Iris Grossman, Ph.D.
ACADEMIC AREAS OF INTEREST
Societal transition to renewable energy; large-scale use of solar electricity sustainable, equitable and resilient cities and the role of partnerships; climate-energy-water-food nexus; climate adaptation.
PERSONAL AREAS OF INTEREST
Personal Website: Visit Website | Visit Website
BIOGRAPHY
Iris Grossmann is Associate Professor of Sustainable Technology at Chatham University’s Falk School of Sustainability. Dr. Grossmann's research focuses on the societal transition to renewable energy, large-scale solar electricity networks, urban and community sustainability, and climate resilience. Dr. Grossmann holds a Ph.D. in Geoscience/ Meteorology and an M.S. in Mathematics. She has worked on interdisciplinary problems in the areas of energy, climate and the environment since 2002. She holds an adjunct Assistant Professor affiliation with the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Previously she was a Research Scientist at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at CMU where she also taught and advised students. During 2015-2016 she served as Director of Education at CMU’s Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research where she focused on developing materials for climate and energy literacy. At the Falk School, Dr. Grossmann teaches on renewable energy, systems tools, urban and community sustainability, and climate resilience.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., Geosciences/Meteorology, University of Hamburg and International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modeling, Hamburg, Germany, 2005
- M.S., Mathematics, University of Hamburg, Germany, 2001
- B.S., Mathematics, University of Hamburg, Germany, 1998
AWARDS
- Austrian National Bank: Effective unilateral climate policy: Complementing the EU ETS (8/16-7/18). Role: Co-PI (PI: Karl W. Steininger). Collaboration with the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change at the University of Graz, Austria. $300,000.
- Belmont Forum G8 Research Councils Initiative: FuturAgua: Enhancing adaptation and resilience to drought in dry tropical social-ecological systems – The Guanacaste, Costa Rica example (9/2013-8/2016). Role: Co-PI (PI: Tim McDaniels). Collaboration with the University of British Columbia (UBC, Canada), Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD, France), and Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Education (CATIE, Costa Rica). $1,600,000.
- Austrian Climate Research Program: RE-ADJUST: Sharing in the Greenhouse – from production to consumption relevance (6/2013-5/2015). Role: Co-PI (PI: Birgit Bednar-Friedl). Collaboration with the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Graz (Austria) and IIASA (Austria). $360,000.
- National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Directorate: Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making (2010-2015). Role: Affiliate Researcher (PI: Inez Lima Azevedo). $5,997,094.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Babcock, M., Wong-Parodi, G., Small, M., Grossmann, I., 2016. Stakeholder perceptions of water systems and hydro-climate information in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Earth Perspectives (in press).
- Grossmann, W., Grossmann, I., Steininger, K., 2015. Solar electricity supply isolines of generation capacity and storage. PNAS 112: 3663–3668.
- Grossmann, W., Grossmann, I., Steininger, K, 2014. Distributed solar electricity generation across large geographic areas, Part II: A Pan-American energy system based on solar. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 32: 983-993.
- Grossmann, W., Grossmann, I., Steininger, K., 2013. Distributed solar electricity generation across large geographic areas, Part I: A method to optimize site selection, electricity generation, and storage. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 25: 831-843.
- Grossmann, W.D., Steininger, K.W., Schmidt, C., Grossmann, I., 2012. Investment and employment from large-scale photovoltaics up to 2050. Empirica Special Issue ‘Climate and Global Change, Selected Papers from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Austrian Economic Association’ 39: 165–189.
- Rose, S., Jaramillo, P., Grossmann, I., Small, M., Apt, J, 2012. Probabilistic modeling of hurricane risks to off-shore wind turbines off Galveston. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 (9): 3247-3252.
- Klima, K., Lin, N., Emanuel, K., Morgan, M.G., Grossmann, I., 2012. Hurricane modification and adaptation in Miami-Dade county, Florida. Environmental Science and Technology 46 (2): 636-642.
- Klima, K., Bruine de Bruin, W., Morgan, M.G., Grossmann, I., 2012. Public perceptions of hurricane modification. Risk Analysis, DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01717.x
- Grossmann, I., 2011. Review of “Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate” by the National Research Council. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 86 (4): 341-342.
- Klima, K., Morgan, M.G., Grossmann, I., Emanuel, K., 2011. Does it make sense to modify tropical cyclones? A decision-analytic assessment. Environmental Science and Technology 45 (10): 4242-4248.
- Tokdar, S., Grossmann, I., Kadane, J., Charest, A.-S, Small, M., 2011. Impact of beliefs about Atlantic tropical cyclone detection on conclusions about trends in tropical cyclone numbers. Bayesian Analysis, 6 (4): 1-22.
- Grossmann, I., Morgan, M. G., 2011. Tropical cyclones, climate change, and scientific uncertainty: What do we know, what does it mean, what should be done? Climatic Change, 108(3): 543-579.
- Grossmann, W.D., Grossmann, I., Steininger, W.K., 2010. Indicators to determine winning renewable energy technologies with an application to photovoltaics. Environmental Science and Technology 44 (13): 4849–4855.
- Grossmann, I., Klotzbach, P., 2009. A review of North Atlantic modes of natural variability and their driving mechanisms. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 114, D24107, doi:10.1029/2009JD012728.
- Grossmann, W.D., Steininger, K.W., Grossmann, I., Magaard, L., 2009. Indicators on economic risk from global climate change. Environmental Science and Technology 43 (16): 6421–6426.
- Grossmann, I., 2009. Atlantic hurricane risks: preparing for the plausible. Environmental Science and Technology 43 (20): 7604–7608.
- Grossmann, I., 2008. Perspectives for Hamburg as a port-city in the context of a changing global environment. Geoforum 39: 2062-2072.
- Grossmann, I., 2007. Critical and strategic factors for scenario development and discontinuity tracing. Futures 39: 878-894.
- Grossmann, I., Woth, K., v. Storch, H., 2006. Localization of global climate change: Storm surge scenarios for Hamburg in 2030 and 2085. Die Küste 71: 169-182.
- Grossmann, I., 2006. Three scenarios for the greater Hamburg region. Futures 38 (1): 31-49.