The myriad effects of climate change on water supplies - ranging from drought to rising sea levels - are imposing an expanding new set of burdens on water professionals worldwide. To help us all better understand these challenges and how to confront them, WaterSmart Innovations is pleased to welcome Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, coordinating lead author for the United Nations' Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment, as the keynote luncheon speaker on Thursday, October 9.

Dr. Overpeck is the director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he also is a professor of Geosciences and a professor of Atmospheric Sciences. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College and a Master of Science and a doctorate from Brown University. He has published more than 120 papers on climate and the environmental sciences.

In addition to his work with the IPCC's "Climate Change 2007" report, Dr. Overpeck also has earned the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze and Gold Medals and the Walter Orr Roberts award of the American Meteorological Society for his interdisciplinary research. He is a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and was the 2005 American Geophysical Union Bjerknes Lecturer. He serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science Magazine.