Professor and Research Chair, The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and Departments of Geography & Political Science The University of Western Ontario
Dr. Gordon McBean received his B.Sc. in Physics and Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of British Columbia (UBC), and also holds a M.Sc. in Meteorology from McGill University. He was a scientist at Environment Canada from 1970 to 1988 when appointed Professor and Chair of the Atmospheric Science Program at UBC. In 1992, he was appointed Head of the Department of Oceanography. From 1994 to 2000, he was Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Meteorological Service of Environment Canada.
Dr. McBean's research interests are in atmospheric and climate sciences, ranging in scope from the natural sciences to the policies of governments and peoples’ responses to them. He is currently undertaking research on evaluating the performance of weather and environmental prediction systems, the changing climate and weather systems in the Arctic, and investigating the role of changing government policies on the ability of national laboratories and organizations to support Canadian activities. An area of interest is the changing occurrence of extreme weather events with climate change, their influence on public systems, and strategies for adaptation.
In addition to his activities at UWO, Dr. McBean is active nationally and internationally. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences and member of the US National Academy of Sciences Committee on partnerships in weather and climate services, and the International Council for Science Advisory Committee on the Environment. He is also lead author for the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment's chapter on the climate system.
He has received the Patterson Medal for distinguish contributions to meteorology by a Canadian and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, and the American Meteorological Society.
The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
Toronto Office 20 Richmond Street East, Suite 210, Toronto, Ontario M5C 2R9 Tel: (416) 364-8677 Fax: (416) 364-5889
London Office Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory Western University 1151 Richmond Street, London, Canada N6A 5B9 Tel: (519) 661-3234 Fax: (519) 661-4273
