Nicholas McKay

About

Dr. Nicholas McKay is a Professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability at Northern Arizona University, where he has been a faculty member since 2013. His research combines paleoclimatology with data science to understand climate variability and change in the past.

Website

Dr. McKay’s website is here.

Research Interests

Paleoclimate Data Science

• Development of statistical methods for paleoclimate data analysis
• Integration of diverse proxy records into coherent climate reconstructions
• Uncertainty quantification in paleoclimate reconstructions

Climate Informatics

• Database design and management for paleoclimate records
• Data standardization and quality control protocols
• Web-based tools for paleoclimate data visualization and analysis

Holocene Climate Variability

• Regional and global patterns of temperature and hydroclimate change
• Climate responses to natural and anthropogenic forcing
• Comparison of paleoclimate data with climate model simulations

Education

• Ph.D. Geosciences, University of Arizona, 2012
• M.S. Geology, Northern Arizona University, 2007
• B.S. Environmental Science, Northern Arizona University, 2005
• B.S. Geology, Northern Arizona University, 2005

Technical Expertise

Software Development

• Creator, Linked Paleo Data (LiPD) format and tools
• Lead developer, GeoChronR package for geochronological analysis
• Developer, Multiple R packages for paleoclimate analysis

Awards and Recognition

• NSF CAREER Award (2018-2023)
• Outstanding Early Career Research Award, PAGES network (2017)
• Faculty Excellence Award, Northern Arizona University (2019)
• Best Paper Award, Climate of the Past (2016)

Open Science Leadership

Dr. McKay is a strong advocate for open science and reproducible research:

• Research code and data publicly available on GitHub
• Lead instructor for data science workshops in paleoclimatology
• Mentor for reproducible research practices
• Developer of open-source analysis tools used globally

Graduate Student Training

Dr. McKay has supervised graduate students who have developed expertise in:

• Quantitative paleoclimatology and statistics
• Scientific programming and data analysis
• Database management and informatics

Teaching and Outreach

Courses Taught

• ENV 115 - Introduction to climate change
• ENV 360 - Physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere and hydrosphere
• EES 580 - Climate Dynamics
• EES 680 - Earth & Environmental Data Analysis

Global Collaboration

Dr. McKay collaborates with researchers worldwide through:

• PAGES network working groups and steering committees
• International paleoclimate synthesis projects
• Data rescue and digitization initiatives

His work has helped established NAU as a leading center for paleoclimate informatics and has contributed essential infrastructure for global paleoclimate research.