A. 2020, Geography
email: julieedwards@email.arizona.edu
Google Scholar: [Link]
website: https://julieedwardspaleo.github.io/
Julie received her bachelor’s degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from UCLA. She then worked as a GIS technician at an international aid and development nonprofit. Before coming to the University of Arizona, Julie was also a research assistant at UCLA and California State University, Northridge. Julie's research focuses on using high-resolution quantitative analysis of tree rings for climate reconstruction and to identify and interpret climate variability and extremes (including volcanic eruptions) in the paleoclimate record. Julie is a specialist in using Quantitative Wood Anatomy to understand seasonal and finer scale temperature signals in tree rings, and her dissertation research on high-resolution reconstructions of temperature variability at the North American treeline is supported by a grant from the US National Science Foundation. Upon completing her Ph.D. in August 2024, she will join the University of California Santa Barbara as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow.
Kira Harris
Ph.D. student, Geography
M.A. 2022, Geography
email: kiraharris@email.arizona.edu
Kira received a B.S. in Earth Systems Sciences from the Ohio State University. Her previous research focused on how sedimentology and riverbed morphology affect surface water-groundwater interactions. She also helped develop the Virtual Ice Explorer, a virtual field experience tool that allows people to explore remote polar and alpine field sites visited by researchers at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. She is interested in multi-proxy paleoclimatology, organic geochemistry, dendroclimatology, and climate field reconstructions. Her Masters thesis research was on variability and trends across multiple timescales (decadal to millennial) in the North American Monsoon during the Holocene. Her Ph.D. research continues to focus on Pleistocene and Holocene climate variability in the North American Monsoon region using novel geochemical proxies. Outside of research, she enjoys running, hiking, and learning about new plants and rocks.
Ph.D. student, Geography
M.A. 2022, Geography
email: kiraharris@email.arizona.edu
Kira received a B.S. in Earth Systems Sciences from the Ohio State University. Her previous research focused on how sedimentology and riverbed morphology affect surface water-groundwater interactions. She also helped develop the Virtual Ice Explorer, a virtual field experience tool that allows people to explore remote polar and alpine field sites visited by researchers at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. She is interested in multi-proxy paleoclimatology, organic geochemistry, dendroclimatology, and climate field reconstructions. Her Masters thesis research was on variability and trends across multiple timescales (decadal to millennial) in the North American Monsoon during the Holocene. Her Ph.D. research continues to focus on Pleistocene and Holocene climate variability in the North American Monsoon region using novel geochemical proxies. Outside of research, she enjoys running, hiking, and learning about new plants and rocks.
Isabel González
Ph.D. student, Geography
Master's 2024, Geography
email: aigonzalezmendez@arizona.edu
Isabel joined the lab in Fall 2022. She graduated from Universidad Rafael Landivar, Guatemala, with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences. She then worked at the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology,and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH) as the research coordinator of the Climate Change unit in the department of Research and Meteorological Services. Her Master's research focused on lowland tropical dendrochronology in Mesoamerica and pioneering the use of new species in order to study the climate mechanisms that shape precipitation and temperature variability in this region. She received her Master's in May 2024 and continues on in the Ph.D. program, with new research on tropical dendroclimatology, stable isotopes, and radiocarbon.
Ph.D. student, Geography
Master's 2024, Geography
email: aigonzalezmendez@arizona.edu
Isabel joined the lab in Fall 2022. She graduated from Universidad Rafael Landivar, Guatemala, with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences. She then worked at the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology,and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH) as the research coordinator of the Climate Change unit in the department of Research and Meteorological Services. Her Master's research focused on lowland tropical dendrochronology in Mesoamerica and pioneering the use of new species in order to study the climate mechanisms that shape precipitation and temperature variability in this region. She received her Master's in May 2024 and continues on in the Ph.D. program, with new research on tropical dendroclimatology, stable isotopes, and radiocarbon.
Research Staff
Postdoctoral Reseachers
Would you like to join us as a postdoctoral research scholar working on paleoclimatology? Check out our Opportunities page for national fellowships or current openings
Undergraduate Students and Interns
B.A., Environmental Studies and Law
B.A., Anthropology and History
Former Lab Members
Ph.D. Geosciences (2022)
Now - USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Golden, CO
Postdoctoral Fellow
Now - Assistant Curator (tenure track) of AI for Biological and Cultural Diversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History at University of Florida
Undergraduate Honors Student
B.A. Environmental Studies (2022)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Now - Marine Projects Supervisor, Cowichan Tribes, British Columbia
Undergraduate Honors Student
B.A., B.S. Political Science & Urban and Regional Development (2021)
Now - Graduate student, University of California, Berkeley
SOARS Protege/WHOI Summer Student
Now - Catastrophe Analyst, Liberty Mutual
Undergraduate Co-op Student (Northeastern University)
& Graduate Student, MIT/WHOI Joint Program
Now - The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard