In memory of Robert Corell

It is with profound sadness that the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) has learned of the death of Dr. Robert W. Correll who passed away on 16 January 2025. Dr. Corell was an oceanographer and engineer by background and training who had a pivotal role in the signing of the Montevideo Agreement establishing the IAI as an intergovernmental organization.  

Under Dr. Correll’s tenure as Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation, the United States supported the IAI’s science and capacity building programs together with other IAI Parties, which led the IAI to develop the first global environmental change research networks in the Americas.  He held other important roles, such as Chair of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, chair of the President's National Science and Technology Council's Committee overseeing the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and Director of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation. 

His research focused on global and regional climate change, environmental issues, and sustainable development, emphasizing the science-policy interface, based on which he contributed to the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), from 1997 to 2014. 

He was awarded the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit in 1996 and had a mountain region in the Antarctic named the "Corell Cirque" in his honor in 2003. 

Born on November 4, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, Dr. Correll received Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees at Case Western Reserve University and MIT.  

Dr. Correll contributed greatly to science, policy, and diplomacy worldwide. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues, collaborators, and the global change community in his home country and worldwide.