Jonathan Gilligan

(they/them/theirs)

Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences

Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Director, Vanderbilt Climate and Society Grand Challenge Initiative

Contact Information

• jonathan.gilligan@vanderbilt.edu
• 615.322.2976 (department office)
• On campus: 5735 Stevenson Center (Building #5, 7th floor)
• U.S. Mail:

Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Vanderbilt University
2301 Vanderbilt PL, PMB 351805
Nashville, TN 37235-1805

Research Interests

I work primarily at the intersection of natural science, social science, and public policy with a focus on coupled human-natural systems and on the ways in which scientific knowledge and uncertainty affect policy decisions about the environment.

My current work makes extensive use of agent-based models to simulate the ways that small changes in behavior at the individual level can add up to large-scale shifts at the level of the whole population, giving what is often referred to as “emergent phenomena.” These models have the potential to help us identify vulnerabilities to environmental stress and opportunities to promote sustainable adaptations.

What’s New

• I received a 2023-24 Fulbright Scholar award and will spend the fall and winter of 2023-24 at the University of Calgary, where I will be Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Digital Technologies and Sustainability.
• I received a mentoring award from the Margaret Cunninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt in 2023, in recognition of my work mentoring women students and faculty in sciences and engineering.
• I was named the 2022-23 Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor by Vanderbilt.
• My book, Beyond Politics: The Private Governance Approach to Climate Change is out, from Cambridge University Press. Read the review in Science magazine.
• New research project on “Socioecological System Dynamics Related to Livelihood, Human Migration, and Landscape Evolution” with Kimberly Rogers, Amanda Carrico, Katharine Donato, and Carol Wilson funded by National Science Foundation and featured in news release on NSF Dynamics of Coupled Human-Natural Systems program.
• Vandenbergh and Gilligan win the Morrison Prize for the highest-impact paper on sustainability and the law. “Morrison Prize winners highlight importance of private action in battling climate change“

More Info …

My main web presence is at www.jonathangilligan.org