Robert C. Wills Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Washington ATG Building, Box 351640, Seattle, WA 98195 phone: +1 (206) 573-6652 email: rcwills@uw.edu www.atmos.washington.edu/~rcwills Research interests Climate dynamics, decadal climate variability, atmosphere- ocean interactions, climate feedbacks and climate change, hydrological cycle, general circulation of the atmosphere and oceans, precipitation extremes, ocean mixing and biogeochemical cycles Education Ph.D., Environmental Science and Engineering 2016 M.Sc., Environmental Science and Engineering 2013 B.S., Engineering Physics, Highest Honors, University of California, Berkeley, CA 2011 Academic research experience University of Washington, Seattle, WA Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Atmospheric Sciences Jan. 2017 present ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Earth Sciences 2016 Visiting Graduate Student, Department of Earth Sciences 2013 2016 Graduate Student, Environmental Science and Engineering 2011 2016 Thesis Title: Stationary eddies and zonal variations of the global hydrological cycle in a changing climate Thesis Advisor: Prof. Tapio Schneider University of California, Berkeley, CA Undergraduate Research Assistant, Nuclear Engineering 2010 2011 Advisor: Prof. Ed Morse MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, MA National Undergraduate Fellow 2010 Advisor: Dr. Paul Woskov Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM Undergraduate Research Assistant 2009 Advisor: Dr. Mike Ulrickson
Academic teaching experience ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland Teaching assistant for course 651-2124, Atmospheric General Circulation Dynamics 2015 Guest lecturer for course 651-2124, Atmospheric General Circulation Dynamics 2014 Teaching assistant for course 651-4911, Climate and the Global Circulation of the Atmosphere 2013 Teaching assistant for CNS 107, Writing about Scientific Research 2012 University of California, Berkeley, CA Teaching assistant for Physics 7a, Physics for Scientists and Engineers 2010 Physics tutor, Student Learning Center 2009 2010 Honors and awards AGU Editor s Spotlight: Thermodynamic and dynamic controls on changes in the zonally anomalous hydrological cycle 2016 Robert and Diane Lang Graduate Fellowship, California Institute of Technology 2012 Engineering & Applied Science Division Fellowship, California Institute of Technology 2011 Phi Beta Kappa, University of California, Berkeley 2011 Outstanding Student Poster Award, APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting 2010 National Undergraduate Fellowship, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory 2010 Publications Wills, R.C., X.J. Levine, and T. Schneider, 2017: Local energetic constraints on Walker circulation strength, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 74, 1907-1922. Wills, R.C., M.P. Byrne, and T. Schneider, 2016. Thermodynamic and dynamic controls on changes in the zonally anomalous hydrological cycle, Geophysical Research Letters, 43, 4640 4649. Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2016. How stationary eddies shape changes in the hydrological cycle: Zonally asymmetric experiments in an idealized GCM, J. Climate, 29, 3161 3179. Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2015. Stationary eddies and the zonal asymmetry of net precipitation and ocean freshwater forcing, Journal of Climate, 28, 5115 5133. Manuscripts submitted and in preparation Wills, R.C., T. Schneider, J.M. Wallace, D.S. Battisti, and D.L. Hartmann, 2017: Disentangling global warming, multi- decadal variability, and El Niño in Pacific temperatures, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, submitted August 2017. Ferreira, D., P. Cessi, H. Coxall, A. de Boer, H.A. Dijkstra, S.S. Drijfhout, T. Eldevik, N. Harnik, J.F. McManus, D.P. Marshall, J. Nilsson, F. Roquet, T. Schneider, R.C. Wills, 2017: Atlantic- Pacific asymmetry in deep water formation. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences, submitted July 2017.
Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2017: Modification of orographic stationary Rossby waves by latent heating and transient eddies in warmer and wetter climates, to be summited to Journal of Climate. Gray, W.R., J.W.B. Rae, R.C. Wills, A.E. Shevenell, G.L. Foster, C.H. Lear, and B. Taylor: Deglacial upwelling, productivity and CO2 in the North Pacific Ocean, in preparation. Rae, J.W.B., R.C. Wills, I. Eisenman, W.R Gray, and B. Taylor: Overturning circulation, nutrient limitation, and warming in the Glacial North Pacific, in preparation. Wills, R.C., K.C. Armour, D.S. Battisti, and D.L. Hartmann: Atlantic multi- decadal variability tied to changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, in preparation. Conference proceedings Wills, R.C., D.S. Battisti, D.L. Hartmann, and T. Schneider, 2017. Extracting Modes of Variability and Change from Climate Model Ensembles, Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, accepted August 2017. Invited presentations University of Washington, Atmospheric Sciences Colloquium, Seattle, WA: Understanding stationary- eddy circulations and their role in the hydrological cycle, February 2017 GEWEX Hydro- Climate Sensitivity Workshop, Exeter, UK: The sensitivity of the zonally anomalous hydrological cycle: Dynamic and thermodynamic mechanisms, June 2016 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory seminar series, Princeton, NJ: Stationary- eddy influence on changes in the hydrological cycle, June 2016 SCRIPPS Institute of Oceanography, CASPO Department Seminar, La Jolla, CA: Asymmetries in the hydrological cycle and the influence on sea surface salinity, December 2013 Caltech, ESE and Society Seminar, Pasadena, CA: Why does it rain where it rains?, December 2013 Rice University, FESD Project Workshop: Continent- island Arc Fluctuations: Linking deep Earth Dynamics to Long- term Climate, Houston, TX: Why does it rain where it rains?, October 2013 Contributed presentations Wills, R.C., D.S. Battisti, D.L. Hartmann, and T. Schneider, 2017: Extracting Modes of Variability and Change from Climate Model Ensembles. 7th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO. (Talk) Wills, R.C. D.S. Battisti, T. Schneider, and D.L. Hartmann, 2017: Isolating the decadal component of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Atmosphere and Ocean Fluid Dynamics, Portland, OR. (Poster) Wills, R.C., M.P. Byrne, X.J. Levine, and T. Schneider, 2017: Stationary- eddy influence on changes in the hydrological cycle. 97th AMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA. (Talk) Wills, R.C., M.P. Byrne, and T. Schneider, 2016: Thermodynamic and dynamic controls on the amplitude of the zonally anomalous hydrological cycle. EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria. (Poster)
Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2015: The Response of Idealized Stationary- Eddy Circulations to Climate Change. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. (Talk) Wills, R.C., J.W.B. Rae, I. Eisenman, and T. Schneider, 2015: Subpolar ocean salinity budgets in glacial climates: Pacific vs. Atlantic. Workshop on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in a Global Perspective, Stockholm, Sweden. (Poster) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2015: Orographically forced stationary eddies and the localization of storm tracks across a wide range of climates. SPARC Workshop on Storm Tracks, Grindelwald, Switzerland. (Talk) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2015: Zonal Hydrological- Cycle Variations in Idealized Model Experiments. AMS Atmosphere and Ocean Fluid Dynamics, Minneapolis, MN. (Talk) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2014: Mechanisms of stationary Rossby wave change in a changing climate, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. (Talk) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2014: Circulation- dominated zonal precipitation variations. GEWEX: 7th International Conference on the Global Water and Energy Cycle, Den Haag, Netherlands. (Poster) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2014: Circulation- dominated zonal precipitation variations, Latsis Symposium on Atmosphere and Climate Dynamics, Zurich, Switzerland. (Poster) Rae, J.W.B., R.C. Wills, I. Eisenman, and T. Schneider, 2013: Triggering deglaciations a potential mechanism based on ice sheet induced freshwater forcing changes and North Pacific deep- water formation. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. (Poster, presenting author) Wills, R.C., R.A. BiBiase, M.P. Lamb, and T. Schneider, 2013: Climatic control of large scale relief a case study in the Andes from the ITCZ to Patagonia. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. (Poster) Wills, R.C., T. Schneider, and M.P. Lamb, 2013: The influence of orographic stationary Rossby waves on large scale precipitation and erosion climatology. Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly, Davos, Switzerland. (Poster) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2013: The effect of topographic stationary Rossby waves on precipitation climatology. AMS Atmosphere and Ocean Fluid Dynamics, Newport, RI. (Talk) Wills, R.C. and T. Schneider, 2013: The role of topography in local climate change. EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria. (Talk) Wills, R.C., M. Davis, D.T. Garnier, M.E. Mauel, P.P. Woskov, and J. Kesner, 2010: Density Profile Measurements in LDX using Microwave Reflectometry. APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting, Chicago, IL. (Poster, Outstanding Student Poster Award) Selected Workshops 7th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO, September 2017 UW PCC Summer Institute: Climate Change and Population Health, Friday Harbor, WA, September 2017 GEWEX Hydro- Climate Sensitivity Workshop, Exeter, UK, June 2016
Workshop on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in a Global Perspective, Stockholm, Sweden, September 2015 FESD Project Workshop: Continent- island Arc Fluctuations: Linking deep Earth Dynamics to Long- term Climate, Rice University, Houston, TX, October 2013. WCRP Summer School on Detection and Attribution of Extreme Events, Trieste, Italy, August 2014 Advanced Climate Dynamics Course, Landscapes and Climate, Snøheim, Norway, August 2012 Professional Service Primary convener for session at AGU Fall Meeting, Atmospheric circulations and their role in the hydrological cycle: Monsoons, storm tracks, and the ITCZ, December 2015 Committee member for AGU Honors Spilhaus Award Reviewer for Journal of Climate, Geophysical Research Letters, and Climate Dynamics