Robert Fofrich

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Dartmouth College, where I work with Justin Mankin in the Climate Modeling and Impacts Group. I study how decisions about energy, infrastructure, land, and climate policy shape climate risk, and where strategic interventions can most effectively reduce it.

My research spans energy system decarbonization, climate intervention and carbon removal, and climate impacts and attribution. My current work traces climate damages beyond emitting facilities to the financial institutions that enable carbon infrastructure. Across these areas, I combine Earth system science with energy, economic, ecological, and geospatial data to connect global climate goals to the industries, institutions, landscapes, and populations where decisions are made.

I completed my Ph.D. in Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, with Steven J. Davis. Before Dartmouth, I was a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA with Elsa Ordway and a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University with Robert Kopp and Kelly McCusker through the Climate Impact Lab. My work has appeared in Nature Sustainability, Science, PNAS Nexus, and Environmental Research Letters.

I mentor undergraduate and graduate researchers and engage with scientific, policy, and community audiences on climate and energy challenges.

Selected Honors & Fellowships

• UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, 2023–2025
• IDRE Postdoctoral Fellowship, UCLA, 2023
• Rose Hills Foundation Science & Engineering Fellowship, 2020–2021
• NSF Ridge to Reef Research Traineeship, 2017–2018