Peter Huybers

Peter Huybers is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Engineering at Harvard University, where he investigates the climate system and its societal implications, including interactions between volcanism and glaciation, extreme temperature predictability, and climate change impacts on food production.

Research interests span climate change attribution, paleoclimate reconstruction, drought dynamics, crop yield modeling, and earth system feedbacks. His work often integrates art-historical analysis with climate science, as seen in studies of 19th-century air pollution through Turner and Monet paintings.

Scientific awards include funding from

• Harvard Data Science Initiative (2023) for projects on climate change and food supply volatility
• Amazon Web Services (2023) grant

His 20+ peer-reviewed articles since 2020 focus on climate proxies, hydrological modeling, solar forcing, and agricultural-climate interactions, with recent work in Nature, PNAS, and Science Advances.

Advising: Mentored 10+ PhD students including Parker Liautaud, Duo Chan, and Marena Lin, while leading research teams with current members like Greta Berendes and Caro Park. Former staff include Jon Proctor and Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, the latter now at UC Berkeley (2024).