Kapnick Named NOAA Chief Scientist

Sarah Kapnick, Ph.D., was named as NOAA’s chief scientist today. Kapnick will serve as the senior scientist for the agency, advancing policy and program direction for NOAA’s science and technology priorities. She is the third woman in NOAA’s history to be appointed to this role.

An executive with 18 years of experience at the intersection of climate science and economics, Kapnick was most recently a managing director at J.P. Morgan in the role of senior climate scientist and sustainability strategist for asset and wealth management.

Before joining J.P. Morgan in 2021, Kapnick was a deputy division leader for seasonal to decadal variability and predictability at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New Jersey. From 2011-2021, her work at GFDL included research on seasonal climate prediction, mountain snowpack, extreme storms, water security and climate impacts, including landslides and the market impacts of climate change.

Kapnick has served as a climate science expert for NOAA’s Small Business Innovation Research Program, NOAA’s Eastern Region Climate Team and the development of the Climate.gov website. She also led NOAA’s participation in NASA’s High Mountain Asia Team, a collaborative research project to study cryospheric change and associated hazards. She began her career working as an investment banking analyst with Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Kapnick is a member of the American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She received a Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences with a Certificate in Leaders in Sustainability from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an A.B. in Mathematics with a Certificate in Finance from Princeton University.