Leadership

• COO and Director of the Program on Sea Level Rise
• Email: bstrauss@climatecentral.org

Dr. Ben Strauss serves as Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Program on Sea Level Rise at Climate Central. In the latter capacity, he has published multiple scientific papers, testified before the U.S. Senate, authored the Surging Seas report, and led development of the SurgingSeas.org coastal flood risk tool, leading to front-page coverage in the New York Times and Washington Post, appearances on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and NPR national programming, and extensive coverage nationwide, from AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, USA Today and the LA Times, to many hundreds of local news outlets, to numerous editorials and op eds.

In earlier roles at Climate Central, Dr. Strauss served as interim Executive Director for one year, Associate Director and staff scientist. A founding board member of Grist.org, he previously helped launch the Environmental Leadership Program. Prior to that, Dr. Strauss worked for Abt Associates, co-organized the Campus Earth Summit, and authored a report on college environmental education and practices for the Nathan Cummings Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, an M.S. in Zoology from the University of Washington, and a B.A. in Biology from Yale University.

Selected Publications

Strauss B H, Ziemlinski R, Weiss J L, and Overpeck J T 2012. Tidally adjusted estimates of topographic vulnerability to sea level rise and flooding for the contiguous United States. Environmental Research Letters.

Tebaldi C, Strauss B H and Zervas C E 2012. Modelling sea level rise impacts on storm surges along US coasts. Environmental Research Letters.

Weiss, J.L., J.T. Overpeck, and B. Strauss. 2011. Implications of recent sea level rise science for low-elevation areas in coastal cities of the conterminous U.S.A. Climatic Change 105: 635-645.