Maria Carmen Lemos

Maria Carmen de Mello Lemos is Professor of Environment and Sustainability and co-director of the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Senior Policy Scholar at the Udall Center for the Study of Public Policy at the University of Arizona. Lemos is an established climate policy analyst whose research focuses primarily on environmental public policymaking in Latin America and the US, especially related to climate change adaptation and adaptive capacity building.

Early life and education Lemos earned her B.S. in Economics from the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, as well as a MSc. and a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Career

Research Lemos has overseen and empirically investigated numerous co-production projects, has worked with a number of knowledge networks, and has decades of experience leading interdisciplinary teams to convey scientific information across diverse audiences. She is also involved in research on the socioenvironmental vulnerability of poor inhabitants of the Mexico/U.S. border region.

During 2006–2007 she was a James Martin 21st Century School Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University. She was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC-AR5—Chapter 20IPCC AR-5 WGII (2014) Chapter 20. Climate-Resilient Pathways: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Sustainable Development. Coordinating Lead Authors: Fatima Denton (Gambia), Thomas Wilbanks (EUA). Lead Authors: Achala Abeyshinghe (Sri Lanka), Ian Burton (Canada), Q. Gao (China), Maria Carmen Lemos (EUA), T. Masui (Japan), Karen O’Brien (Norway), Koko Warner (Germany). Climate-resilient Pathways) and the Fourth US National Climate Assessment (NCA4)—Chapter 21US Fourth National Climate Assessment. Angel, J., C. Swanston, B.M. Boustead, K.C. Conlon, K.R. Hall, J.L. Jorns, K.E. Kunkel, M.C. Lemos, B. Lofgren, T.A. Ontl, J. Posey, K. Stone, G. Takle, and D. Todey, 2018: Midwest. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II[Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 872–940. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH21 Midwest), as well as a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC-AR4 — Group 7: Industry, Settlement and SocietyWilbanks, T.J., P. Romero Lankao, M. Bao, F. Berkhout, S. Cairncross, J.-P. Ceron, M. Kapshe, R. Muir-Wood and R. Zapata-Marti, 2007: Industry, settlement and society. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 357–390.).

Lemos has served in a number of US National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences committees, including Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change (2007 and 2009), America's Climate Choice Science Panel (2010), the Board on Environmental Change and Society (2008–2014), the Council Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program (2011–2013), the Societal Expert Action Network (SEAN) (2021–present), and the Board for Atmospheric Sciences (BASC, 2023–present). She is also the co-founder of Icarus (Initiative on Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences), which seeks to foster collaboration and exchange between scholars focusing on vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.

