R. Timothy Patterson is a professor of geology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a Canadian researcher with specialization in paleolimnology, paleoceanography and paleoclimatology. He founded and is co-Director of the Carleton Climate and Environmental Research Group (CCERG) He has previously served as Director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre and as Senior Visiting Fellow in the School of Geography, Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.