Justin Lancaster

OSS Science: Justin has a deep understanding of physics combined with an ability to integrate and generate new ideas. This combination enables foundational exploration of not only what science can describe now, but also where science can take us in the future to protect and enhance development. Justin holds a particular place in science history as an oceanographer that took the fight against disinformation in science to the highest levels. His integrity and courage have left an indelible and profound mark in the history of climate science and communication.

OSS Science Team Member

Justin Lancaster
Justin Lancaster is a marine chemist who received his Ph.D. under Charles Keeling and Roger Revelle at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UCSD, where he worked during the 1980s with the CO2 research group.  Previously, in the 1970s, he was an environmental lawyer and a professional athlete.

In the mid 1980s, Justin served with the staff of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where he helped assemble the first Senate hearing on anthropogenic global warming (AGW), and the next year he pursued research in atmospheric chemistry at NCAR with Ralph Cicerone.

In 1988, Justin founded the Environmental Science and Policy Institute (ESPI).  At the Second World Climate Conference in Geneva Justin helped draft the Synthesis Report and ESPI presented research conducted jointly with the CA Space Institute that showed how ENSO events and atmospheric CO2 anomaly patterns were correlated for the decade of the 1980s.  In 1989, he published a theoretical Restatement of Evolutionary Thermodynamics that focused on a fundamental, radial growth principle in energetic systems at all scales that must be understood before anthropogenic global warming can be addressed successfully.

Serving as a postdoc at Harvard in the early 1990s, Justin coordinated five research teams to build one of the first Integrated Assessments of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (HDGEC).  In this same period, he challenged the tactics of S. Fred Singer, a noted climate change contrarian, which drew a SLAPP suit that suppressed Justin’s policy activities and became later fodder for the “Merchants of Doubt” book by Naomi Oreskes and the documentary movie, as well as a play written by Tom Rowan titled “The Article in Question.”

Later in the 1990s, Justin advanced a methodology merging citizen science with computer modeling of dynamic environmental systems to accelerate scientific research. This Integrated Monitoring, Modeling and Management (IM3) methodology was tested at the watershed scale in Massachusetts, leading to the rapid cleanup of the Charles River.  Justin founded the startup Geosoftware Inc. in 1995, where he co-invented and patented on-the-fly, real-world 3-d visualization and dynamic simulation technology, a forerunner for Google Earth.

In the past two decades, Justin has participated in senior management roles in six bioinformatics startups, including business development, sales and marketing.  He presented papers at international HDGEC conventions proposing a new methodology to accelerate environmental and biomedical research.  These FastScience! ™ methods are now being developed in another startup, kwiKBio Inc., combining Justin’s earlier IM3 methodology and on-the-fly, dynamic simulation with recent Web 3.0 and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) technologies.  The FastScience! technology has earned four US patents between 2012 and 2022.

Justin is a member of the Prometheus and Triple Nine Societies and a lifetime member of the Oceanography Society.  He is among the top 250 persons listed in the World Genius Directory (psiq.org).  In 2019, Justin became an initiate of the Modern Mystery School of North America that focuses on Hermetic traditions and esoteric healing practices.  He has subsequently founded the Vermont Medical College to apply FastScience! research that bridges esoteric medical knowledge, advanced chem-physics and modern medical science.

EDUCATION

BA, American Studies, Lyndon State College (English, history, anthropology, law).

J.D., Vermont Law School, (licensed to practice in VT, CA, CO and MA).

M.S. Oceanography/Marine Chemistry, SIO/UCSD; thesis (1985) on ocean air sampling in the Pacific compared with land stations in various weather patterns, and sample stability in the 2-liter flasks during storage prior to analysis, improving the error bars for the historical record back to the early 1960s.  Committee: Charles David Keeling, supervisor, Walter Munk, Gustaf Arrhenius and Roger Revelle.

Ph.D. Oceanography/Marine Chemistry, SIO/UCSD; thesis (1990) on C13/C12 fractionation in land biosphere CO2 signal, measured at 10 sites in northern hemisphere, helping in reverse-engineering the source-sink function in the global computer modeling of atmospheric CO2. Committee: Charles David Keeling, supervisor, Walter Munk, Gustaf Arrhenius, Roger Revelle and Martin Chrispeels.

Postdoc, CA Space Institute; Sally Ride, supervisor; satellite remote sensing, time series data on ENSO and vegetation in Africa. Presented at 2nd World Climate Conference, Geneva.

Postdoc, Harvard School Public Health and Harvard Environmental Systems Group, coordinating research of 5 teams on Integrated Assessment of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (HDGEC).

Intern with UNESCO division of Marine Science and the IOC, Paris, France.

