LAURENCE C. SMITH is the John Atwater and Diana Nelson University Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. His research interests include the Arctic, water resources, and satellite remote sensing technologies.
In 2006-2007 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow by the John S. Guggenheim Foundation, and in 2007 and 2014 his work appeared prominently in 4th and 5th Assessment Reports of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has assisted the National Academy of Sciences with a major report on abrupt climate changes, NASA with a new satellite mission to monitor global water resources, and the World Economic Forum with issues of Arctic development. In 2015, he was elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He frequently gives keynote speeches and in 2012, 2014, 2016 was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He is the author of The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future (U.K. edition titled The New North) and Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World.
