Presented by M. Patricia Morse ’60, Trustee

President Hansen, I am honored to present Warren M. Washington.

In our time, the environment faces unprecedented challenges. To address global climate change, we must develop an empirical understanding of this process and the actions we must take to steward the Earth. Today we recognize an atmospheric scientist who for over forty years has studied Earth’s dynamic climate.

As a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Warren Washington broke new ground by developing computer models that integrate the study of atmosphere, oceans, sea ice and other indicators to measure the state of the global climate and predict future conditions. His climate models were used in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which issued a clarion call to confront the natural and anthropogenic causes of global change. This initiative earned Dr. Washington, his colleagues and climate scientists from other nations the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Warren Washington is also a keen observer of the climate for science and technology in America. In his long service on the National Science Board, he has advised presidents and Congress, and has called for the advancement of science as a matter of economic vitality, national security and the public good. Dr. Washington has argued passionately for the cultivation of future generations of scientists from across American society, including women and individuals from underrepresented groups, so that we can address the challenges we face in the 21st century with new insights and diverse perspectives.

For his pioneering research in climate studies and his demand for excellence in our national science program, I present Warren M. Washington for the degree Doctor of Science.

President’s conferral:

Warren Washington, your comprehensive contributions to our understanding of global climate and your commitment to future scientists help to make our future on Earth possible. Therefore by the authority vested in me by the Board of Trustees, I hereby confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities which here and everywhere pertain to this degree.