He is the president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a research facility in Massachusetts.

[3] De Menocal spent much of his early career at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, where he was Thomas Alva Edison/Con Edison Professor and founding director of the Center for Climate and Life.

[4] De Menocal began working at Columbia University in 1986 as a graduate research assistant at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory.

[6] De Menocal frequently appears in the media and talks about climate change with the public.

[7][8][9] De Menocal uses geochemical analyses of marine sediments to investigate past changes in ocean circulation and terrestrial climates.