UC ANR climate scientist to receive Schmidt Award, Schneider Award
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine announced that Daniel Swain is one of this year’s recipients of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communicationsgiven by the National Academies in partnership with Schmidt Sciences. These prestigious awards recognize science journalists, research scientists and science communicators who have developed creative, original work to communicate issues and advances in science, engineering and medicine to the general public.
Swain, a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist, has been named as a Schmidt Award winner in the category of “Research Scientist: Early Career.” The Schmidt Award winners will be honored Nov. 17-20 in Washington, D.C.
Swain also will be receiving Climate One’s 2026 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication on Dec. 8 in San Francisco. Established in honor of Stephen H. Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology, Climate One’s Schneider Award recognizes a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear, compelling fashion.
“Weather is how most people experience the impacts of climate change, and the way Daniel presents the science and builds community around extreme weather science is truly inspiring,” said Jenny Park, executive director of Climate One. “He works tirelessly to make the complex meaningful, relevant and accessible.”
Past winners of the Schneider Award include Katharine Hayhoe, a leading atmospheric scientist, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and professor at Texas Tech University; and Michael E. Mann, an acclaimed climatologist and geophysicist, author, professor and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at University of Pennsylvania.
“I am truly honored to receive the award and to join such an incredible group of past recipients,” Swain said. “It means particularly much in the present moment, given everything happening in the climate and weather world and otherwise.”
Swain, who joined UC ANR’s California Institute for Water Resources in 2024, has gained a significant following for his real-time perspectives on California weather and climate on social media and other platforms. His popular Weather West YouTube channelfor example, has more than 24,700 subscribers. Swain gives more than 200 interviews a year and in September 2026 alone he was quoted in nearly 800 media stories.
“Receiving the Schmidt Award is more than just an honor – it also serves as a form of validation to those individuals and institutions who have supported me over the years, and also as a tangible signal to potential future supporters that this kind of public-facing and mass audience-focused work is needed and valued in society,” Swain said.
Recipients of Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications were chosen by a selection committee from more than 750 entries for works published or aired in 2025. A total of 24 awards, split among eight categories, were announced – nine awards for science communication by research scientists, nine awards for science journalists and six awards for science communicators.
“This year’s winners are remarkable for the breadth of perspectives, creativity and approaches they bring to science communication,” said selection committee chair Megan L. Ranney, a member of the National Academy of Medicine and dean of the Yale School of Public Health. “Whether illuminating urgent public health challenges or the wonders of the universe, the awardees demonstrate exceptional skills in making scientific discovery tangible, entertaining and useful.”
Swain has cultivated a trusted public voice by bringing deep expertise in weather, climate and wildfire science directly to audiences when they need it most. During fast-moving disasters, his real-time communication helps people understand changing conditions, put extreme events in scientific context and make sense of questions affecting their safety. Through livestreams, social media and long-form writing, Swain demonstrates how an expert scientist can provide an invaluable public service by communicating clearly in moments of uncertainty.
During the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles in January 2025, Swain gave updates via YouTube throughout each day, explaining how the winds and topography were influencing the fires’ movement.
“As AI creates more and more of the content we see in the world, true communication between people – communication designed to inspire and inform, to demystify the new and confounding, including AI itself – is more essential than ever,” said Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences. “This year’s science communication award winners exemplify the power of connecting person to person, of sharing knowledge and wonder, to illuminate the world around us and within us.”
Swain continues to provide his science-based insights to the public on current weather events via his Weather West YouTube channel, Weather West blog, Bluesky and other social media platforms.
His seminal research on “hydroclimate whiplash” – rapid swings between extremely wet and dangerously dry weather – explains changes already being seen globally due to climate change, with further intensification expected as warming continues.
Climate One will present Swain with the Schneider Award at 6 p.m. on Dec. 8 in San Francisco. The in-person event will include a conversation with Swain and Climate One co-host Kousha Navidar at 110 The Embarcadero in San Francisco. Tickets and details are at climateone.org/attend. A livestream will be available.
Source: ucanr.edu
