Professional Biosketch

Biography

Yoshi Chikamoto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate at Utah State University. His research focuses on climate dynamics and Earth system predictability, with a particular interest in seasonal-to-decadal variability in drought, hydroclimate, and atmosphere-ocean interactions.

Yoshi has extensive experience in coupled Earth system modeling, climate forecasting, and drought risk assessments, contributing to national and international climate science initiatives. His work bridges the gap between physical climate science and real-world applications, such as water resource management and ecosystem resilience.

He is a recipient of the Syono Award from the Meteorological Society of Japan and has served as a contributing author to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

Education

• Ph.D. in Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Hokkaido University, Japan (2005)
• M.Sc. in Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Hokkaido University, Japan (2002)
• B.Sc. in Applied Physics, Tokyo University of Science, Japan (2000)

Appointments

• Associate Professor, Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State University (2023–present)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State University (2017–2023)
• Visiting Assistant Professor, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan (2023)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2012–2016)
• Project Researcher, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo (2007–2012)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University (2005–2007)

Research Interests

• Climate Dynamics and Predictability
• Seasonal to Decadal Climate Forecasting
• Earth System Modeling and Prediction
• Hydroclimate Variability and Drought Risk Assessment

Featured Publications

• Chikamoto, Y., Wang, S.-Y., Chang, H., Castro, C. L. (2024). Tropical inter-basin interaction as predictors of late-spring precipitation variability. Journal of Climate. [DOI]
• Chikamoto, Y., Wang, S.-Y. S., Yost, M., Yocom, L., Gillies, R. R. (2020). Colorado River water supply is predictable on multi-year timescales owing to long-term ocean memory. Communications Earth & Environment. [DOI]
• Chikamoto, Y., Timmermann, A., Widlansky, M. J., Balmaseda, M. A., Stott, L. (2017). Multi-year predictability of climate, drought, and wildfire in Southwestern North America. Scientific Reports. [DOI]
• Chikamoto, Y., Timmermann, A., Widlansky, M. J., Balmaseda, M. A. (2015). Skilful multi-year predictions of tropical trans-basin climate variability. Nature Communications. [DOI]
• Cai, W., McPhaden, M. J., Grimm, A. M., Rodrigues, R. R., Taschetto, A. S., Chikamoto, Y., et al. (2019). Pantropical climate interactions. Science. [DOI]
• Timmermann, A., Stocker, T. F., Jin, F.-F., Chikamoto, Y., et al. (2018). El Niño–Southern Oscillation complexity. Nature, 559, 535–545. [DOI]

For the complete list of publications, please visit the Publications page.

Professional Service and Outreach

• Contributing Author, IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Chapter 11
• Session Convener and Co-Convener for AGU, EGU, JpGU, and AOGS (2014–2024)
• Panel Reviewer for NSF, NASA, DOE, and international agencies
• Research Mentor for Ph.D. and M.Sc. students at Utah State University
• Public science communicator featured in Science, New Scientist, KSL News, Utah Public Radio, Deseret News, and others

Selected Honors and Awards

• Syono Award, Meteorological Society of Japan (2018)
• Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Award (2013)

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

For a complete record of research, teaching, mentoring, grants, and service, please download:

Download Full CV (PDF)