Biography:
Richard Moss
Director (2000-2006), U.S. Global Change Research Program / Climate Change Science Program Office

Richard Moss recognized by Secretary of Energy for leadership in global and climate change research.  Press release (dtd 17 February 2005) from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  Richard Moss, director of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Office, has received the Distinguished Associate Award from the Department of Energy. (posted 8 March 2005)

Dr. Richard H. Moss was Director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program / Climate Change Science Program Office from May 2000 through 28 February 2006. In this capacity, he coordinated the interagency process for preparing the Climate Change Science Program's strategic plan. He also held an appointment as Staff Scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute (University of Maryland (College Park) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory). His research interests include quantitative modeling of the sensitivity and adaptability of socio-economic systems to environmental variability and change, and evaluation and communication of scientific uncertainty in assessments. In addition to these responsibilities, Moss is Chair of the Task Group on Climate Scenarios for Impact Analysis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and serves on the editorial board of Climatic Change.

Moss grew up near Chicago, Illinois, and attended Carleton College (B.A. 1977, English literature, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and Princeton University (Ph.D. 1987, Public and International Affairs, University Fellowship). After serving as a lecturer on the Princeton faculty for two years, Moss received an International Affairs Fellowship from the NY Council on Foreign Relations. He accepted an appointment as program officer at the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme in Stockholm, Sweden, where he learned about global biogeochemical cycles and helped prepare and publish a science plan for research on the role of land use and land cover change in biogeochemical cycling. During this period he also served as Deputy Executive Director of the International Human Dimensions Programme.

In 1993, Moss accepted an assignment with the IPCC as Director of the Technical Support Unit for the impacts, adaptation, and mitigation working group (Working Group II), a position he held until 1998. While at the IPCC, Moss served as co-editor of the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Second Assessment Report (Cambridge University Press, 1996), as editor or lead author of several special reports and technical papers, and as one of the organizers of the IPCC Third Assessment Report.

Moss was named a fellow of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program in 2001, served on the National Research Council Panel on Assessment of NASA's Post-2002 Earth Observing Missions in 1999, and was a member of the editorial board of Annual Review of Energy and the Environment from 1994-1999. He is married to Dina Keller Moss and has two children, Michael and Sara.