Chief Science and Technology Officer, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate
Chief Science and Technology Officer, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate

Biography

Dr. Kraucunas is the Chief Science and Technology Officer for the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In this role, his responsibilities include strategic planning, capability development, and managing the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate's internal research investment portfolio. From 2015 through mid-2020, Kraucunas served as the Director of PNNL's Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, which includes almost 200 staff with expertise ranging from fundamental atmospheric physics to regional and global climate modeling to climate impact analysis.

Kraucunas has also led several multi-institutional projects funded by the Department of Energy's Biological and Environmental Research program. He is currently the principal investigator for Integrated Coastal Modeling, which was launched in late 2019 and focuses on developing and applying integrated modeling platforms to simulate human and natural systems in coastal regions with an initial focus on the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Region. He is also involved in projects in the Great Lakes and Puget Sound Regions. Previously, Kraucunas served as principal investigator for a series of projects aimed at developing integrated modeling platforms for studying the interactions among energy, land, water, and climate systems across multiple scales.

Prior to joining PNNL, Dr. Kraucunas worked at the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, where he served as the study director for major reports on surface temperature reconstructions, environmental data management, and America's climate choices. He received his PhD from the University of Washington, where his graduate research focused on using numerical models to study the large-scale of the tropical atmosphere.

Research Interest

  • Integrated human-Earth system modeling
  • Coastal science
  • Impacts of climate and global change

Education

  • PhD in Atmospheric Science, University of Washington
  • Environmental Management Certificate, University of Washington
  • MS in Atmospheric Science, University of Washington
  • BA in Physics and Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia