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Francina Dominguez, Jennifer Murphy, David Noone, Armin Sorooshian, and Rainer M. Volkamer received the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

Francina Dominguez will receive the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for her significant and fundamental contributions to the emerging field of terrestrial hydrometeorology, thereby significantly closing the gap between the atmospheric and hydrologic sciences, and for mentoring a new cadre of interdisciplinary scientists trained in the fundamentals of terrestrial hydrometeorology and its water management implications.

Francina’s research, as summarized in her nomination letter, is truly impressive. By choosing to study the atmosphere and the land surface as a “whole” (not just coupled) system, she was able to explore contributions of local evapotranspiration to regional precipitation and to thereby demonstrate how moisture cycles and recycles across the landscape. In addition, Francina has investigated the effects of climate variability and change on surface hydrology, projecting that future decreases in precipitation over the western United States will be accompanied by significant increases in extreme precipitation. These results led her to dig deeper into the physical mechanisms, such as atmospheric rivers (ARs). Some of her most recent work has demonstrated how large-scale atmospheric dynamics related to Rossby wave breaking can affect the formation of ARs and the manner in which they impinge into continental regions.

Besides being an exceptional scientist, Francina has pioneered the development of an educational curriculum for the emerging discipline of terrestrial hydrometeorology. At the University of Arizona, she codirected a newly formed academic program to bridge the traditional disciplines of hydrological and atmospheric sciences.

It is notable that Francina has achieved all of this while rearing a family—she is the proud mother of two young children. Because of the importance of her work, her generous personality, and her unparalleled ability to contribute to hydrometeorological understanding, Francina is richly deserving of the Ascent Award. On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present the 2019 Ascent Award to Francina Dominguez.

—Hoshin Gupta, University of Arizona, Tucson

Response

I am very grateful to receive the 2019 AGU Ascent Award. My life has taken many twists and turns since I was a civil engineering consultant in Colombia, freshly out of college. In hydrometeorology, I found a deeply satisfying combination of basic physical understanding of the land–atmosphere system with practical applications. I feel grateful to both the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona. The former institution welcomed me as a graduate student into the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department, and then again 15 years later as faculty in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, working with students and colleagues who make work both interesting and fun. The latter institution is where I became a hydrometeorologist, in what is now the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences (HAS).

I would like to thank three friends and colleagues who have shaped my career. Praveen Kumar, from the University of Illinois CEE department, my graduate advisor and mentor, welcomed me into his group almost 20 years ago and has encouraged, challenged, and supported me ever since. Hoshin Gupta, from the University of Arizona’s HAS department, has provided unwavering support and opened my mind to new ideas and ways to think about science. And Ying Fan Reinfelder, from Rutgers University, whom I admire deeply, has inspired me by asking the hardest simple questions and relentlessly answering them.

I especially thank my husband, Sandy, who has supported and encouraged me. That we have somehow managed to simultaneously have two fulfilling careers and rear two girls never ceases to amaze me. And, finally, I thank my brilliant and funny brother, Arturo; my mother, Guiomar, the steadfast and fearless woman I always strive to imitate; and my father, Camilo, the ever curious absentminded scientist who reminds me of me.

—Francina Dominguez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Francina Dominguez, Jennifer Murphy, David Noone, Armin Sorooshian, and Rainer M. Volkamer received the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

Jennifer Murphy will receive the Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for her significant contributions to our understanding of the processes controlling the abundance of important tropospheric trace species. Jen has worked extensively in the field of reactive nitrogen chemistry. She is a world leader in the measurement of atmospheric ammonia, deploying novel instrumentation at the ground and on aircraft and ships. She is a leading proponent for the importance of bidirectional exchange of ammonia between the atmosphere and the Earth’s surfaces. She has illustrated that nitrous acid also undergoes surface exchange via acid–base processes. Jen demonstrated the importance of ammonia in remote regions by measuring high mixing ratios in the Canadian Arctic. In collaboration with modelers, she showed that Arctic bird colonies were the source of ammonia, which has a major impact on aerosol particle formation, neutralization, and cloud interactions. She has also demonstrated that the same aerosol neutralization process dominates the aerosol loading in some polluted wintertime environments. Jen actively interfaces with the biogeochemistry community, studying atmosphere–biosphere exchange of the oxides of nitrogen in forested environments and the budgets of methane and carbon dioxide in a variety of North American settings.

Jen’s research is conducted largely in the field, where she is known for her ability to make high-quality measurements via the deployment of advanced instrumentation. She is a highly valued collaborator contributing to the development of field campaign research plans and hypotheses. Jen has also demonstrated substantial scientific leadership both in Canada and in the larger international atmospheric chemistry community, for example, through her membership on the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Scientific Steering Committee. As a midcareer scientist, her commitment to the training of emerging scientists is notable, with many former students now employed in academia and beyond.

—Jonathan Abbatt, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada

Response

I am delighted and honored to receive this award and feel very fortunate to be a member of a research community that has been so supportive of my career. Having been involved in atmospheric chemistry research for almost 20 years, I recognize that it has been a great match for my curiosity, enthusiasm, and sense of adventure. Even more, it has provided opportunities to perform research alongside so many talented, inspiring, and generous colleagues and collaborators.

During my Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley, I worked with Ronald Cohen, whose incisive approach to research was a wonderful model. I was also fortunate to be part of a cohort of bright and energetic students and postdocs who have continued to be valued colleagues and friends. As a faculty member at the University of Toronto since 2007, I have benefited tremendously from the remarkable environmental chemistry community, composed of many faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. In particular, Jon Abbatt has been a wonderful mentor, advocate, and collaborator. I am grateful to the graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have worked with me over the past 13 years. They have contributed greatly to all the accomplishments mentioned in the citation and to the sense of enjoyment and wonder that makes a career in academic research so enjoyable.

—Jennifer Murphy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada

Francina Dominguez, Jennifer Murphy, David Noone, Armin Sorooshian, and Rainer M. Volkamer received the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

David Noone is a pioneer in applications of stable isotope tracers toward understanding of the water and carbon cycles. His work has forged foundations for the wider use of stable isotope information in atmospheric and climate science.

Early in his career, David established that interpretation of isotope proxy data required an accounting for the underlying meteorological processes. He recognized that to quantitatively invert the isotope signals, detailed process models to track the isotope ratios were required. David is well known for his leading work simulating the stable isotope ratios in global climate models and using these to evaluate the dynamics of atmospheric moisture filaments with isotopic information to identify water origins and atmospheric water recycling. David has continued to champion the applications of stable water isotopes on a variety of timescales, including refining, improving, and incorporating them into the latest National Center for Atmospheric Research models.

Not content to base his knowledge of stable water isotopes on just theory and modeling, David established the use of satellite observations of isotope ratios to describe water cycles. With the advent of refined optical measurement techniques, he developed studies that use in situ measurements of isotope ratios at sites around the world from the ground, at sea, and in the air to resolve poorly known processes. His team’s “meteorological” measurements of the isotope ratio of water vapor at the Mauna Loa Observatory helped establish the utility of measurements of water isotopologues as an important metric of climate change.

David’s substantial impact on the field of atmospheric and climate science is exemplified by the large number of early-career scientists he has mentored on combining models and observations for understanding present and past climates. These are our next generation of scientists who will continue to use the additional insights of water isotopologues to decipher past and future climate change.

—Bette Otto-Bliesner, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.

Response

It is a great honor to receive this award. Like many, I was fortunate to have stumbled upon a career path and research area that I find addictive. The little puzzles that nature provides continue to be irresistible. I delight in finding ways the little puzzles help bring order to the larger mysteries of the world.

Receiving this award offers a moment for introspection, and one is always reminded that accomplishments are not made in isolation. I use this moment to thank all my students, collaborators, and even anonymous reviewers, who help enable a scholarly existence where creativity and thoughtfulness can be brought to bear on the work we do together.

I was once asked whether there was a particular schoolteacher who had inspired me. I answered, “no.” The remarkable truth that underlies the terse response is that I had a continual string of mentors, from a very early age continuing to this day, all of whom were astonishing. All of my teachers prompted me to look a little harder or try something a little different: I think of an elementary school teacher who fooled me into three-dimensional geometry with origami, a high school teacher who patiently watched my feeble efforts to balance rotational forces on the pottery wheel, and university advisers who pointed me to piles of particularly prickly problems and trained me in the technical tools to tackle them with. I’m pleased to report that I’m still trying to master most of the lessons that they assigned.

Maintaining the unbroken chain of education is a responsibility. Science is not just the cold, hard reality of numbers but is also an enterprise that succeeds because we build together. I keep learning from my students, who persistently push me to help find clarity to think through new ideas. Perhaps they too are developing an addiction for nature’s puzzles.

—David Noone, Oregon State University, Corvallis

Francina Dominguez, Jennifer Murphy, David Noone, Armin Sorooshian, and Rainer M. Volkamer received the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

Armin Sorooshian is uniformly cited as one of the most important scholars worldwide in the field of aerosol–water relationships. He is the author of 123 peer-reviewed journal publications (including 41 papers in AGU journals). Early in his career, he was instrumental in bringing the Particle-into-Liquid Sampler (PILS) into the sphere of aircraft studies. He developed the Differential Aerosol Sizing and Hygroscopicity Spectrometer Probe (DASH-SP), the first instrument capable of measuring size-resolved aerosol hygroscopicity with fast time resolution. He also developed a novel Counterflow Virtual Impactor (CVI) inlet for airborne platforms to preferentially sample and evaporate cloud droplets to yield residual particles. Armin’s airborne measurements with the PILS and CVI instruments advanced knowledge of how clouds redistribute particles and modify aerosol composition. He was instrumental in unraveling the processes involved in the production of secondary organic aerosol by aqueous droplet chemistry. His work with the DASH-SP was important in several Navy and NASA airborne missions to advance understanding of aerosol hygroscopic properties. As a postdoctoral fellow with Graham Feingold, Armin used a combination of models, satellite data, and in situ observations to study the precipitation susceptibility of clouds to aerosol perturbations. He has been a leader in airborne fieldwork, as demonstrated by his being a principal investigator with the Navy Twin Otter aircraft in 15 airborne field projects. Armin’s impact in coming years will continue to grow, as evidenced by his having been selected recently as the principal investigator of the Aerosol Cloud Meteorology Interactions over the Western Atlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE), a $30-million NASA Earth Venture Class suborbital mission directed toward understanding aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions over the western North Atlantic Ocean that will be carried out off the U.S. East Coast during 2019–2023. Furthermore, Armin has trained an impressive group of upcoming researchers in chemical engineering, atmospheric sciences, and public health.

—John H. Seinfeld, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena

Response

I am deeply honored to receive the Ascent Award and am in debt to everyone who has had an impact on my career, including remarkable advisors, a wonderful group of graduate students, and my family. I extend appreciation to my nominators and the selection committee. It is with sadness that the atmospheric sciences community felt a great loss as Fuqing Zhang, my principal nominator, passed away recently. The impact felt by his students and the scientific community from his career’s efforts will continue to be strong. My first role model in academia was my father, who is the reason I chose this profession and from whom I still learn by observation. My Ph.D. advisors, John H. Seinfeld and Richard C. Flagan, gave me remarkable opportunities and taught me by example how to be a mentor. Their trust in me during airborne field projects was significant, as I had the inspiring experience of being a flight scientist during Navy Twin Otter missions. My luck with excellent mentors continued with my postdoctoral advisor, Graham Feingold, who inspired me with his creativity, passion for clouds, and genuine desire to support junior scientists. Other significant mentors throughout my career that I thank include Haflidi Jonsson, Graeme Stephens, Eric Betterton, and Xubin Zeng. I want to acknowledge the Office of Naval Research and NASA, who have supported the majority of my research. A very special group of people I share this award with and for whom I am very thankful are my former and current graduate students from the University of Arizona, each of whom I am proud and lucky to have been able to advise. Last, I thank those who have been the constants throughout my career: my parents, Soroosh and Shirin; my brother, Jamshid; my wife, Atria; and our son, Parsa.

—Armin Sorooshian, University of Arizona, Tucson

Francina Dominguez, Jennifer Murphy, David Noone, Armin Sorooshian, and Rainer M. Volkamer received the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

Rainer Volkamer is recognized worldwide as an expert at the interface of field observations, laboratory experiments, and chemical modeling of molecular processes by which atmospheric radicals and trace substances affect air quality and climate. He has developed micrometeorological and remote sensing instruments to better quantify emissions from the ocean surface and wildfires, as well as attributed methane emissions to agriculture and oil and gas production.

Rainer first became well known from differential optical absorption spectroscopy observations of glyoxal, identifying this product from the atmospheric oxidation of hydrocarbons as an important precursor of organic aerosol. During his Ph.D., he advanced our understanding of aromatic hydrocarbon oxidation and helped develop the Master Chemical Mechanism, the world’s repository of knowledge for quantitative atmospheric chemical kinetics. He established the molecular spectroscopy of glyoxal in the laboratory, pioneered its remote sensing from satellites, detected glyoxal in Mexico City, Mexico, and measured the first eddy covariance fluxes of glyoxal over oceans that point to a source in the sea surface microlayer. Global satellite maps of glyoxal are produced today by research teams in Europe and in the United States and are used to identify hot spots of hydrocarbon chemistry in the atmosphere, evaluate global models, predict aerosol formation, and infer sources of hydrocarbons that cannot be measured directly, thanks to Rainer’s pioneering work. His research group’s halogen measurements in the marine boundary layer and in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere feature prominently in the World Meteorological Organization’s 2018 ozone assessment report and have led to revised estimates of total inorganic iodine injection into the stratosphere, where iodine participates in the destruction of stratospheric ozone.

Rainer has published over 100 research papers, many of which are highly cited and of high impact. In 2014, he was named a highly cited researcher in the geosciences by Thomson Reuters. He also shows remarkable leadership and service to the community by designing and leading major aircraft field campaigns such as the Tropical Ocean Troposphere Exchange of Reactive Halogens and Oxygenated Hydrocarbons (TORERO) project and the Biomass Burning Flux Measurements of Trace Gases and Aerosols (BB-FLUX) project. Rainer is also an excellent teacher and mentor, and several of his students and postdocs have already started promising careers. He is highly deserving of the AGU Ascent Award.

—Jose L. Jimenez, University of Colorado Boulder

Response

I am deeply honored to receive the 2019 AGU Ascent Award. My gratitude goes to the nominators and the selection committee for this humbling and wonderful recognition.

Over the years, I have had the great pleasure to learn from individuals committed to excellence with whom I share a passion for atmospheric chemistry and climate and their interactions. I specifically thank my Ph.D. advisor, Ulrich Platt (University of Heidelberg, Germany); early mentors Mike Pilling (University of Leeds, United Kingdom), Klaus Wirtz (Fundación Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo, Spain), and Paul Crutzen (Max Planck Institute, Mainz, Germany); and my postdoctoral advisors, Mario J. Molina (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of California, San Diego) and Luisa Tang Molina (MIT and the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2)), who have not only set me on my current trajectory but also instilled in me as mentors a desire to venture into new (applied) research fields with an eye on fundamentals. The support from my colleagues in the Department of Chemistry and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and funding from the National Science Foundation, Electric Power Research Institute, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, California Air Resources Board, and the European Union, have been key to my accomplishments since starting at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2007. And I have benefited greatly from the energy and insights from many friends and colleagues that I am lucky enough to call collaborators.

Most of all, I share this recognition with the postdoctoral scholars, scientists, graduate students, and undergraduates who have worked with me over the years. Without them, the achievements mentioned in the citation would not have happened and, most of all, would not have been nearly as much fun. I look forward to continuing to work with such talented young scientists to better understand atmospheric interactions of natural and managed ecosystems in the future.

Finally, I thank my wife, Carmen, and our two children, Rafael and Joana, for their unconditional love and support. I dedicate this award to adventurous Grandma Helga, who joined us during fieldwork in Costa Rica.

—Rainer M. Volkamer, University of Colorado Boulder

Matthew Huber, Yi Ming, David Romps, and Joel Thornton will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional, mid-career scientists in the atmospheric and climate sciences fields.”

Citation

Matthew Huber will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for his significant and fundamental contributions to understanding the factors controlling ocean–atmosphere heat transport, the evolution of climate sensitivity with climate state, and the interactions between modes of variability with the mean climate state.

The summary of Matthew’s research in his nomination letter is truly exemplary of a researcher on a steep ascent. He refuted the theory that changes in ocean heat transport were the primary drivers of high-latitude warmth and ice-free Antarctica in past climates, thus placing emphasis on atmospheric drivers—especially greenhouse gases—for explaining the major climate changes of the past 60 million years. He produced the first early Eocene simulations and provided one of the first thorough investigations of changes in “fast” climate sensitivity across a wide range of warmer climate states, demonstrating that climate sensitivity increases with warming. Huber’s work has also made clear that the tropics are sensitive to forcing and potentially vulnerable to change. In 2000, he proposed on theoretical grounds that all existing tropical temperature proxy data were 5°C too cold, a finding that was subsequently shown using proxy data. He combined data and modeling to demonstrate that El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability is a robust phenomenon that existed in past warm climates and is not subject to major changes with warming or continental geometry, a controversial finding at the time. He showed that superrotation occurs in a general circulation model (GCM) with only pCO2 changes as a driver. He provided the first demonstration from modern observations that tropical cyclones pump significant heat into the tropical oceans. Huber also was the first to propose, through a combination of models and paleoclimate data, that the global monsoon system is robust and existed at least as far back as the early Eocene (50 million years ago). Finally, he performed a series of future simulations based on the equilibrium climate sensitivity implied by new Eocene temperature reconstructions that show that half the world’s population may be subject to uninhabitable conditions in the limit of a strong, sustained, anthropogenic greenhouse gas release.

Matthew’s substantial impact on the field of climate science is exemplified by his large number of high-impact papers. As of last April, Matt had published more than 87 peer-reviewed articles, many of substantial impact. He has also been involved in community service through his editorship of Earth System Dynamics and Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G3). He exemplifies the qualities needed to continue to advance the field of climate change and is richly deserving of a 2018 Ascent Award. On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2018 Ascent Award to Matthew Huber.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am deeply grateful for the AGU Ascent Award. I have never won anything before, so I’m not sure what to say. I will keep it simple.

AGU, of all societies, has always been my intellectual home, and therefore this award is of special significance to me. My thanks to AGU and the Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award Committee.

While much of what I have worked on emerged through happy accidents and fortuitous meet-ups, my long-term focus has been on trying to discover the fundamental physical relationship between global mean surface temperature and the meridional temperature gradient in warm climates. Ray Pierrehumbert first set me down that road 25 years ago and has consistently nudged me in the right direction throughout my career, so I owe him a great debt.

Furthermore, the work acknowledged in this award developed with strong support from and from collaboration with many, including Michael Ghil, Jim McWilliams, Lisa Sloan, Rodrigo Caballero, Henk Brinkhuis, Kerry Emanuel, Mark Pagani, and Appy Sluijs, to name a few. My students and other members of my research group have been a joy to me and have provided the grist for the mill that grinds us all ever so finely. I am also indebted to the Purdue University Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the Purdue Climate Change Research Center for providing a great environment in which to work. I also want to thank those who have resisted and fought hard against this line of research; I would not be in a position to win this award without your efforts as well. That is the beauty of science.

Finally, it must be acknowledged that none of this work would have been possible without two things: the support of my family, and coffee—lots of both.

—Matthew Huber, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

Matthew Huber, Yi Ming, David Romps, and Joel Thornton will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional, mid-career scientists in the atmospheric and climate sciences fields.”

Citation

Yi Ming will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for innovations and major advances in the understanding of the role of aerosols in radiative forcing, atmospheric dynamics, and climate change from global to regional scales.

Yi Ming has used numerical models steered by basic theory and observations to develop pioneering research that has led to powerful new insights into the mechanisms by which aerosols, via their microphysical and radiative properties, force changes in atmospheric circulation and climate. He advanced basic sea salt and organic carbon aerosol properties and modeling. He developed ab initio methods and tools to derive climate-relevant physical and optical features from the “micro” world of aerosol basics, develop parameterizations for GCMs, and quantify the radiative and climate perturbations. He has also made pioneering use of atmospheric and climate models, together with observations, to unravel the effects of aerosols on physical meteorology, atmospheric dynamics, and the climate system. By teasing out the relevant mechanisms, he has connected aerosol microscale processes to the larger regional and global scales. This research has unraveled the differing influences of greenhouse gases and aerosols on surface and atmosphere radiative heating, with the two species yielding distinct interhemispheric gradients that affect the Hadley and Walker circulations differently. He has also clarified the role of land surface processes in modulating the Indian monsoon annual cycle and the precipitation biases in models in the Indian Ocean causally in terms of the meridional sea surface temperature (SST) gradients. Just as substantively, he has modeled aerosol effects on solar dimming and on tropical and midlatitude circulations. He has delineated the combined effects due to human-influenced aerosols and greenhouse gases that induce nonlinear additivity in zonal mean temperature and, more important, in tropical precipitation.

There is little doubt that Yi will continue to advance atmospheric sciences. His innovations in the physics of aerosols, aerosol–cloud interactions, and forging of a self-consistent link to meteorology and climate based on fundamental principles are richly deserving of this award. On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2018 Ascent Award to Yi Ming.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am honored and humbled to receive the 2018 AGU Ascent Award. My gratitude goes to the nominators and selection committee for such a wonderful recognition.

My career would not be where it is now without the guidance and unwavering support from my mentors. In particular, I want to thank my Ph.D. advisor, Lynn Russell, for introducing me to aerosol science. I was extremely fortunate to have V. Ramaswamy (Ram) as my postdoctoral advisor, who encouraged me to go beyond aerosols to clouds and monsoons. My work with Isaac Held opened my eyes to the beauty of climate dynamics and general circulation theories. This somewhat unusual tour of atmospheric sciences, which led me to new perspectives of the climate system, would not have been possible without the nurturing environment at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). Over the years, I also learned a great deal from my students and postdocs and thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Rui, and our two children, Cynthia and Isaac, for their unconditional love and support. It is never easy to be around an absentminded scientist, but I promise to do better.

—Ying Ming, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA, Princeton, N.J.

Matthew Huber, Yi Ming, David Romps, and Joel Thornton will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional, mid-career scientists in the atmospheric and climate sciences fields.”

Citation

David Romps will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for his innovative work in developing the theory and phenomenology of both shallow and deep convection.

David combines first-principles investigations of cloud processes with cloud parameterizations and direct observations. He has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to develop innovative tools, techniques, and models that are grounded in fundamental physics and applied mathematics. For example, he has developed a new state-of-the-art cloud-resolving model that incorporates multiphase turbulent plumes in a shear flow and used a “transilient matrix” to conclude that two thirds of the subcloud air arriving in the free troposphere originates from the lowest 100 meters of the atmosphere. He developed “Lagrangian direct measurement” of entrainment and used it to show that clouds entrain at a surprisingly rapid rate. He showed that spontaneous organization of convective moist patches surrounded by broader nonconvecting dry patches is inhibited by the effects of cold pools associated with downdrafts. In another study, he showed that a doubling of CO2 leads to wider, taller, and faster clouds and a 20% increase in precipitation intensity. David has also contributed in the areas of lightning, cloud photogrammetry, the Stochastic Parcel Model, and cloud buoyancy. His research is presented by framing a scientific question in a clear way and using an impressive array of technical skills to draw important and well-defined conclusions.

David has produced outstanding research in the areas of theory, numerical simulation, and fieldwork. He is an exceptional scientist and very deserving of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award. On behalf of the Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2018 Ascent Award to David Romps.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am humbled and honored by this award and filled with gratitude for the many mentors who have placed faith in me beyond warrant, given me opportunities beyond my merit, and, through their example, taught me how to think and how to be. Among them are Oded Gonen, Paul Miller, Andy Strominger, John Holdren, Dan Schrag, Zhiming Kuang, and my senior colleagues at Berkeley, including Bill Collins, Inez Fung, Ron Cohen, and Kristie Boering. I owe my thanks to all of them and to AGU for this honor.

However, after much soul-searching, I have decided not to travel across the country to accept this award. As a climate scientist, I know full well the harm being caused to our planet by the burning of fossil fuels.

I know the Earth has already warmed by a dangerous amount and that each increment of warming is essentially permanent. Transporting my body across the country and back would burn 4 times my weight in jet fuel and emit a metric ton of carbon dioxide. As much as I would enjoy accepting the award in person, I cannot justify burdening future generations with that cost.