Private pilot (single engine) and hangliding.  Sailboat captain, 8 months aboard in Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Bicycled across the US in 35 days.

AWARDS

1985: SeaGrant Fellowship Award

1999: US White House Award for Sustainability Research.

Emmy Award for field production: 1992 documentary about Roger Revelle.

Work

Founded the Environmental Science and Policy Institute in 1987, and developed a methodology for FastScience!(TM) in the early 1990s that helped citizens to clean up the Charles River in Boston and which is now being applied to biomedical research.

Invented forerunner of Google Earth (US patent), invented an early-reading teaching tool, and in 2019 received US patent 10,311,442 b1 for an automated learning method to research dynamic systems, now being developed for the to accelerate biomedical research.

Memberships

  • Member, Prometheus Society
  • Member, Triple Nine Society.

Publications

Lancaster, J., 2009.  AIM3: Automating Research on Governance of Global Energy Resources.  Conference proceedings: Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of  Global Environmental Change: “Earth System Governance: People, Places and the Planet       Theoretical and Methodological Foundations, Panel 5: Modeling and Measurement”.  December 2-4, 2009. Volendam, The Netherlands. https://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/ac2009/papers/AC2009-0403.pdf   [CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTION]
 
Lancaster, J., 2007.  Integrated Monitoring, Modeling and Management (IM3) Methodology Applied to Governance of Global Energy Resources and Global Energy Use.  Conference proceedings: Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of  Global Environmental Change: “Earth System Governance: Theories and Strategies for Sustainability”
May 2007. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. https://www.2007amsterdamconference.org/Downloads/AC2007_Lancaster.pdf  [CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTION]
 
Lancaster, J., S. A. Socolofsky, E. Wohlers and K. Bowditch. 1995.  The Integrated Monitoring, Modeling and Management Project: Progress Report, September 1995. Environmental Science and Policy Institute, Lexington, MA. [RESEARCH REPORT]
 
Lancaster, J. 1994.  Integrated Assessment and Interdisciplinary Research.  Proceedings of the 22nd Hanford Symposium on Health and the Environment, October 1993. Battelle/PNL. [CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTION]
 
Lancaster, J., A. Shlyakhter and R. Wilson (eds.). 1993.  Risk Analysis and Integrated Assessment: A 5-team collaboration to develop methodology and tools.  Report of 1991-1993 DoE/NIGEC Research. Nat’l Institute for Global Env’l Change. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. [RESEARCH REPORT]
 
Lancaster, J. 1992.  Toward Assessing Impacts of Global Environmental Change in the Coastal Zone. In: Proceedings of the San Paolo di Torino Conference on Oceans, Climate and Man, April, 1991, Instituto San Paolo di Torino, Turin. [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
 
Lancaster, J. 1992.  The Developing Law of the Atmosphere: The 1992 Rio de Janeiro Convention. In: A Global Warming Forum: Science, Law and Policy, (R. Geyer, Ed.), CRC Press, Atlanta  [RESEARCH ARTICLE and BOOK CHAPTER]
 
Lancaster, J. 1992.  Uncertainty, Surprise and Managing Risk of Climate Change; Environmental Science and Policy Institute, Lexington, MA  [RESEARCH REPORT]
 
Lancaster, J. 1992.  Uncertainty About the Uptake of Excess Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Value to Decision Makers.  Revelle Memorial Symposium, Harvard University. [RESEARCH REPORT]
 
Lancaster, J. 1991.  Ocean Pollution. Buzzworm, Vol. III, No. 1, Jan/Feb, p. 45. (Republished 1992, In: 1992 Earth Journal: Environmental Almanac and Resource Directory, J. E. Daniel, ed., Buzzworm Books, pp. 116-118) [ARTICLE]
 
Lancaster, J., 1990.  C13/C12 Fractionation in Carbon Dioxide Emitting from Plants at Ten Sites in North America. Ph.D. Thesis.  Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Univ. of CA, San Diego. [Ph.D. THESIS]
 
Lancaster, J. 1989.  The Theory of Radially Evolving Energy. Intern. J. General Systems, 16: 1, pp. 43-73. [ARTICLE]
Link to Article: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03081078908935062  (Google: “776638585”)
 
Lancaster, J. 1989.  The Greenhouse Effect. Proceedings from the Scripps Aquarium 18th Annual Environmental Symposium on the Water Cycle, January, 1988. Scripps Inst. Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, pp. 21-32. [CONFERENCE PAPER]
 
Lancaster, J. 1989.  Ocean Science and Ocean Policy. In: Critical Problems Relating to the Quality of California’s Coastal Zone, Report of a Workshop, 12-13 January, 1989, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, (E. D. Goldberg, editor, Scripps Inst.of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA). [WORKSHOP PAPER]
 
