Dorian AbbotAssociate Professor

Research Focus:

Climate, paleoclimate, ice, habitability, and exoplanets

Email:

abbot@uchicago.edu

Office:

Hinds 571

Biography

I have an undergraduate degree in physics (2004, Harvard) and a PhD in applied math (2008, Harvard). I came to the University of Chicago as a Chamberlin Fellow and stayed on as a faculty member.

Research Interests

I use mathematical and computational models to understand and explain fundamental problems in Earth and Planetary Sciences. I have worked on problems related to climate, paleoclimate, the cryosphere, planetary habitability, and exoplanets, but I'm always excited to think about new things. I work best with students who have strong mathematical skills that they want to apply to cool problems. Recently I've been focusing a lot of effort on terrestrial exoplanets and habitability. We have a really great community with three faculty in our department and three in astronomy working on exoplanets. Here is a list of our recent PhD graduates in the area.

Selected Publications

• Olson, S.L., M. Jansen, and D.S. Abbot (2020), Oceanographic Constraints on Exoplanet Life, ​Astrophysical Journal​, 895:19. arxiv

• Komacek, T.D., T.J. Fauchez, E.T. Wolf, and D.S. Abbot (2020), Clouds will likely prevent the detection of water vapor in JWST transmission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets, ​Astrophysical Journal Letters​, 888:L20. arxiv

• Finkel, J., D.S. Abbot, J. Weare (2020), Path properties of atmospheric transitions: illustration with a low-order sudden stratospheric warming model, ​Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences,​ 77(7), 2327-2347. arxiv

Fun stuff

• Helium-fueled thank-you
• Interview in Japanese documentary where I get an awesome Samurai voice
• "We Are Climate Scientists" music video
• What does ET look like?
• Helping to promote the album "Singer's Grave a Sea of Tongues" by Bonnie Prince Billy
• Planetary romance literature inspired by one of my papers