Abigail Swann is a Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science and the Department of Biology at the University of Washington and is the Endowed Professor for the College of the Environment in Climate & Ecosystems.

Her research is defining a new framework for studying the role of plants in Earth’s climate. While some scientists study climate and others study the biosphere, she studies the two as a coupled system, drawing from the best research in both areas to explore critical ecosystem-climate interactions that have profound near- and long-term implications for life and the well-being of the planet. She has the expertise to evaluate both the physical climate system and the underlying biological processes that govern ecosystems and characterize their response to environmental variability and change. Her central hypothesis is that changes in the biosphere modify the course of climate change, and that the dynamic interaction of the two systems reveals emergent behavior not anticipated in each separately.