I am a climate risk professional that specializes in using data and analytics to support climate change and natural hazard-relevant decision-making. I am the founding principal of Degree Day, an independent climate risk research provider and consulting firm.

I have studied climate change and natural hazards and resilience strategies (to mitigate their impacts) since 2010, publishing over a dozen peer-reviewed articles, reports, and books on probabilistic climate risk assessment, climate adaptation decision-making, and assessments of relevant public policies. I also regularly peer review climate risk research.

A central aspect of my work is applying academic research and statistical methods to help solve “real world” problems that clients are faced with. I also seek to scale up applications of this knowledge using user-friendly digital tools to incorporate natural hazard and climate risks into risk management, financial disclosure, and resilient infrastructure planning. My hope is that these efforts will better price risks, encourage investment in resilience, limit business and governance disruptions, maintain positive reputations, and improve overall human well-being.

I am a contributing author of American Climate Prospectus: Economic Risks in the United States. I previously was a research fellow at the Center for Policy on Energy and the Environment (CPREE) at Princeton University and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL).

I completed my PhD in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) Program at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. I received an MS in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California-Davis and a BS in atmospheric and oceanic science from UW-Madison.

In the media

• “Storm surge and making friends: 9am hour.” WWL First News with Tommy Tucker. 10 June 2025.
• “Storm surge frequency is rising, but Big Bend still a black box.” NPR/WUFT. 9 June 2025.
• “Is storm surge worsening along Louisiana’s coast? Research shows reasons for concern.” The Times-Picayune. 6 June 2025.
• “Explainer: What role does sea-level rise have in facility design elevations?” Civil Engineering Magazine. 7 March 2024.
• “Rising Seas Are the Next Crisis for the World’s Ports” The Washington Post. 18 July 2022.
• “Adaptive City Planning Tackles the Uncertainty of Sea Level Rise” Civil + Structural Engineer. 1 April 2022.
• “Extreme Sea Levels to Become Far More Common Worldwide as Earth Warms” SciTechDaily. 7 September 2021.
• “Coastal Megaprojects Past and Present Show Mitigation Challenges of Climate Crisis” ecoRI news. 9 August 2021.
• “Hurricane Sandy survivors try to hold onto their homes nearly 10 years later” The Hill. 23 June 2021.
• “Gowanus Rezoning Critics Highlight Impact of Climate on Future Flooding, As Public Review Moves Forward” City Limits. 13 May 2021.
• “New flood damage framework helps planners prepare for sea-level rise” Phys.org. 11 March 2020.
• “Global Warming : A phenomena with global Implication” Devdiscourse. 17 March 2018.
• “Showing Paris Not Enough, Studies Find 2°C Target Won’t Stop ‘Destructive and Deadly’ Impacts of Global Warming” Common Dreams. 2 April 2018.
• “Accelerating the shift from fossil fuels could save 150 million lives” MIT Technology Review. 19 March 2018.
• “Geosciences: Feeling the Heat” Princeton Alumni Weekly. 8 November 2017.

If you’d like to get in touch about media interviews or event speakership opportunities, please contact dj.rasmussen@degreeday.org