Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Professor, Earth System Science
School of Physical Sciences

Wildfires, the global carbon cycle, biogeochemistry, climate-carbon feedbacks, climate change impacts in western North America, machine learning, artificial intelligence, land cover change, deforestation, drought, Amazon forests, satellite remote sensing.

Randerson Lab Home Page

2023 The 9th Annual Michio Yanai Distinguished Lecture; University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
2017 Piers J. Sellers Global Environmental Change Mid-Career Award, American Geophysical Union
2017 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
2014 NASA Group Achievement Award
2008 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Outstanding Paper Award, NOAA
2005 Macelwane Medal, American Geophysical Union
2005 Fellow, American Geophysical Union (awarded with Macelwane Medal)
2005, 2002 Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Global Biogeochemical Cycles, AGU
1998 Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow, DOE
1994 Earth System Science Graduate Fellowship, NASA
1987 John D. Isaacs Marine Fellowship. Awarded by California Sea Grant.

7/17 - Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Professor of Earth System Science
7/13 - 6/17 Chancellor's Professor of Earth System Science, UC Irvine
7/03 - 6/13 Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor of Earth System Science, UC Irvine
3/00 - 6/03 Assistant Professor, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Caltech
9/98 - 2/00 Postdoctoral scholar at U.C. Berkeley and University of Alaska

Randerson studies the global carbon cycle using satellite remote sensing observations, in-situ measurements, and different types of models. Current research themes in his laboratory include climate-carbon cycle feedbacks, land use change, and the effects of fire on ecosystem function and atmospheric composition. He has conducted field work in Alaska and Siberia to assess the long-term impacts of fire on surface energy exchange and fluxes of carbon dioxide. Randerson was born in Fairfax, Virginia and grew up in San Diego, California, where he attended Point Loma High School. He received a BS in chemistry (1992) and a PhD in biological sciences (1998) from Stanford University. He conducted postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley and University of Alaska before joining the faculty at Caltech. In 2003, Randerson moved to UC Irvine where he now holds the position of Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Professor of Earth System Science. Randerson was the recipient of the James B. Macelwane Medal in 2005 and the Piers J. Sellers Global Environmental Change Mid-Career Award in 2017 from the American Geophysical Union. Randerson served as co-chair of the biogeochemistry working group of the Community Earth System Model from 2003-2017 and is currently a member of the Biological and Environmental Research Federal Advisory Committee for the U.S. Dept. of Energy Office of Science. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

239. Kim, J.E., J.A. Wang, C.I. Czimczik, Y. Li, and J.T. Randerson. 2024. Wildfire-induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America. Global Change Biology. 30: e17151. doi: 10.1111/gcb.17151.

238. Chen, Y., J. Hall, D. van Wees, N. Andela, S. Hantson, L. Giglio, G.R. van der Werf, D.C. Morton, J.T. Randerson. 2023. Multi-decadal trends and variability in global burned area from the 5th version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5). Earth System Science Data. 15 (11): 5227–5259. doi: 10.5194/essd-15-5227-2023.

237. Odwuor, A., C.C. Yañez, Y. Chen, F.M. Hopkins, A. Moreno, X. Xu, C.I. Czimczik, and J.T. Randerson. 2023. Evidence for multi-decadal fuel buildup in a large California wildfire from smoke radiocarbon measurements. Environmental Research Letters. 18: 094030. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/aced17.

236. Li, Y., J.C.A. Baker, P.M. Brando, F.M. Hoffman, D.M. Lawrence, D.C. Morton, A.L.S. Swann, M.R. Uribe, and J.T. Randerson. 2023. Contributions of CO2 physiology and deforestation to future climate change in the Amazon. Nature Water. doi: 10.1038/s44221-023-00128-y.

235. Potter, S., S. Cooperdock, S. Veraverbeke, X. Walker, M.C. Mack, S.J. Goetz, J. Baltzer, L. Bourgeau-Chavez, A. Burrell, C. Dieleman, N. French, S. Hantson, E.E. Hoy, L. Jenkins, J.F. Johnstone, E.S. Kane, S.M. Natali, J.T. Randerson, M.R. Turetsky, E. Whitman, E. Wiggins, and B.M. Rogers. 2023. Burned area and carbon emissions across northwestern boreal North America from 2001-2019. EGUsphere. doi: 10.5194/egusphere-2022-364.

234. Le, P., J.T. Randerson, R. Willett, S. Wright, P. Smyth, and E. Foufoula-Georgiou. 2023. Climate-driven changes in the predictability of seasonal precipitation. Nature Communications. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39463-9.

233. Hemming-Schroeder, N.M., A.A. Gutierrez, S.D. Allison, and J.T. Randerson. 2023. Estimating individual tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada using lidar and multispectral reflectance data. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. doi:10.1029/2022JG007234.

232. Gorris M.E., J.T. Randerson, S.R. Coffield, C. Xu, K.K. Treseder, C.S. Zender, C.A. Manore. 2023. Assessing the influence of climate on the spatial pattern of West Nile virus incidence in the United States. Environmental Health Perspectives. 131(4): 047016. doi: 10.1289/EHP10986.

231. Wu, C., S.R. Coffield, M.L. Goulden, J.T. Randerson, A.T. Trugman, and W.R.L. Anderegg. 2023. Diverging estimates in future US forest carbon storage potential associated with climate change and disturbance feedbacks. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/s41561-023-01166-7.

American Geophysical Union, Fellow

Ecological Society of America

American Association for the Advancement of Science

National Academy of Sciences of the United States

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=4971

Last updated
02/08/2024