Patrick Gonzalez, Ph.D. is a forest ecologist, Assistant Director for Climate and Biodiversity, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Associate Adjunct Professor, University of California, Berkeley. He advances science-based action on human-caused climate change through research on climate change, ecosystems, deforestation, wildfire, and carbon solutions and assistance to local people and policymakers. Dr. Gonzalez has conducted field research in Africa, Latin America, and the U.S., published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and other journals, and assisted field managers and local people in 25 countries and 269 U.S. national parks.

His research has revealed previously unreported carbon losses across California forests due to wildfire, heating due to climate change in U.S. national parks at double the national rate, and tree mortality across the African Sahel due to climate change. These scientific results prompted new actions and policies of forest carbon protection in California, climate change-focused conservation in U.S. national parks, and natural regeneration of native trees in Africa. He has stood publicly for scientific integrity and broadened public understanding of climate change in 127 published articles on his research in the New York Times and other media. Dr. Gonzalez has served as a lead author for four reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the science panel awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.