Karen McKinnon

Karen McKinnon is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), specializing in climate science with a focus on heat extremes and their impacts. She leads research on quantifying temperature trends in a warming world, particularly examining how the hottest days compare to average temperatures. Her work has been recognized with prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER Award ($944,511 over five years) and the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.

Her research interests span climate change attribution, extreme weather events, and atmospheric dynamics. Key projects include analyzing heatwave mechanisms, soil moisture effects on temperature extremes, and discrepancies between climate models and observational data. She employs advanced statistical methods and large ensemble simulations to disentangle natural variability from human-driven climate signals.

Publications highlight work on humidity trends in arid regions, wildfire impacts on water resources, and the role of atmospheric circulation in heatwaves. Her NSF-funded CAREER project specifically targets summertime temperature extremes, aiming to improve predictive models for climate adaptation strategies.

• Awards: NSF CAREER Award (2024), Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award
• Grants: $944,511 NSF grant for temperature extremes research
• Labs/Teams: Leads climate modeling and extreme event analysis teams at UCLA