This award has provided a valuable opportunity for reflection. Like most climate scientists, I have a large carbon footprint, bloated by tens of thousands of miles per year logged on airplanes. I have no perfect solution. I will continue to eat food, use electricity, and, yes, occasionally fly, but there are steps I can take to reduce my carbon footprint, like joining the small minority of Earth scientists who have decided to fly less. Knowing what I know about global warming, I feel that this is the right thing to do, and I hope that our universities and professional organizations can find ways to support this conscientious choice.

—David M. Romps, University of California, Berkeley

Matthew Huber, Yi Ming, David Romps, and Joel Thornton will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional, mid-career scientists in the atmospheric and climate sciences fields.”

Citation

Joel Thornton will receive the 2018 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for his development of novel analytical and theoretical frameworks that enable the description of a rich set of insights into a variety of compounds and their chemistry within the atmosphere.

Joel is world renowned for his laboratory and field efforts that have elucidated complex multiphase chemical reactions that govern the bidirectional transformations of atmospheric chemical compounds. Early on, Joel used a novel coordinate system transform to show how the complex and nonlinearly coupled chemistry of NOx and HOx free radicals could be diagnosed. Then, in a highly innovative laboratory and field investigation, he described how organic films that ubiquitously coat surfaces alter the efficiency of uptake and subsequent reactivity of important gas phase compounds on aerosol particles. Joel has been at the forefront of instrument development that has led to a renaissance in chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS). He is the developer of the FIGAERO-CIMS (Filter Inlet for Gas and Aerosols) that allows nearly continuous and simultaneous characterization of organic compounds in both the gas and the aerosol phase. His instrument development efforts are guided by his curiosity to answer important atmospheric sciences questions. For example, he developed CIMS methods to detect and characterize inorganic halogen–containing compounds at parts per trillion levels, and this effort yielded the major discovery that halogen chemistry was important even far from the coasts. He also showed that new particle formation is efficient in the boreal forest because of the formation of highly oxygenated organic compounds.

In addition to his innovative instrument development and resulting scientific discoveries, Joel has been of service to the atmospheric science community by leading a highly successful aircraft field campaign (Wintertime Investigation of Transport, Emissions, and Reactivity, or WINTER 2015) designed to study the chemical processing of wintertime emissions and is an editor of Geophysical Research Letters. In addition, he is a wonderful mentor to his students and postdocs. These are the qualities of someone who will influence our science for years to come.

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2018 Ascent Award to Joel Thornton.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am deeply honored to receive this award and grateful for the continued efforts of my mentors and colleagues, who seem to have an endless supply of encouragement and support directed toward my career. I specifically need to thank my Ph.D. advisor, Ronald Cohen (University of California, Berkeley), and my postdoctoral advisor, Jonathan Abbatt (University of Toronto), who not only helped set me on my current trajectory but also continue to be the mentors I want to emulate. The support and intellectual inspiration I receive daily from my colleagues in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington have been key to my accomplishments since starting my professorship in 2004. I’ve also benefited in countless ways from the generosity and energy of those I am lucky to call collaborators. Federal funding, from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, and Environmental Protection Agency, has been crucial to sustaining my research over the years.

Most of all, I am very glad to be able to share this recognition with the postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates who have worked with me over the years. Without them, the achievements mentioned in the citation would not have happened and certainly wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. I certainly look forward to continuing working with such talented scientists toward many more discoveries in the future.

—Joel A. Thornton, University of Washington, Seattle

Annmarie Carlton will receive the 2017 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional mid-career (academic, government, and private sector) scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR ANNMARIE CARLTON
“For fundamental advances in the aqueous phase chemistry of particles, clouds, and fogs to understand the formation of secondary organic aerosols.”

Citation

Annmarie Carlton has pioneered our understanding of aqueous phase reactions leading to the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Early in her career, she performed seminal experimental studies showing that pyruvic acid is oxidized by OH in the aqueous phase to generate much lower volatility acids that remain in the particle phase when the water evaporates. This, together with the fact that pyruvic acid is formed from the aqueous phase oxidation of methylglyoxal, a gas phase product from a large variety of organics, meant that aqueous processes might lead to important new sources of SOA. She also showed that the inclusion of these reactions in models could bring models and field measurements into agreement in conditions with high relative humidity. Furthermore, she led a major collaborative field study called the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS), which is an exceptional achievement at this stage in her career.
Annmarie has over 45 peer-reviewed articles in leading atmospheric chemistry journals. She has taken on a variety of service positions, in addition to leading the SOAS field campaign. Her colleagues describe her as engaging and energetic, with superb leadership skills. These are the qualities of someone who will influence our science for years to come.

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2017 Ascent Award to Prof. Annmarie Carlton.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

Thank you very much for the kind citation and honor. I had the remarkable good fortune of landing in the supportive atmospheric science community. I am truly delighted to be recognized and receive this distinction. I am extremely thankful to the nominators and selection committee for the time spent and interruption to their busy schedules.

When Barb Turpin first introduced me to the idea that particles could form in the atmosphere from organic chemistry in clouds, it seemed like magic to me. It turns out that getting to play a role in the community’s discovery of evidence was, in fact, magical.

The Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study is an excellent example of what my research community accomplishes when we come together. I am indebted to many prominent scientists, the original coalition of the willing, Jose Jimenez, Ron Cohen, Allen Goldstein, Paul Shepson, Joost de Gouw, Paul Wennberg, Alex Guenther, Rob Pinder, and my encouraging friends and mentors. In my mind’s eye I see you all clearly at the first SOAS discussions in the hallways and mezzanine at the AGU Fall Meeting. In many ways I accept the Ascent Award on behalf of you.

Finally, a special shout out to my children, Reilly and Reese Carlton. Time not spent with you had better be worthwhile. Thoughts of you inspire me to do good science, communicate it well, and be a better human.

—Annmarie Carlton, University of California, Irvine

Larry W. Horowitz will receive the 2017 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional mid-career (academic, government, and private sector) scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR LARRY W. HOROWITZ
“For his pioneering research in developing world-leading, global three-dimensional models of atmospheric chemistry particularly as it interfaces with meteorological and climate processes.”

Citation

Throughout his career, Larry Horowitz has been the primary developer of a suite of atmospheric chemistry models, starting with his addition of isoprene chemistry to the Harvard GEOS-Chem model, to the National Center for Atmospheric Research MOZART model, to several versions of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) climate model. His leadership in the development of atmospheric chemistry models has led to a number of highly cited papers. One highlight of his work with MOZART was a study of the role of methane and isoprene’s role in the distribution of ozone and nitrogen oxides. Another highlight using the GFDL model was his investigation of the sensitivity of the regional distributions of ozone and aerosols to deposition mechanisms. He has had multiple collaborations across a number of institutions. Larry’s approach to scientific leadership embodies the core values of AGU, especially through his “unselfish cooperation in research.” This has led to more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed high-impact journals, together with an h-index of 55. Larry has been a pioneer in the modeling of chemistry–climate interactions as well as chemistry–air quality implications and linkages.
As one of Larry’s colleagues states, “I attribute Horowitz’s understanding of atmospheric chemistry and ability to implement that accurately in three-dimensional models as essential, critical guidance to the field. Horowitz has enabled, participated in, and in part directed much of the curiosity-driven, wild-question science of this collective body of research in atmospheric chemistry and climate.”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2017 Ascent Award to Larry Horowitz.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am grateful and honored to receive the 2017 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award. I appreciate this recognition of my research, and I would like to thank my nominators and the awards committee for this honor.

I am fortunate to have worked, throughout my career, at excellent institutions with amazing mentors and colleagues. First, I would like to thank Daniel Jacob, who introduced me at Harvard to the exciting field of atmospheric chemistry and who provided a fantastic model of how to be a scientist and to conduct collaborative research. Guy Brasseur provided me with the wonderful opportunity to broaden my research to include chemistry–climate interactions and to build strong collaborations with many scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. I am indebted to Chip Levy, who brought me to the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), provided encouragement and mentorship, and helped me to establish my career there. The breadth of scientific activities being undertaken at GFDL and Princeton has provided a wonderful environment for my research, allowing me opportunities to explore Earth system modeling and to interact daily with outstanding colleagues. In particular, I would like to thank our laboratory director, V. Ramaswamy, for his support and mentorship, and all of my GFDL colleagues, including Leo Donner, Ron Stouffer, and Isaac Held, for their generous advice and friendship.

Finally, I would like to thank my family—especially my wife, Terri, and our children, Jillian and Lucas—for their constant love and support.

—Larry W. Horowitz, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA, Princeton, N.J.

Gabriel Vecchi will receive the 2017 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional mid-career (academic, government, and private sector) scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR GABRIEL VECCHI
“For his creative scientific advances associated with understanding the effects of climate change on the dynamics associated with the Walker circulation, the Hadley circulation, and tropical cyclones.”

Citation

Gabe Vecchi has used his strong background in observational diagnostics, combined with excellent dynamical insights, to produce a number of key findings that have been highly cited in the literature. For example, in a 2006 Nature paper, he showed that observed changes in the Walker circulation could be attributed to human-induced climate change. In 2007, he also examined how changing large-scale climate affects vertical wind shear in the tropics, an issue of great relevance for tropical storms. He has also published a study on climate change and hurricanes. He examined how a changing observational network has significantly influenced our ability to quantify tropical storm changes over the past century. He extended this work to show how modern observing systems capture far more short-lived tropical systems, thus making the interpretation of longer-term trends more problematic. He has also led efforts to develop both dynamical and statistical models for seasonal hurricane prediction, with significant skill in predicting landfalls of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes.

Gabe has also been involved in community service through his work on a number of national and international committees and working groups. For example, he has served as cochair of the US CLIVAR Hurricane Working Group. He exemplifies the qualities needed to continue to advance the field of climate change and dynamics and is richly deserving of a 2017 Ascent Award. On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2017 Ascent Award to Gabriel Vecchi.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

It is a great honor to be one of the recipients of the 2017 AGU Ascent Award. I am astounded to find myself in the company of such accomplished awardees. I am grateful for the effort that went into nominating me for this award. Thank you to Anna, Emil, and Maja—it’s hard to leave you when I go to work.

I am thankful for the amazing environments that have supported and encouraged my scientific pursuits, with fantastic colleagues to inspire and challenge me. Thank you, Don Altman, for introducing me to oceanography; it changed my life. I owe much to Rutgers University and the University of Washington for providing rich and challenging environments. Thank you, Mohamed Iskandarani, for my first taste of research. I owe so much to Ed Harrison, always generous with ideas, support, and friendship, and delicate in criticism.

I am lucky to have spent over a decade with GFDL’s people, who made my research better, broader, and more fun. I thank my mentor and friend Tony Rosati, whose creativity and generosity I strive to emulate, and Ants Leetmaa, for taking a chance on me. I am grateful to Tom Delworth, Keith Dixon, and Tony Broccoli for their support, inspiration, and advice. Brian Soden, Gabriele Villarini, and Jim Smith, thank you for making research enjoyable and rewarding. Thank you, Isaac Held, Tom Knutson, and Ming Zhao, for teaching me about the tropical atmosphere. I will long treasure having been part of a talented, passionate, and energetic group at GFDL, and I am inspired by the success of its members.

I have had such a fulfilling time trying to understand our climate system, and I am excited to have started the second half of my career at Princeton University, where I look forward to new adventures and discoveries.

—Gabriel Vecchi, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.

Robert Wood will receive the 2017 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. The award recognizes research contributions by “exceptional mid-career (academic, government, and private sector) scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR ROBERT WOOD
“For his seminal contributions to our understanding of physical processes controlling marine boundary layer clouds and their interactions in the Earth’s climate system”

Citation

Rob Wood is a world recognized leader in the investigation of stratocumulus clouds, their interactions with aerosols, and their role in climate system. He first formulated the relationship between temperatures at 700 hPa and the surface (the “estimated inversion strength”) and cloud fraction, which is able to largely explain the regional and seasonal variations in stratus cloud amount. He found that cloud fraction is strongly linked with the LWP spatial variability at horizontal scales of 10–50 km, indicating the importance of organized mesoscale cellular convection (MCC) to understand and predict low cloud coverage and variability in the subtropics. He has linked the properties of MCC with precipitation, and with large-scale meteorological drivers, and connected the macrostructure of MCC with microphysical processes that under some circumstances can result in the catastrophic loss of aerosol particles, leading to transformations in MCC. He has also developed new and novel methods for the use of satellite data to understand mixing in clouds and enhance our understanding of the role of precipitation in the marine boundary layer. He has led, or has played leadership roles in a number of field experiments (VOCALS, CSET, and ORACLES, and the Eastern North Atlantic Measurement site on Graciosa Island in the Azores), that have led to immense advancements in our understanding of marine boundary-layer cloud systems, which play a critical role in the cloud feedback to climate change.

There is little doubt that Rob will continue to advance atmospheric sciences, particularly that involving clouds and is richly deserving of this award. On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2017 Ascent Award to Robert Wood.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am honored to receive the AGU Ascent Award in recognition of my work on marine boundary layer clouds. I am extremely grateful to the scientists who selflessly gave their time and energy to support my nomination.

There are many people who have given me opportunities, insights and guidance throughout my career. I am indebted to my Ph.D. adviser Peter Jonas for giving me my first experience in airborne atmospheric research at the University of Manchester in the UK. This gave me the bug for airborne research that has been a strong component of my research throughout my career. Doug Johnson at the Met Office helped me get started in airborne cloud physics research and introduced me to large international field experiments. It was at the Met Office that I met Paul Field who has been a long-time collaborator on various projects related to clouds. His drive and outside-the-box thinking has led to some very enjoyable projects. Dennis Hartmann and Chris Bretherton at the University of Washington provided a raft of opportunities to explore cloud processes by incorporating satellite data, observing the eastern Tropical oceans, and introducing me to cloud-scale and simple theoretical modeling. I am extremely grateful to all my colleagues at the University of Washington for their insight, intellect, and enthusiasm, all with a wonderful spirit of collegiality. I am indebted to my research group members past and present, who have allowed me to pursue new ideas and directions.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their unwavering support, and especially my wife, Socorro, for giving me the freedom to pursue a career that involves considerable time away from home.

—Robert Wood, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle

Alexander D. Hall will receive the 2016 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR ALEXANDER D. HALL
“For outstanding contributions to climate feedback studies on global and regional scales, and to public understanding of climate change”

Citation

Alex pioneered an approach in using observations to constrain feedback processes in climate models, with profound impacts on the science of climate projection. He laid the foundation for scientific understanding of regional climate of Southern California, addressing such diverse topics as regional modes of variability, land/sea breeze, the Santa Ana winds, and orographic precipitation. Alex has become an outstanding science communicator and public ambassador for climate science, frequently giving lectures at public forums, writing in popular magazines, and testifying at various environment, water, and energy commissions and boards at local and state levels. He was the lead author of a chapter of the 2013 IPCC WG1 5th Assessment Report on climate change science.

An excerpt from one of his support letters reads, “Alex Hall’s pioneering research on emergent constraints initiated an entire field of scientific inquiry. Few climate scientists can claim that their research has had such clear and immediate impact.”

Another one reads, “His article in Playboy magazine is superb—in my opinion simply the best example of a measured, long-term view of the problem facing society. I gave this article to my undergraduate and graduate students for insight, encouragement and inspiration…”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2016 ASCENT Award to Professor Alex Hall.

—William K. M. Lau, President, Atmospheric Sciences section, AGU

Response

Thank you Dr. Lau, for these words and the recognition that goes with them. Thank you to Prof. Kuo-Nan Liou as well, for nominating me for this award. I am deeply honored to receive it. It is amazing to reflect on how many people are involved in developing a person. Too many have helped me to list them all here. But I have to thank my parents and family, for their constant support of me and their consistent encouragement of educational attainment. I have also had some particularly inspiring mentors. My undergraduate advisor Catalin Mitescu introduced me to the wonders of physics, and showed me how satisfying a life of the mind could be. My graduate advisor Suki Manabe introduced me to the exciting world of climate research. He challenged me to meet the highest of scientific standards, and showed me how truly fun climate research can be. I’ve had formative learning experiences working with treasured collaborators, including Amy Clement, Dave Thompson, Steve Klein, and Julien Boé, as well as UCLA colleagues Kuo-Nan Liou, Jim McWilliams, David Neelin, and Katharine Reich. Finally, I’ve surely learned as much from my own graduate students as they’ve learned from me. Thank you Xin Qu, Mimi Hughes, Sarah Kapnick, Neil Berg, Daniel Walton, Alex Jousse, and Marla Schwartz. I’m looking forward to working with many more people and learning from them too, as I continue down this wonderful career path.

