Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science

Emeritus Professor Robert Houze became an Honorary Member of the American Meteorological Society. As stated in the AMS Constitution, “Honorary Members shall be persons of acknowledged preeminence in the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences, either through their own contributions to the sciences or their application or through furtherance of the advance of those sciences in some other way.” This is a rare recognition that only a few have been awarded. 

On August 1, the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) announced the 36 new members elected, 15 being UW professors, including Professor Qiang Fu. The selection is based on the members’ “outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.” Professor Fu is selected “For contributions to research and expertise in atmospheric radiation and cloud processes, remote sensing, cloud/aerosol/radiation/climate interactions, stratospheric circulation and stratosphere-troposphere exchanges and coupling, and climate change.” Read more about new WSAS members on UW News. 

In S2 E6 of FieldSound, KOMO 4 Chief Meteorologist Shannon O’Donnell and University of Washington students speak about the formation of the UW Dawgcast, born out of ATM S 493: Media & Meteorology in the UW Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science. 

 
Corn is one of the planet’s most important crops. It not only provides sweet kernels to flavor many dishes, but it’s also used in oils, as a sweetener syrup, and as a feed crop for livestock. 

Prof. Greg Hakim participated in a workshop organized by the White House‘s Office of Science and Technology Policy on artificial intelligence in weather prediction. “Participants covered a wide range of topics, including anticipating the benefits and challenges of AI for weather prediction, building and maintaining trust in AI systems, and exploring scientific unknowns that pose the biggest challenges. 

Roger Marchand, a MARCUS co-investigator from the University of Washington, is Mace’s co-principal investigator for CAPE-k.
From 2016 to 2018, Marchand led ARM’s land-based Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE). 

 
University of Washington atmospheric scientist Lynn McMurdie has led campaigns to measure rain and snowfall in places ranging from Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to Argentina to the Eastern U.S. Now she’s among the leaders of a field campaign in Colorado to better understand and forecast snowfall in the mountains of the Western U.S. 

A project led by Professor Lyatt Jaegle and Professors Qiang Fu, Alex Turner, and Daehyun Kim to better understand our atmosphere’s complexity is a finalist for NASA’s next generation of Earth-observing satellites. 

The National Academy of Sciences announced this week that a University of Washington atmospheric scientist and biologist have been elected as new members, in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. 

Schmidt Science Fellows was established in 2018 to help researchers expand their work across areas of study and build a community of interdisciplinary thinkers dedicated to solving the world’s biggest challenges.