Dean Overpeck is an interdisciplinary climate scientist and has led active climate research programs on five continents. His research is focused on understanding drought and megadrought dynamics (and risk) the world over. He has also served as the lead investigator of Climate Assessment for the Southwest and the SW Climate Science Center - two major programs focused on regional climate adaptation . He has appeared and testified before congress multiple times, is a Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published over 220 works on cllimate and the environmental sciences.