—Alexander D. Hall, University of California, Los Angeles

Susan C. van den Heever will receive the 2016 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR SUSAN C. VAN DEN HEEVER
“For fundamental advances to our understanding of the influence of microphysical processes on atmospheric convection, and feedback processes”

Citation

Susan has pioneered our understanding of the effects of aerosol on convection and firmly established herself as the recognized world’s foremost authority on aerosol-convection interactions, even at a relative early stage of her career. Her work and influence on aerosol-cloud interactions go beyond cloud scales, but extend to larger domains and climate relevant time scales such as radiative-convective equilibrium. Her meteoric rise in scientific stature is evident in her very impressive publication record, number of funded research grants, invited presentations, community service, and graduate students she has mentored, all within the last 10 years. Susan currently serves as member, chair or co-chair of no less than five national and international committees, working groups, and advisory panels. Among many awards she has received for her outstanding achievement in research, teaching, and mentoring, she was awarded the prestigious Monfort Professor Award in 2015, presented biennially to only 2 (out of 1400) professors at Colorado State University.As stated in one of her support letters, “She is a talented scientist, an outstanding educator, an inspiring mentor and role model, and a person of the highest integrity. Perhaps the most impressive trait of all is the quality of mentoring she provides to her graduate students—the hall-mark of someone who will influence and shape our science for years to come.”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2016 ASCENT Award to Prof. Susan van den Heever.

—William K. M. Lau, President, Atmospheric Sciences section, AGU

Response

I am grateful to Dr. Bill Lau and the Atmospheric Sciences section awards committee for selecting me, as well as to those who nominated me. I feel very honored to have won this award.

I would like to thank my dissertation advisor Bill Cotton for imparting his knowledge of cloud systems, encouraging me to become an independent scientist, and for his strong support of my professional development. I am grateful to Graeme Stephens for his mentorship and significant contributions to my career, for teaching me to think big and then bigger still, for sharing his visions of the role of convection in climate, and for providing guidance on the “business” of science.

Sonia Kreidenweis is a trusted colleague and friend. She has provided great insights into aerosol processes and ice structures, and the ways that aerosols and storms regulate one another. Ed Zipser has inspired me through his questions about convection. His love of observations has kept me honest as a numerical modeler. I value Jeff Collett’s thoughtful responses and wisdom, and for supporting my professional development. Thank you to my colleagues at Colorado State University, as well as my other national and international colleagues from whom I have learned much. Special appreciation goes to Liz Page for her support. Finally, it has been my great honor to work with many remarkable students, postdocs, and research scientists who have provided daily inspiration.

I thank my parents, both caring educators, who instilled in me a love of the sciences. I also thank my children, Nikki and Matt, who constantly inspire me with their insightful questions and for their unconditional love. Finally, my greatest appreciation goes to my husband Steve, my lifelong mentor and ultimate supporter, who sees me at both my best and worst and loves me in spite of it.


—Susan C. van den Heever, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Christian Jakob will receive the 2016 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR CHRISTIAN JAKOB
“For outstanding contributions to the better understanding of atmospheric deep convection, and forceful advocacy for the development and improvement of atmospheric models”

Citation

Christian has made groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of atmospheric convection at the process level using observations from weather and research radars, and linking his superb knowledge of weather models to radar observations. He has made crucial contributions to weather prediction model development and model evaluation at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and developed numerous improvements to the treatment of clouds and atmospheric convection in the ECMWF models. Christian has demonstrated exceptional leadership in many national and international programs, including WCRP Modeling Advisory Panel, and the GEWEX Cloud System Studies, and as lead author of a chapter of the 2013 IPCC WG1 5th Assessment Report. He has a great passion for training new generations of atmospheric modelers, and has played leading roles in the organization of summer schools, Gordon conferences for mentoring early-career scientists in atmospheric modeling research, and model development.

Christian’s research talents are best summarized in a statement in his nomination letter: “Few scientists can claim such a well-rounded contribution to their field. Dr. Jakob’s work and energy has touched on virtually every dimension of our science, ranging from its intellectual content, to how it is organized, and communicated to the public.”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2016 ASCENT Award to Dr. Christian Jakob.

—William K. M. Lau, President, Atmospheric Sciences section, AGU

Response

I am both thrilled and humbled by receiving this award. I sincerely thank the Atmospheric Sciences section of the AGU for bestowing this honor on me. Thank you Neville, Bjorn, Bill, and Martin for your support in the nomination process.

The award celebrates 20 years of the privilege of being supported by and collaborating with many extraordinary colleagues and friends, too many to name them all. It was Michael Tiedtke and Martin Miller who gave me my start in the field of parameterizing clouds and convection at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Without them, I would not have dared to leave the confines of my home country and discover the world. Without them I would also not have developed the passion for trying to apply my work and ideas to improving models. The international nature of the ECMWF enterprise was the ignition charge for my involvement in the many activities of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) to which I was allowed to contribute and that shaped me. Thank you WCRP for making me part of the journey. A special thanks goes to the GEWEX Cloud System Study team, which not only allowed me to do better science but also produced several lifelong friendships.

Thank you Peter May for getting me to Australia and for opening my eyes to radar observations. This whole new world turned out to be crucial in developing ideas for future representations of convection in models and it continues to excite me. A special thanks to Michael Reeder for convincing me to come to Monash University and for being a great colleague and friend since my move there. And last but not least, thank you to all my coauthors, especially students and postdocs, for accompanying me on the journey through our science and for letting the rest of the world know about what we do through publications. There would be no award without you.

—Christian Jakob, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

Eric Maloney will receive the 2016 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR ERIC MALONEY
“For fundamental studies enhancing the understanding of the Madden and Julian Oscillations, and their impacts on a wide range of tropical phenomena including tropical cyclones”

Citation

The body of work that Eric conducted in his early career has had a profound impact on the field of tropical large-scale dynamics and convective organization. His papers on the dynamics of Madden and Julian Oscillations (MJO) and relationship to hurricanes in the East Pacific and Gulf region were very influential and form the bases for the development of the real-time multivariate MJO indices that are now routinely used by weather forecasting services in monitoring and predicting the MJO. His more recent work, which covers a wide range of topics including the African monsoon, North American climate, and global climate projections are equally impressive, and highly cited. His scientific leadership is reflected in his very active roles as, among others, editor of Journal of Climate, chair of the NOAA MAPP Model Diagnostic Task Force, and co-chair of the WGNE MJO task force. Eric has been appointed to these positions not only because of his research expertise, but also his unique ability to bring diverse groups to work together in a collaborative way.

Eric’s research talents are best summarized in a statement in one of his supporting letter: “A key strength of Eric’s research is his grasp of the underlying physics. This is especially true in his papers on how the MJO modulates TCs, on the basic mechanism of the MJO and more generally how convection interacts with the large-scale environment. His papers are thoroughly grounded in fundamental physics…”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2016 ASCENT Award to Professor Eric Maloney.

—William K. M. Lau, President, Atmospheric Sciences section, AGU

Response

I am extremely humbled to receive this award from the Atmospheric Sciences section at AGU and to be placed among these highly distinguished past and current awardees. I express my deepest gratitude to Richard Johnson for nominating me, and to Kerry Emanuel, Harry Hendon, and George Kiladis for writing supporting letters. I don’t think that this accomplishment could have been remotely possible without the enormous support I have received over the years from my parents at an early age, as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois where I did independent study with Walter Robinson, in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington as a student of Dennis Hartmann, through the support of the NOAA Climate and Global Change Program as a postdoctoral fellow at NCAR under the mentorship of Jeffrey Kiehl, and as an Assistant Professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University where I had outstanding mentors like Dudley Chelton and Steve Esbensen. I would especially like to thank the current faculty, students, and researchers at the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, who have provided an intellectually stimulating and collegial environment that has contributed to my mid-career success. My publication list reflects the numerous collaborators I have worked with over the years across multiple institutions, states, and countries, and I would not be where I am today without their intellectual stimulation, energy, and friendship.

Finally, I would of course like to thank my wife Heather and daughter Isabel. Life as a spouse and daughter of a faculty member at a major research institution is not always easy, and so I owe them an enormous amount of love and gratitude for the patience and support that they have provided.

