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

• Komacek, T.D. and D.S. Abbot (2019), The Atmospheric Circulation and Climate of Terrestrial Planets Orbiting Sun-like and M Dwarf Stars over a Broad Range of Planetary Parameters, ​Astrophysical Journal,​ 871:245. PDF

• Yang, H., T.D. Komacek, and D.S. Abbot (2019), Effects of Radius and Gravity on the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone, ​Astrophysical Journal Letters​, 876 (2), L27. PDF

• Plotkin, D.A., R.J. Webber, M.E. O'Neill, J. Weare, and D.S. Abbot (2019), Maximizing simulated tropical cyclone intensity with action minimization, ​Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems,​ 11(4), 863-891. PDF

• Webber, R.J., D.A. Plotkin, M.E. O'Neill, D.S. Abbot, and J. Weare (2019), Practical rare event sampling for extreme mesoscale weather, ​Chaos​, 29 (5), 053109. PDF

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