Climate researcher McDowell receives Fulbright Scholar Award
- James E. Rickman
- Communications Office
- (505) 665-9203
Young scientist received earlier recognition from DOE for early-career research
LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, August 31, 2010—Los Alamos National Laboratory climate scientist Nathan G. McDowell recently received a Fulbright Scholar Award.
With resources provided under the prestigious award, McDowell has temporarily left LANL for a 10-month stay in Slovenia, where he will present guest lectures at the University of Ljubljana and pursue further research about vegetation mortality mechanisms, and climate change.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” Recipients are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential for the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
Approximately 294,000 “Fulbrighters”—111,000 from the United States and 183,000 from other countries—have participated in the Fulbright Program since its inception more than 60 years ago.
McDowell received a doctorate in Tree Physiology at Oregon State University and came to LANL as a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow in 2003. He became a staff scientist in the Laboratory’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, where he studies the interdependency of plant and ecosystem water and carbon cycles and their response to climate and disturbance.
Before being named a Fulbright Award recipient, McDowell received a Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Award. Early Career Research Awards are intended to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work.
McDowell serves on advisory committees for the National Science Foundation, DOE, and LANL, is an associate editor for two international journals, and has testified before Congress regarding DOE's climate change research.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.