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Inspired by San Domenico’s Setting…
Will Cornwell ’91 Conducts Global Research on Climate Change

Will Cornwell remembers planting daffodils on the hillside as a 3rd grader, playing tennis with his little brother on the San Domenico tennis courts, and studying the geology of glaciers in Yosemite as a 7th grader. Even though all through Middle School Will wanted to be the third baseman for the Oakland Athletics, these experiences helped shape his career path. “I could say looking back that, though I didn’t know it at the time, I was always interested in the natural sciences,” he said. “The natural setting of San Domenico was certainly inspiration.”

From Middle School to a PhD

After graduating from San Domenico’s Middle School, Will attended SF University High School. He graduated from Cornell University with a BS, and then enrolled for the 2000-01 year at Cambridge University for a Master of Philosophy. He is currently completing a PhD at Stanford, planning to defend his thesis in September.

“Humans are now adding CO2 to the atmosphere and changing the climate in ways that are very difficult to predict,” Will explained. “Our best understanding now is that the globe will warm and some places will get wetter and others drier. I am working to help build models of what the world will look like after climate change has progressed.”

 

Building Supercomputer Models of Climate Change

Will’s research specifically focuses on how ecosystems will respond to shifting precipitation. In Hawaii he worked on the Big Island on both the Hilo (wet) and Kona (dry) sides of the island. For his dissertation he took measurements and set up experiments in both Hawaii and Australia to measure rates of carbon flowing between the atmosphere and terrestrial systems. Will believes “these measurements will be used to help build the supercomputer models that help us predict, with the most accuracy that we can, what will happen in the next hundred years.” Will’s research is summarized on his website: http://www.stanford.edu/~wkc/ and he recommends the following accurate websites for more information on climate change: http://www.ipcc.ch/ and http://go.ucsusa.org/

                 

 

The lasting influence of San Domenico

How else has a San Domenico education influenced Will? His career choice and his volunteer activities exemplify a commitment to the community through service to others. After college, Will worked for Northwest Youth Corps, an organization that facilitates outdoor work experience for at-risk youth. An avid bicyclist, he recently put together the website for the San Francisco Bicycle coalition on biking and the environment.   Will also enjoys backpacking, mountaineering, and writing. His travels include mountaineering in the place he discovered with his 7th grade class, Yosemite. Another highlight was exploring New Zealand’s Fjordland National Park on the southern tip of the South Island.

 

Will explores New Zealand’s Fjordlands