Lead Scholar Announcement Press Release >
Lead Scholar Walter E. Baethgen
The Distinguished Lead Scholar will provide the overall leadership and facilitation of the Fulbright NEXUS Program.
 Walter E. Baethgen is the Director of the Program for Latin America and the Caribbean in the
International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI - The Earth Institute, Columbia
University). In the IRI he has been establishing regional research programs that aim to improve
climate risk assessment and risk management in agriculture, health, water resources, and natural
ecosystems. Before joining the IRI Baethgen was a Senior Scientist in the Research and
Development Division of IFDC (International Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development
Center) where he worked mainly in Information and Decision Support Systems for the
Agricultural Sector (1987-2003). Since 1990 (first with IFDC and now with the IRI) he has been
establishing and coordinating regional research programs in Latin America in collaboration with
National and International organizations.
Dr Baethgen has acted as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the
United Nations (UNDP, UNIDO, FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the
World Bank and the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Science (IICA). He participated as
Principal Investigator in several NOAA and NASA International research programs. He also
acted as consultant for the governments of Brazil, Paraguay, Guatemala and Uruguay, and for the
private sector in Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela. He was a lead author for IPCC’s Second
(1995) and Third (2001) Assessments Reports and contributing author for the Fourth Assessment
(2007), as well as the review editor for IPCC’s special issue on Technology Transfer (2000).
He serves or has served as a member of scientific advisory committees of several International
organizations including the CGIAR’s Science Council, IAI (Inter-American Institute for Global
Change Research), CIIFEN (Centro Internacional para la Investigación del Fenómeno de El
Niño), IGBP and WMO. He was also reviewer of several International research programs
(NOAA, NASA, NSF, IAI, German government, Norwegian government). Baethgen is an
Editorial Board Member of the peer-reviewed journals Agricultural Systems (Elsevier Science)
and Journal of the International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO).
He acted as a member of the advisory committees of the International Research Institute for
Climate Prediction (IRI) and of CLIMAG (Research Program for Climate Forecasts Applications
in Agriculture, World Meteorological Organization). He was also a member of an Expert Team
of Open Program Area Group (OPAG, WMO): “Developing Guidance on Climate Watches”.
Baethgen obtained his PhD and M.Sc. degrees in Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and his B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering
from he University of Uruguay. He has over 100 publications to his credit. Walter E. Baethgen CV >
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