
Max Holmes
Deputy Director and Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
R. Max Holmes is deputy director and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. An earth system scientist who studies rivers and watersheds and how climate change and other disturbances impact the cycles of water and chemicals in the environment, he is particularly interested in the vast quantities of ancient carbon locked in Arctic permafrost, which may exacerbate global warming when released as permafrost thaws. Holmes has ongoing projects in the Russian, Canadian, and Alaskan Arctic and in the Amazon and Congo tropics. He is a national fellow of the Explorers Club and is leaving on June 29 to lead a 20-plus person research expedition to the Alaskan Arctic.