Joel D. Scheraga
Joel with his dog, Lucky, at Great Falls National Park, VA
Dr. Joel D. Scheraga is the Senior Advisor for Climate Adaptation in EPA’s Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation (OPEI) in the Office of the Administrator. He was appointed to this position on January 3, 2010. This position offers him an exciting opportunity to help EPA design and implement effective climate change adaptation measures to protect human health and the environment. This position also offers him an opportunity to link EPA’s climate change work to its Sustainability, Smart Growth, and Environmental Justice programs. He is actively involved in the federal Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, established by Executive Order in October 2009 to develop recommendations for President Obama on how the nation might adapt to climate change impacts. Dr. Scheraga holds a federal Senior-Level (SL) position.
Prior to assuming this position, Scheraga served as the National Program Director for EPA’s Global Change Research Program and the Mercury Research Program in the Office of Research and Development (ORD). He was responsible for managing a $22.0 million Global Change Research Program, a $4 million Mercury Research Program, and over 40 personnel in five laboratories and centers.
As the National Program Director for EPA's Global Change Research Program, Dr. Scheraga directed policy-relevant assessments that provided timely and useful information to decision makers. These included assessments of the potential impacts of climate change, the evaluation of alternative adaptation strategies, and studies of the implications for public health and the environment of strategies for mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases. He also oversaw the development of decision support tools that enable policymakers to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies throughout the United States. He was the EPA Principal Representative to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which coordinates and integrates scientific research on climate and global change supported by the U.S. Government. As the National Program Director for the Mercury Research Program, he directed studies of the fate and transport of mercury in the environment, particularly in those areas where people harvest and eat fish that bioaccumulate the mercury.
Dr. Scheraga participated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was a Lead Author of the 1997 IPCC North American Regional Assessment. In 1995, he was a Contributing Author to the Working Group II chapter on “Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations” that appeared in the IPCC Second Assessment Report. He also served as an Expert Reviewer of the Second Assessment Report. And he served as an Assisting Lead Author for the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations. Dr. Scheraga has been a member of several official U.S. Delegations to the international meetings of the IPCC.
Dr. Scheraga has extensive expertise addressing environmental issues that require communication and cooperation between multiple disciplines, as well as problems that affect multiple media and economic sectors. In May 2010, he was named an Ex Officio Member of the new National Research Council Roundtable on Climate Change Education. His term runs through March 31, 2012. He is also a member of the Human Health Adaptation and Response Subgroup of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, and Lead Author of the Human Health chapter of the new Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the State of Maryland. He was a member of the federal Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health that produced the report, "A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change," published by Environmental Health Perspectives and the National Institute of Environmental Health Science in April 2010. The report identified key research gaps that need to be addressed to support mitigation of the health effects of climate change, and implementation of the healthiest and most efficient approaches to climate change adaptation.
Dr. Scheraga has published numerous articles on climate change science and policy, environmental economics, the integration of science and policy, and applied microeconomics and microeconomic theory. He was a co-author of the 2005 Human Health Synthesis Report that is part of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He was a co-editor and lead author of the book, Climate Change and Human Health: Risks and Responses, released by the World Health Organization in December 2003, and co-author of the 2003 WHO report, Methods of Assessing Human Vulnerability and Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change. He served as Chair (2000-2002) and Vice Chair (1998-2000) of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s National Assessment Workgroup, which was responsible for managing the First U.S. National Assessment process which resulted in the report to Congress entitled, "Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change."
Dr. Scheraga was a faculty member for the International Water Management
Course held by the Swiss Institute of Environmental Science and
Technology. He has also worked closely with the US/Canada International
Joint Commission to address the impacts of climate change in the Great
Lakes Region. Dr. Scheraga has given over 75 public presentations on
climate change, environmental science and policy, and energy policy over
the past decade.
Dr. Scheraga received an A.B. degree in geology-mathematics/physics from
Brown University in 1976, an M.A. in economics from Brown University in
1979, and a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University in 1981. He
completed the Federal Executive Institute's program on "Leadership for a
Democratic Society" in May 2009. Prior to joining EPA, he was an
Assistant Professor of Economics at Rutgers University from 1981-1987,
and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton University
from 1985-1986.
Dr. Scheraga was named a Fellow of the Institute for Science, Technology
and Public Policy in The Bush School of Government and Public Service at
Texas A&M University in June 2008. He was also the recipient of the 2004 inaugural Horace Mann
Distinguished Graduate School Alumni Award presented by Brown University.
The award is given to Graduate School alumni who have made distinguished
contributions to society through their scholarship and related
professional activities. Dr. Scheraga was one of the 1,360 scientists
from 95 countries honored with the 2005 Zayed Award for scientific
and/or technological achievement in environment for their work on the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He has also received six EPA Bronze Medals.