Notable publications

Lemos, M. C., K. S. Wolske, L. V. Rasmussen, J. C. Arnott, M. Kalcic and C. J. Kirchhoff (2019). "The Closer, the Better? Untangling Scientist–Practitioner Engagement, Interaction, and Knowledge Use." Weather, Climate, and Society 11(3): 535–548. Moss, R. H., S. Avery, K. Baja, M. Burkett, A. M. Chischilly, J. Dell, P. A. Fleming, K. Geil, K. Jacobs, A. Jones, K. Knowlton, J. Koh, M. C. Lemos, J. Melillo, R. Pandya, T. C. Richmond, L. Scarlett, J. Snyder, M. Stults, A. M. Waple, J. Whitehead, D. Zarrilli, B. M. Ayyub, J. Fox, A. Ganguly, L. Joppa, S. Julius, P. Kirshen, R. Kreutter, A. McGovern, R. Meyer, J. Neumann, W. Solecki, J. Smith, P. Tissot, G. Yohe and R. Zimmerman (2019). "Evaluating Knowledge to Support Climate Action: A Framework for Sustained Assessment. Report of an Independent Advisory Committee on Applied Climate Assessment." Weather, Climate, and Society 11(3): 465–487. US Fourth National Climate Assessment. Angel, J., C. Swanston, B.M. Boustead, K.C. Conlon, K.R. Hall, J.L. Jorns, K.E. Kunkel, M.C. Lemos, B. Lofgren, T.A. Ontl, J. Posey, K. Stone, G. Takle, and D. Todey, 2018: Midwest. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II[Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 872–940. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH21 Trueblood, D., S. Almazán-Casali, J. Arnott, M. Brass, M. C. Lemos, K. Matso, J. Read, L. Vaccaro and J. Wondolleck (2019). "Advancing Knowledge for Use in Coastal and Estuarine Management: Competitive Research in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System." Coastal Management 47(3): 337–346. Lemos, M. C., J. Arnott, N. M. Ardoin, K. Baja, A. Bednarek, A. Dewulf, C. Fieseler, K. Goodrich, K. Jagannathan, N. Klenk, K. J. Mach, A. M. Meadow, R. Meyer, R. Moss, L. Nichols, K. D. Sjostrom, M. Stults, E. Turnhout, C. Vaughan, G. Wong-Parodi and C. Wyborn (2018). "To co-produce or not to co-produce." Nature Sustainability VOL 1: 722–724. Lemos, M. C., H. Eakin, L. Dilling and J. Worl (2018). "Social Sciences, Weather, and Climate Change." Meteorological Monographs 59: 26.21–26.25. Eakin, H., T. A. Muñoz-Erickson and M. C. Lemos (2018). "Critical Lines of Action for Vulnerability and Resilience Research and Practice: Lessons from the 2017 Hurricane Season." Journal of Extreme Events 05(02n03): 1850015. Bedran-Martins, A. M., M. C. Lemos & A. Philippi (2018) Relationship between subjective wellbeing and material quality of life in face of climate vulnerability in NE Brazil. Climatic Change, 147, 283–297. Haigh, T., V. Koundinya, C. Hart, J. Klink, M. Lemos, A. S. Mase, L. Prokopy, A. Singh, D. Todey and M. Widhalm (2018). "Provision of Climate Services for Agriculture: Public and Private Pathways to Farm Decision-Making." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 99(9): 1781–1790. Tian, Q. and M. C. Lemos (2018) Household Livelihood Differentiation and Vulnerability to Climate Hazards in Rural China. World Development, 108, 321–331. Tian, Q., L. Jiang, M. Lemos & S. Qi (2018) Interactions of social, natural, and technological subsystems and synergy between development and adaptation to floods around Poyang Lake. Annals of GIS, 1–12. Lemos, M. C. (2015). Usable climate knowledge for adaptive and co-managed water governance. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 12: 48–52. Agrawal, A. and M. C. Lemos (2015). "Adaptive development." Nature Climate Change 5(3): 185–187. Haigh, T., L. W. Morton, M.C. Lemos, L. Prokopy, J. Angel and Y.J. Lo (2015) "Agricultural Advisors as Climate Information Intermediaries: Exploring Differences in Capacity to Communicate Climate" Weather, Climate and Society, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 83–93. Kalafatis, S. E., M. C. Lemos, Y.-J. Lo and K. A. Frank (2015). "Increasing information usability for climate adaptation: The role of knowledge networks and communities of practice." Global Environmental Change 32: 30–39. Prokopy, L. S., J. S. Carlton, J. G. Arbuckle Jr, T. Haigh, M. C. Lemos, A. S. Mase, N. Babin, M. Dunn, J. Andresen and J. Angel (2015). "Extension′ s role in disseminating information about climate change to agricultural stakeholders in the United States." Climatic Change: 1–12.

National and synthesis reports

US Fourth National Climate Assessment (2018). Midwest: In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States, Volume IIUS Fourth National Climate Assessment. Angel, J., C. Swanston, B.M. Boustead, K.C. Conlon, K.R. Hall, J.L. Jorns, K.E. Kunkel, M.C. Lemos, B. Lofgren, T.A. Ontl, J. Posey, K. Stone, G. Takle, and D. Todey, 2018: Midwest. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II[Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 872–940. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH21 IPCC AR-5 WGII (2014) Chapter 20. Climate-Resilient Pathways: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Sustainable Development.IPCC AR-5 WGII (2014) Chapter 20. Climate-Resilient Pathways: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Sustainable Development. Coordinating Lead Authors: Fatima Denton (Gambia), Thomas Wilbanks (EUA). Lead Authors: Achala Abeyshinghe (Sri Lanka), Ian Burton (Canada), Q. Gao (China), Maria Carmen Lemos (EUA), T. Masui (Japan), Karen O’Brien (Norway), Koko Warner (Germany). National Research Council (2013). A Review of the Draft 2013 of the National Climate Assessment.National Research Council (2013). A Review of the Draft 2013 of the National Climate Assessment. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), Washington DC. Coauthor. National Research Council (2012). A Review of the USGCRP Draft Strategic Plan. Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).National Research Council (2012). A Review of the USGCRP Draft Strategic Plan. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), Washington DC. Co-author. National Research Council (2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change. America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change.National Research Council (2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change. America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-author with 16 other authors. National Research Council (2009). Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change. Committee on Strategic Advice on the US Climate Change Science Program.National Research Council (2009). Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change. Committee on Strategic Advice on the US Climate Change Science Program. National Research Council of the National Academies, Washington DC. Co-author with 17 other authors. U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research (2008). Looking Toward the Future. In: Decision-Support Experiments and Evaluations using Seasonal-to-Interannual Forecasts and Observational Data: A Focus on Water Resources. A Synthesis Assessment (SAP 5.3).Ingram, H., D.L. Feldman, K.L. Jacobs, N. Mantua, M.C. Lemos, B. Morehouse, A. M. Waple, and N. Beller-Simms (2008) Looking Toward the Future. In: Decision-Support Experiments and Evaluations using Seasonal-to-Interannual Forecasts and Observational Data: A Focus on Water Resources. A Synthesis Assessment (SAP 5.3) Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research [Nancy BellerSimms, Helen Ingram, David Feldman, Nathan Mantua, Katharine L. Jacobs, and Anne M. Waple (eds.)]. NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC, pp. 141–154.