Tiffany ShawProfessor

Research Focus:

Atmospheric dynamics; climate change

Email:

tas1@uchicago.edu

Office:

Hinds 413

Biography

• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, Courant Institute, NYU & Columbia University
• PhD, Physics, University of Toronto

Research Interests

Prof. Shaw’s research focuses on the physics of the atmosphere and climate system past, present and future. She seeks to understand the underlying mechanisms controlling the response to climate changes so that we can have greater confidence in climate predictions. Her approach combines theory (primarily conservation laws), numerical modeling across a hierarchy of complexity and observational data analysis. Using this approach Prof. Shaw has shown moist thermodynamics can explain why climate zones shift latitudinally in response to anthropogenic emissions and surface albedo changes can explain why the atmospheric circulation weakens in response to Arctic sea ice loss. A recent focus has been comparing expectations of climate change from theory and numerical climate prediction to real world signals in order to advance basic understanding.

Selected Publications

• Kang, J., R. Thomas, N. Dunstone, T. A. Shaw and T. Woollings, 2025: Robust impact of tropical Pacific SST trends on global and regional circulation in boreal winter, npj climate and atmospheric science

• Shaw, T. A. and O. Miyawaki, 2025: Moist Adiabatic Scaling Explains Mean and Fast Upper-Level Jet Stream Wind Response to Climate Change, Geophys. Res. Lett.

• Shaw, T. A. and B. Stevens, 2025: The other climate crisis, Nature. Press: MPI-M

• Simpson, I. R, T. A. Shaw and Coauthors, 2025: Confronting Earth System Model trends with observations, Science Advances.

• Shaw, T. A., J. M. Arblaster, and Coauthors, 2024: Emerging climate change signals in atmospheric circulation, AGU Advances. Press coverage: EOS highlight

• Kang, J., T. A. Shaw, S. Kang, I. R. Simpson and Y. Yu 2024: Revisiting the reanalysis-model discrepancy in Southern Hemisphere winter storm track trends, npj climate and atmospheric science.

• Kang, J., T. A. Shaw and L. Sun 2024: Aerosols Have Significantly Weakened the Regional Summertime Circulation in the Northern Hemisphere During the Satellite Era, AGU Advances. Press coverage: EOS highlight

• Shaw, T. A., O. Miyawaki, 2023: Fast upper-level jet stream winds get faster under climate change, Nature Climate Change. Press coverage: National Geographic, The Atlantic, UChicago News, Carbon Brief Guest Post

• Shaw, T. A., O. Miyawaki, O., and A. Donohoe, 2022: Stormier Southern Hemisphere induced by topography and ocean circulation, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Press coverage: Washington Post, WBEZ, UChicago News, Carbon Brief Guest Post

Honors

• 2024 Fellow, American Physical Society
• 2023 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• 2017 Fellow, American Geophysical Union
• 2017 James B. Macelwane Medal, American Geophysical Union
• 2015 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (Physics)
• 2013 NSF CAREER award
• 2012 Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering
• 2011 James R. Holton Award, American Geophysical Union