Joseph H Kennedy

Bio

Joe Kennedy is a Computational Scientist in Glaciology for the Climate Change Science Institute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, located in Oak Ridge, TN. After attending Western Washington University for undergraduate work (BS in Physics) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks for graduate work, Joe received Ph.D. in Physics while studying the link between ice crystalline fabric evolution in ice sheets and climate history. His thesis was entitled "Linking climate history and ice crystalline fabric evolution in polar ice sheets."

Currently, Joe's focus has been on the development of LIVVkit, a Land Ice Validation and Verification toolkit, designed to test output from ice sheet models, which are a component of large Earth System Models (ESMs), or "Climate Models." The ability to verify (Did we build it correctly?) and validate (Can we use it confidently?) ice-sheet models is essential for robust predictions of future climates. LIVVkit has three main design objectives: building ice-sheet model user and developer confidence, facilitating model understanding through inquiry, and enhancing the credibility of ice-sheet models throughout the scientific community. 

Recently, Joe has been extending his verification and validation work outside of the glaciology community and has become involved in projects to provide enhanced testing of DOE's atmosphere model and to provide performance evaluations of NOAA/GFDL's climate model.

Publications