Lancaster, J. 1989. Toward an Early International Response to Global Warming. Contribution to Greenhouse/Glasnost Conference, sponsored by Institute for Resource Management, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and Soviet Academy of Sciences, Sundance, Utah, August 23-26, 1989. (12 pp.) [CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTION]
 
Keeling, C. D., R. Bacastow, J. Lancaster, T. Whorf and W. Mook. 1989. Evidence for Accelerated Releases of Carbon Dioxide to the Atmosphere, Inferred from Direct Measurements of Concentration and C13/C12 Ratio.  Testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Hearing on Trends in Carbon Dioxide Emissions, June 22, Washington, D.C. (14 pp.) [SENATE TESTIMONY]
 
Lancaster, Justin. (1985). “Carbon Dioxide Variations, Ocean Air Sampling near Hawaii and Southern California from July 1983 to September 1984 (abs)”, MS thesis, University of California, San Diego.
Lancaster, J. 1981. UNEP Coordinated Regional Seas Conventions vis-a-vis IOC/OCE: A tabulation of relevant articles. Report prepared for the Director, Division of Marine Sciences, IOC/OCE, UNESCO, Paris, September, 14 pp. [REPORT]
 
Selected Lectures, Seminars and Conference Presentations:
Simplified Web 3.0 Query Portal for Biomedical Research
2014, February 26-28. Conference on Semantics in the Health and Life Sciences (CSHALS); International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB). With co-author Altaf Hussain.  February 26-28, 2014. Boston, Massachusetts. Poster
 
AIM3: Automating Research on Governance of Global Energy Resources.
2009, December 4.  Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of  Global Environmental Change: “Earth System Governance: People, Places and the Planet: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations, Panel 5: Modeling and Measurement”.  December 2-4, 2009. Volendam, The Netherlands. Conference Lecture
 
Integrated Monitoring, Modeling and Management (IM3) Methodology Applied to Governance of Global Energy Resources and Global Energy Use. 2007, May 24. Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change: “Earth System Governance: Theories and Strategies for Sustainability”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Conference Lecture
 
GIS and 3-D Computer Modeling of the Real World: Static and Dynamic
2001,  May 4, GIS Colloquium, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  Lecture
 
Population and Environmental Stresses and IM3 Project Results in the Charles River Watershed
1995,  November 9, “Envision Equity”; AAAS/Boston Theological Soc. Weston, MA. Conference Lecture
 
Integrated Monitoring, Modeling and Management (IM3) Project in the Charles River Watershed
1995,  July, Boston Bar Association, Boston. Lecture.
 
Integrated Risk Assessment
1992,  December 8, Society for Risk Assessment, San Diego. Paper presented
 
Uncertainty and the Global Carbon Dioxide Sink
1992,  Oct. 25, IPCC Working Group 1 Workshop, Woods Hole, Workshop submission
 
International Law and the Convention on Climate Change
1992, April 11, Vermont Law School.  Organizer and Moderator of one-day workshop.
 
Risk Analysis and Global Environmental Change.
1992, March, Kennedy School of Government.  Lecture;
1992, June, Harvard School of Public Health.  Lecture.
 
Developing Methodology for Assessing Impacts of Global Warming in the Coastal Region.
1992, February 20-22. University of California, La Jolla.  Organizer and Moderator of three-day workshop.
 
Recent Advances in Oceans and Global Change Research and Promising Directions.
1991, April, San Paolo di Torino Conference on Oceans, Climate and Man, Turin, Italy.  Conference summary;
 
Global Change: Science, Policy and Law.
1990, April 24, Dartmouth College.  Lecture;
1991, April, University of San Diego, Environmental Law Society. Debate;
1991, April, Harvard School of Public Health.  Lecture.
 
Changes in Vegetative Greenness in Africa from August 1981 through June 1989: Examining for correlation with El Nino/Southern Oscillation climate variations.
1990, February, AMS Symposium on Biometeorology and Global Change, Anaheim, CA.  Paper;
1990, October, Second World Climate Conference, Geneva, Switzerland.  Poster session;
 
The Greenhouse Effect.
1988, January.  Scripps Aquarium 18th Annual Environmental Symposium on the Water Cycle, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA.  Lecture;
 
The Greenhouse Effect and U.S. Policy Response.
1986, January. NASA/Langley, Virginia.  Lecture;
 
Nuclear Contamination in the Marshall Islands.
1982, December. Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  Organizer and Moderator of evening seminar;

Further reading

Geyer, Richard A. (1993). A Global Warming Forum: Scientific, Economic, and Legal Overview (Lancaster, 7+ pgs. pg. 560). CRC Press.