in a monolithic message" but risks "ossification and eventual irrelevance" of the IPCC as an institution. According to him, the "problem of creating, defending, and communicating consensus, as well as departures from the consensus" had been discussed but not addressed until after the AR4. Oppenheimer notes important changes within the IPCC, including a stronger focus on uncertainty and risk management after publication of the InterAcademy Panel IAC 2010 IPCC review. Together with Jessica O'Reilly and Naomi Oreskes, Oppenheimer discussed the way the risk of collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was assessed in IPCC reports in a Social Studies of Science paper in 2012. The authors cited the changes of IPCC chairpersons, authors teams, and chapter organization as reasons for an incomplete assessment of the ice sheet and resulting confusion among stakeholders. Oppenheimer and coauthors pursued the theme of treatment of uncertainty in assessments in subsequent papers, particularly Climate change prediction: erring on the side of least drama? (2013) and in the 2019 book, Discerning Experts: The Practice of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy. The latter reports the results of the first phase of an ongoing ethnographic study of many assessments that includes, in its subsequent phases, direct observation of parts of IPCC author meetings and consensus panels of the US National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences. Recent awards and honors 2000: League of Conservation Voters, Environmental Leadership Award 2001: Environmental Action Coalition Green Star Award 2005–2006: Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar 2007: New Species Award, African Rainforest Conservancy 2009-2010: Russell Sage Foundation Associate Scholar 2010–2013: National Science Foundation Grant: Assessing Assessments 2010: Named as a AAAS Fellow 2010: Recipient, 2010 Heinz Award in the Environment 2014 Linacre Lecturer, Oxford University 2015: Agassiz Visiting Lecturer, Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University Selected publications Overview of publications at Google Scholar References External links Oral history interview with Michael Oppenheimer on 8 January 2021, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives Michael Oppenheimer on 60 Minutes Venice is Drowning 2020 Princeton biography Michael Oppenheimer discusses the psychology of global warming with ABC News Climate Central biography page 20th-century American Jews American earth scientists Environmental scientists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Chicago alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Harvard University staff Princeton University faculty Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors Living people 1946 births Ecology journal editors 21st-century