Dr. Robert Gillies
2025 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award Nominee
College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences | Plants, Soils, and Climate

"Dr. Robert R. Gillies is the Director of the Utah Climate Center at Utah State University (USU) and State
Climatologist for the State of Utah. He is a full professor in meteorology in the Department of Plants,
Soils and Climate (PSC), College of Agricultural Sciences at USU. Prior to the position of Director, he held
a joint position in PSC and the Department of Watershed Sciences in the College of Natural Resources at
USU. Dr. Gillies came to USU from The Pennsylvania State University. After completing his PhD in
meteorology and remote sensing, Dr. Gillies continued his research as a research associate in the
Department of Meteorology and the Earth System Science Center at Penn State. Dr. Gillies was a
member of Gov. Jon Huntsman’s scientific panel that compiled a report on climate change as it pertains
to Utah for the Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his
work in remote sensing in the earlier part of his career at USU, and more recently in climate science and
climate diagnostics by focusing on the inter-mountain west but also by encompassing international
collaboration to research climate and climate change in Asia."