My research focuses on several main themes: 

•  Developing a process-based understanding of modern seasonal and inter-annual climate variability;
   
• Examining large-scale synoptic patterns that lead to extreme climate events and hazards such as droughts and floods;
   
• Applying process-based analysis of climate variability to paleoclimatic reconstruction;
   
• Visualization of the climate system through computer-based animated map sequences.

Shinker, J. J., 2010, Visualizing spatial heterogeneity of Western United States Climate Variability. Earth Interactions, 14 (10), 1-15, DOI: 10.1175/2010EI323.1.

Shinker, J. J., Shuman, B. N., Minckley, T. A., and Henderson, A. K., 2010,  Climatic Shifts in the Availability of Contested Waters: A Long-term Perspective from the Headwaters of the North Platte River, Annals of the Association of American Geographers (Special Issue on Climate Change), 100 (4), 866-879.

Shuman, B., Pribyl, P., Minckley, T. A., and Shinker, J. J., 2010, Rapid hydrologic shifts and prolonged droughts in Rocky Mountain headwaters during the Holocene, Geophysical Research Letters, DOI:10.1029/2009GL042196.

Shinker, J. J. and P. J. Bartlein, 2010. Spatial variations of effective moisture in the Western United States. Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2009GL041387.

Shinker, J. J., and P. J. Bartlein, 2009.  Visualizing the large-scale patterns of ENSO-related climate anomalies in North America.  Earth Interactions, DOI: 10.1175/2008EI244.1.

Shinker, J. J., 2007. Global Climate Animations. Digital Library for Earth Science Education, http://www.dlese.org/library/catalog_DLESE-000-000-001-774.htm (1 Jan. 2010).

Shinker, J. J., P. J. Bartlein, and B. Shuman, 2006. Synoptic and dynamic climate controls of North American mid-continental aridity. Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 25, p. 1401-1417.
 

2008-2009 - Multi-century droughts in Wyoming's past: Evidence of prolonged lake drawdown. Co-PIs J. J. Shinker, B. N. Shuman, T. A. Minckley. USGS National Institutes of Water Resources and the Wyoming Water Development Commission.

2006-2007 – A novel approach for improving records of long-term, multi-scale snowpack variability in western North America. Co-PI J. J. Shinker, PI L. J. Graumlich, Co-PI D. B. Fagre, Co-PI S. T. Gray. Geography and Regional Science Division National Science Foundation.

2007-2008 - Mechanisms of precipitation variability associated with ENSO: 3-D process analysis approach. PI J.J. Shinker. Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium Faculty Grant.

2006-2007 - Visualizing Earth system processes in 3-D: An educational enhancement grant for a new course in Geographic and Scientific Visualization. PI J. J. Shinker, Co-PI S. D. Prager, J. D. Hamerlinck. Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium.

2005-2007, Timing and spatial heterogeneity of precipitation in the intermountain west. University of Wyoming Basic Research Grant.

2002-2003 – Doctoral Dissertation Research: Visualizing mechanistic controls of North American climate variability through cartographic animations. PI: P. J. Bartlein. Geography and Regional Science Division National Science Foundation.

• Geog 1010  Introduction to Physical Geography (Spring 2006, 2007, 2010)
   

• Geog 3450 Weather and Climate (Spring 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
   

• Geog 3550  Natural Hazards and Society (Fall 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010)
   

• Geog 4880/5880  Global Climate Variability (Fall 2005, 2007, Spring 2009, Fall 2010)
   

• Geog 4880/5880 Geographic and Scientific Visualization (Fall 2008, 2009)
   

• Honors 4152 Climate Change, Water and Energy (Fall 2009)