Glen MacDonald

Glen MacDonald. He is a Canadian-American geographer and environmental scientist renowned for his interdisciplinary research on Quaternary climate and environmental change. His work integrates paleoecology, dendrochronology, and historical records to understand past drought, vegetation dynamics, and human-environment interactions. MacDonald holds the distinguished John Muir Memorial Chair in Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles and is a director of the White Mountain Research Center.

Early life and education

MacDonald completed his undergraduate education in Geography at the University of Toronto, laying a foundation in Earth science. He then pursued graduate studies in the United States, earning a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder. His doctoral research, conducted under influential figures in Quaternary science, focused on palynology and the post-glacial history of North American forests. This period solidified his expertise in using natural archives like lake sediments and tree rings to reconstruct past environments.

Academic career

Following his Ph.D., MacDonald held a faculty position at McMaster University in Canada before joining the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. At UCLA, he has served as Chair of the Department of Geography and Dean of the College of Letters and Science. He is a core faculty member of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and has been instrumental in developing interdisciplinary environmental science programs. His leadership at the White Mountain Research Center facilitates high-altitude studies on climate change impacts in the Sierra Nevada.

Research and contributions

MacDonald's research has profoundly advanced understanding of Holocene climate variability and its ecological consequences. A major contribution is his detailed reconstruction of megadroughts in western North America, using networks of dendrochronological records and comparisons with General Circulation Model simulations. He has extensively studied the response of boreal forest and tundra ecosystems to past warming events, providing critical context for modern Arctic change. His work on the history of California integrates archaeological evidence with paleoenvironmental data to examine the long-term relationships between Indigenous populations and shifting climates. He has also investigated the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period in various global regions.

Awards and honors

In recognition of his scholarly impact, MacDonald was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Guggenheim Foundation. His research has been supported by major grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. He has received the Distinguished Scholarship Honor from the American Association of Geographers and the California Water Policy Conference Leadership Award for his work on drought.

Selected publications

* MacDonald, G.M. (2003). *Biogeography: Introduction to Space, Time and Life*. John Wiley & Sons. * MacDonald, G.M., et al. (2008). "Impacts of Climate Change on California." *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. * MacDonald, G.M. (2010). "Water, Climate Change, and Sustainability in the Southwest." *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. * MacDonald, G.M., et al. (2016). "Prolonged California Aridity Linked to Climate Warming." *Nature Geoscience*. * MacDonald, G.M. (2021). "Holocene Climate Change and Human History." *Quaternary Science Reviews*.

Category:American geographers Category:Canadian geographers Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Guggenheim Fellows