Michael Oppenheimer is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University. He joined the Princeton faculty after more than two decades with Environmental Defense, a non-governmental, environmental organization, where he served as chief scientist and manager of the Global and Regional Atmosphere Program.

His interests include science and policy of the atmosphere, particularly climate change and its impacts. His earth system research explores the potential effects of global warming, including the consequences of warming for the major ice sheets and sea level, ecosystems and species, and the nitrogen cycle. His policy research explores ways to interpret and implement the objective of avoiding "dangerous anthropogenic interference" with the climate system. The role played by nongovernmental organizations in the policy arena, alternative approaches to decision-making on problems of global change, and the potential value of precautionary frameworks inform his investigations. He serves as a lead author of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is a member of the National Research Council's Panel on Climate Variability and Change. He is also a science advisor to Environmental Defense.