—Eric Maloney, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Adam Scaife will receive the 2016 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

CITATION FOR ADAM SCAIFE
“For his insightful studies in the coupling of diverse components of the climate system, and in improving climate predictions from monthly to decadal scales”

Citation

Adam’s research cut across many areas including ocean-atmosphere coupling, stratosphere-troposphere interaction, long-range prediction, solar-atmosphere effects, and climate impacts. His publication record is impressive. Since getting his Ph.D. in 1998, he has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, with many in highly impactful journals such as Nature, Nature Climate Change, Nature Geosciences, Nature Communications, Geophysical Research Letters, and Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, with more than 10 papers already cited over 100 times.

Adam is well recognized for his research achievements and scientific leadership. He has headed the UK Met Office of Monthly to Decadal Prediction since 2008, and served as principal investigator for several major national and international climate research projects since 2012. He has also led many international programs including, among others, co-chairing the World Meteorological Organization’s international Working Group on Seasonal to Interannual Prediction, and is currently co-chairing the World Climate Research Programme Grand Challenge on Near Term Prediction. Besides research, Adam has an outstanding record in the public communication of science, ranging from lectures to the public and learned societies, to numerous television and radio interviews, and writing popular science books.

Adam’s research talents are best summarized by a statement in his nominating letter: “His work combines a deep scientific insight, a strong background in dynamical climatology, a strong practical outlook and excellent leadership skills—a highly effective combination.”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present a 2016 ASCENT Award to Prof. Adam Scaife

—William K. M. Lau, President, Atmospheric Sciences section, AGU

Response

Thank you so much for this kind citation. It is a great honor to receive the AGU ASCENT Award and the acknowledgement that this implies, and I am truly delighted. Thank you also to the prominent scientists that made and supported my nomination—I am extremely grateful for the time they put aside from their busy schedules.

I am indebted to the Met Office in the UK for giving me the chance to pursue a career in atmospheric science, which I think it’s fair to say is one of the most vibrant areas of terrestrial physics. There is also a whole series of key influential people I would like to thank. Ian James, my Ph.D. supervisor and my colleague Neal Butchart taught me the importance of simplifying apparently complex problems down to their dynamical bare bones, and how careful and concise scientific description feeds back on our understanding to aid progress. Of course there are also the seminal giants of our field like Michael McIntyre who provide a strong background source of inspiration. Just listening to them give talks, or being party to their conversations at meetings sent an enormous cascade of key knowledge my way.

I must also give my deep thanks to Chris Folland, who pulled me out of a pack of keen young scientists and first gave me the opportunity to guide and steer my own research group. I thrived on his enthusiasm, knowledge, and simple straightforward encouragement to think boldly about our research. Similarly, Chris Gordon and Julia Slingo had the vision to see the potential for improving climate models and delivering climate predictions from months to years ahead. They gave me the opportunity and resource to lead this initiative in the Met Office Hadley Centre which was an opportunity that I eagerly took and has since proved successful. Finally, I am indebted to the members of my research group; they make it a pleasure to arrive at work each day and I feel truly privileged to work with such a driven, genuine, and hardworking bunch of down-to-Earth people.

I therefore accept this award with deep gratitude to all of the colleagues I have worked with over the years. As well as the excitement and joy of scientific discovery, it is the great fun I’ve had with the many inspiring and interesting characters over the years that I am particularly grateful for.

—Adam Scaife, Hadley Centre, Met Office, Exeter, U.K.

Jiwen Fan, Andrew Gettelman, Allen L. Robinson, and Allison Steiner will receive the 2015 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

The Atmosphere Sciences section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) is pleased to award one of the four 2015 Ascent Awards to Dr. Jiwen Fan of the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for “her outstanding contributions in improving understanding of fundamental physical processes in aerosol-cloud interactions.”

Jiwen’s research covers a broad scope ranging from tropospheric chemistry to aerosol-cloud interactions. Among her most impressive contributions is her dedicated effort in providing better understanding of aerosol effects on deep convective clouds. Over the last 10 years, she conducted a series of seminal studies in which she used advanced methodologies and computationally intensive modeling tools to demonstrate how aerosols can impact convection, clouds, weather, and climate through various mechanisms. Of these studies, her findings that vertical wind shear is one of the key environmental factors determining whether aerosols invigorate or suppress convection and that aerosol microphysical invigoration is a dominant mechanism explaining the ubiquitously observed increase of cloud cover and cloud top height by aerosols are widely recognized. Additionally, Jiwen has also been at the forefront of addressing the challenge of improving cloud microphysics parameterizations, particularly on ice nucleation for models.

Her accomplishments and contributions are succinctly summarized in a statement in one of her supporting letters: “I consider that the combination of the breadth, productivity, and impact of her research most uniquely distinguishes her from most of her peers.” Another stated that “she is the most creative, productive, and diligent young scientist I have ever known and worked with.”

We are extremely pleased to present a 2015 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Dr. Jiwen Fan.

—William K. M. Lau, University of Maryland, College Park

Response

Thank you, Bill, for the generous citation. I am honored to be selected as one of the recipients of the Ascent Award. I am grateful to the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section and the selection committee for this recognition. I humbly accept on behalf of the many people who helped make this possible. Deepest thanks to Zhanqing Li for the nomination and to Daniel Rosenfeld, Bob Houze, and Gerald North, who wrote supporting letters.

I am extremely grateful to my Ph.D. dissertation adviser, Renyi Zhang, for introducing me to the atmospheric field, mentoring me in my efforts to become a scientist, and guiding my career development over the years. I extend many thanks to my postdoc mentors Jennifer Comstock and Mikhail Ovchinnikov for bringing me to PNNL and to the field of atmospheric observation.

I consider myself very fortunate to be able to sustain long-term collaborative relationships with several people through working on challenging problems in the field of aerosol-cloud-climate interactions. I would like to mention especially Zhanqing Li, Danny Rosenfeld, Ruby Leung, Alex Khain, Wei-Kuo Tao, and, more recently, Guang Zhang, Kuan-Man Xu, and Steve Ghan. Whatever success I have had in research is due in large part to them, as well as to my past and current postdocs, visiting scientists, and graduate students. I hope that we are able to keep working together in the future as well.

In my very early career, I learned a lot from colleagues in Renyi’s group, Wei-Kuo Tao’s group, and Zhanqing’s group, and I appreciate their help and collaboration. I wish to thank my PNNL colleagues and managers for their help and support of my professional growth.

I also want to thank Department of Energy program managers Ashley Williamson, Sally McFarlane, Renu Joseph, and Dorothy Koch and PNNL project managers Ruby Leung, Steve Ghan, and Jerome Fast for their funding support of my research.

Finally, I want to thank my family, my parents, sisters, and brother and my husband and our two sons, for their love and support.

—Jiwen Fan, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash.

Jiwen Fan, Andrew Gettelman, Allen L. Robinson, and Allison Steiner will receive the 2015 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

Andrew is best known for his powerful contributions to the understanding of exchange processes between the stratosphere and troposphere and the representation of clouds in global climate models. His work led to substantially improved understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the dehydration of air entering the tropical stratosphere. His transformative studies on the tropical tropopause layer helped define a new research area. “Andrew’s studies on tropical tropopause layer, cloud microphysics and aerosol-cloud interactions place him at the top of his field,” stated one of the supporting letters. His nominator pointed out that “Andrew’s work is unique in that it links basic processes and observations with global models. Andrew is an exceptional scientist: I know very few atmospheric scientists at his stage of career whose accomplishments have Andrew’s breadth and depth.”

We congratulate Dr. Andrew Gettelman, winner of a 2015 Ascent Award “for outstanding contributions to the understanding of stratosphere-troposphere exchange and modeling and understanding of cloud effects in the climate system.”

—William K. M. Lau, University of Maryland, College Park

Response

It is a great honor to receive this award. I have been fortunate in my career to have had the support and the opportunity to learn from some fantastic mentors. These include some who are no longer with us. I want to recognize the enduring impact of Professor Jim Holton, my adviser, and Dr. Byron Boville, one of my postdoctoral supervisors and mentors as a young scientist. I learned from them explicitly and by example not just how to do research but to conduct science collaboratively. Their examples taught me how to critically work with data and models together and also how to work with a community of researchers.

Science, particularly atmospheric science, does not take place in a vacuum. I have also been privileged to work with expert collaborators over the years as well, from whom I have learned much, including Qiang Fu, Bill Randel, Phil Rasch, Hugh Morrison, and Vincent Larson. I thank many different other mentors at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and beyond for believing in me and supporting my work and providing an exciting and amazing environment in which to conduct research and a platform for collaborating with and communicating that research to others.

