Dr. Laurence Kalkstein is president of Applied Climatologists, Inc.  His academic
career spans over many years and appointments at three universities: UCLA, the
University of Delaware, and the University of Miami. He received his undergraduate
degree from Rutgers University and his Masters and Ph.D. from Louisiana State
University.

His team works closely with international weather, environmental, and health
agencies on projects dealing with weather and public health issues.  Recent
collaborations involve detailed evaluations of how “cool cities solutions,” such as
reflective roofing products and additional urban tree canopy cover, can
alter heat wave meteorology and mitigate health problems during excessively hot
weather.  Much of this work is funded by the 3M Corporation, which manufactures a
number of products, such as highly reflective roof granules, that are used in urban
cool solutions planning. Another 3M collaboration involves quantifying the impact
of pollution-absorbing granules upon air quality, and how these can decrease the
number of government-mandated ozone exceedance days in urban areas.

Kalkstein serves as Chief Heat Science Advisor for Heat Resilience Action (HERA).

The goals of this collaboration are to decrease the stress on human populations during

excessive heat events, especially in large urban areas in developing countries. In this

ambitious endeavor, Applied Climatologists is taking the lead in developing and 

implementing heat watch warning systems, and operating websites have already been

established in a number of cities around the world. These include all the major cities in

Greece, in collaboration with the National Observatory of Athens, and also in Seville,

Spain, with cooperation from local government agencies. We are presently working with

HERA to develop such systems in Thailand, Kenya, and Sierra Leone.

 

Kalkstein and his research group were selected to take the climate lead in the

development of CalHeatScore, an ambitious project to rank heat waves throughout

the state of California. The project, mandated under California Assembly Bill 2238,

requires a localized set of warnings throughout the state to raise heat/health awareness

and give stakeholders time to plan ahead and save lives. Our team is collaborating with

health professionals and biostatisticians from UCLA, and the system began operation in

summer 2025. As part of this project, the Applied Climatologists team developed a new

technique to classify climates over large areas; a manuscript on this procedure has

recently been published in the International Journal of Biometeorology.

Kalkstein also serves as principal investigator and co-founder of the Los Angeles
Urban Cooling Collaborative (LAUCC), which consists of university, governmental, and
non-profit partners. LAUCC has developed a comprehensive neighborhood plan to
lessen urban heat island negative health impacts in that city. Because of this work,

"cool cities collaboratives" similar to LAUCC are beginning to develop in other parts of

the country, including states in the mid-Atlantic region.

Kalkstein and his colleagues have also developed the first cold advisory system for
cattle, or CANL (Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock). This system, now in
operation at a number of National Weather Service Offices in the Northern Plains,
advises ranchers when weather conditions are unsuitable for young livestock.

 
Kalkstein has also worked extensively with a large number of non-profit environmental
organizations to evaluate the impact of climate and climate change on human health. 
This includes funded collaborations with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the
Union of Concerned Scientists, and more recently, with the Cool Roof Rating Council,

to evaluate how differing roof surfaces can alter meteorology.

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He has served as lead author on IPCC Working Group II chapters relating to climate
change and human health; he received recognition for this work from the Nobel Peace
Prize Committee in 2007 with Al Gore and the other lead authors.  Kalkstein has
served as rapporteur and expert team member for several UN World Meteorological
Organization panels on extreme weather and human health, and was part of the team
to develop a comprehensive assessment of climate extremes and mortality which was
published in the journal Weather, Climate, and Society.

​Through a Fulbright Fellowship, Dr. Kalkstein was assigned as the American Team
Leader on a U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation contract (CRDF),
and has collaborated with the Russian Team Leader to develop a detailed climatology

of eastern Russia, along with the health impacts of this extreme climate. He has also

worked extensively with the Korea Meteorological Administration on climate/health

issues and air mass classifications for major cities in that country, and has worked

jointly with the World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization

on weather/health assessment projects in Italy, China, and Burkina Faso.​​

 

Dr. Kalkstein is past president of the International Society of Biometeorology, the
largest biometeorological organization in the world. The ISB deals with wide-ranging
research involving the impact of weather upon animals, plants, and human health and
well-being. Throughout his career, he has published about 200 peer-reviewed
manuscripts, monographs, and book chapters in leading climatological, geographical,
and medical journals and has been editor for two major climatological journals:
Climate Research and the International Journal of Biometeorology. Most important,
he has been collaborating with a number of his former graduate students and other
young colleagues who have provided invaluable support in meeting the varied
research demands of the Laboratory. Many of these individuals are now professors

at major institutions such as the University of Oklahoma, Kent State University,

University of Virginia, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Duke University,

and California State University, Los Angeles, and have developed national and

international relationships themselves. Others have undertaken successful careers

at government or private institutions such as Environment Canada, the National

Climatic Data Center, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the State Climatologist

for Louisiana, and the U.S. Geological Service. These collaborations are perhaps the

most satisfying success stories of Applied Climatologists!

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