He conducts both fundamental and applied climate research. One focus area of Dan's research includes assessing regional impacts of climate change; he serves as the co–chair of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) Science Council and the WICCI Climate Working Group. The WICCI Climate Working Group, funded by the Upper Midwest / Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative, has recently developed a set of downscaled daily climate projections for the Eastern United States.