Michael Puma

Dr. Michael Puma is Director of the Center for Climate Systems Research, part of Columbia University’s Earth Institute with over 25 scientists, staff associates, and administrators working closely with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies on earth science and climate impacts research. His research efforts are focused on global food security, especially the exploration of how susceptible the global network of food trade is to natural (e.g., megadroughts, volcanic eruptions) and manmade (e.g., wars, trade restrictions) disturbances. He is particularly interested in understanding the limits to predictability for our water and food systems, as we need fundamentally different approaches for problems that are sensitive to non-predictable extremes. Dr. Puma teaches courses at Columbia University on hydrology and water governance.