I hope I can justify my colleagues’ confidence in me with high-quality and impactful future research and by instilling in the next generation of scientists some of the things that I have learned from the previous generation.

Finally, I wish to thank my family, especially my wife, Francesca, and our kids, Fiona and Natalie, for their support and willingness to explore new opportunities and new places with me as I have collaborated with other researchers around the world.

—Andrew Gettelman, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.

Jiwen Fan, Andrew Gettelman, Allen L. Robinson, and Allison Steiner will receive the 2015 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

Allen Robinson has transformed our understanding of primary aerosol emissions. Fine particles dominate uncertainties in climate forcing and health effects from pollution. Atmospheric evolution receives substantial focus, but sources are often neglected. This is a pity; without good emissions data model results are guaranteed to be garbage. For whatever reason, particle nucleation is a hot topic generating frequent papers in Science and Nature, but primary emissions are an “engineering” problem. Robinson et al. (Science, 2007, doi:10.1126/science.1133061) is a counterexample. Allen’s paper established that primary organic emissions are substantially semivolatile, with a great deal of evaporation happening while plumes dilute down to ambient conditions, along with simultaneous oxidation chemistry driving recondensation of organic oxidation products as secondary organic aerosol.

Allen and his research group have systematically explored this cycle of emission, evaporation, oxidation, and secondary condensation for major primary organic aerosol sources. Another paper in Science (Jimenez et al., 2009, doi:10.1126/science.1180353) put into context ambient observations using an aerosol mass spectrometer, which almost always reveal that most organic particulate matter is highly oxidized, with only a small fraction consisting of reduced material characteristic of primary emissions. This contradicts predictions by chemical transport models representing the state of the art in the mid-2000s that most organic aerosols were primary. The Robinson cycle was key to resolving this apparent contradiction. The same cycle also explains aerosol observations off of the Deep Water Horizon spill (de Gouw et al., Science, 2011, doi:10.1126/science.1200320).

Allen is a fantastic colleague and collaborator. Collaboration comes so easily that it is hard to write the detailed management plans for proposal calls that presume it is hard; “he sits on the couch in my office and we figure it out” does not always review well. He sees real-world problems with clarity and depth and makes the work easy and fun.

—Neil M. Donahue, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Response

I am grateful for and humbled by the acknowledgement of this award. Thank you to my nominators and the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section awards committee for this honor.

I have so much appreciation for all of those who have influenced my path, starting with my mother, my uncle (Nick Latham), and my grandfather (Allen Latham Jr.). They instilled a love for the outdoors and engineering. I was introduced to environmental engineering as student at Stanford and Berkeley. As a postdoctoral fellow at Sandia, I learned about combustion and emissions. I am grateful for sage advice from my mentors (Gil Masters at Stanford, Rich Sextro and Bill Nazaroff at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/University of California, Berkeley, and Larry Baxter at Sandia). My career took a strong turn toward the atmosphere when I joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon. The Environmental Protection Agency had recently promulgated a new standard for fine particulate matter. I can still remember my lunch with Spyros Pandis that started me down the path of characterizing particle emissions from combustion systems. I cannot thank my colleagues at Carnegie Mellon enough—Spyros Pandis, Cliff Davidson (now at Syracuse), Neil Donahue, and Peter Adams. I attribute much of my success to our vigorous collaboration. I especially want to thank Neil, with whom I have explored problems ranging from organic aerosols to bike wobble. He is an incredible colleague. I also want to thank my many other colleagues at Carnegie Mellon and other institutions with whom I have worked and from whom I have learned over the years. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the many fantastic students and postdocs with whom I have had the honor to work. It really takes a village.

To my amazing and supportive wife, Kathy, and our two sons, Jack and Gus, thank you for being a constant source of joy.

—Allen L. Robinson, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Jiwen Fan, Andrew Gettelman, Allen L. Robinson, and Allison Steiner will receive the 2015 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

The Atmosphere Sciences section of AGU is pleased to award one of the four 2015 Ascent Awards to Professor Allison Steiner, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, for “her outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary studies encompassing biosphere-atmosphere interactions, regional climate, air-quality and chemistry-climate connections.”

Dr. Steiner is a world leader in the field of biosphere-atmosphere interactions. She employs a variety of tools and techniques involving both physical and chemical process models, regional chemistry-climate models, and laboratory measurements. With these tools, she has positioned her research group for decades of discovery at the intersection of fields often considered separately, including climate, atmospheric chemistry, air pollution, and land-biosphere-atmosphere exchange. Allison’s scientific leadership, communication skills, and engaging personality make her a highly sought after speaker at major conferences and workshops. As a testimony to her stature in the field, she was invited by the National Science Foundation and the National Research Council to serve on a highly visible National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel tasked to help chart the future path for the atmospheric chemistry discipline.

In addition to her outstanding research contributions, Allison has also been a pioneer and leader in strengthening the geoscience community. Examples include serving as founder and leader of the Earth Science Women’s Network and as editor for Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, with special responsibility in biosphere-land-atmosphere areas.

We are extremely pleased to present a 2015 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Professor Allison Steiner.

—William K. M. Lau, University of Maryland, College Park

Response

Thank you very much for this award, and I am very grateful to my nominators and the Atmospheric Sciences section awards committee for this honor. I pursued a degree in atmospheric sciences as a way of trying to understand the world around me—looking up at the sky, watching the trees, and visualizing the chemistry of these interactions are a constant source of inspiration to me. This award is particularly meaningful to me as I realize that this pursuit is as much about the scientific community as it is about the science, and I would not be at this point without this community support. I would like to thank my dissertation adviser at Georgia Tech, Bill Chameides, for allowing me to find my own scientific path and providing an amazing example of the ingenuity and commitment required for this career. I thank my postdoctoral advisers at the University of California, Berkeley, including Allen Goldstein, Ron Cohen, and Rob Harley, as well as Inez Fung for providing an extremely exciting and rewarding place to be a postdoc. I would also like to thank my colleagues at Michigan and members of my research group over the past 10 years for helping me to grow as a scientist and develop the research that is being honored today. And perhaps just as important as the formal mentors has been my peer network, including the founding members of the Earth Science Women’s Network (ESWN). ESWN grew out of conversations at a 2002 AGU meeting, and these women continue to advise and inspire me throughout my career. Finally, a special thank you to my family and my husband, Deryl Seale, for his constant support and covering childcare to enable me to take “just one more trip.”

—Allison L. Steiner, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Kenneth Carslaw, Meredith Hastings, Adam Sobel, and Rodney J. Weber received 2014 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

We congratulate Dr. Kenneth Carslaw, winner of a 2014 Ascent Award “for outstanding contributions to the modeling of aerosol properties and their impact on climate in the troposphere and lower stratosphere.”

—Peter Webster, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I am honored to receive this award. I would like to thank my many excellent and generous collaborators over many years and to acknowledge in particular the creative and enjoyable interactions with members of my research group at Leeds.

—Ken Carslaw, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

Kenneth Carslaw, Meredith Hastings, Adam Sobel, and Rodney J. Weber received 2014 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

We congratulate Dr. Meredith Hastings, winner of a 2014 Ascent Award “for increasing our understanding of the interlocking nature of the chemistry of the atmosphere, biosphere and climate and the role humans play in the interconnection.”

—Peter Webster, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I am grateful for the acknowledgement of this award. Thank you to my nominators, supporters, and the American Geophysical Union Atmospheric Sciences section awards committee for this honor. There are many aspects of my career that I find exciting and fulfilling—from the big picture of trying to understand changes in the environment to mentoring students to watching the data come off the mass spec—and the recognition from an award like this is additionally inspiring and energizing.

My “village” is rich and diverse, and I have so much appreciation for all of those who have influenced my path inside and outside science, from Dr. Gottfried, my eighth-grade science teacher who related everything to how the ocean works, to my high school and college mentors (special thanks to Joe Zawodny, Frank Millero, Gay Ingram, Jamie Goen, Dan O’Sullivan, Esa Peltola, Linda Farmer, Dan DiResta, and Peter Milne), to the deep and enriching education I received at Princeton. I am a better scientist for having worked with Danny Sigman (and Michael Bender, Bess Ward, George Philander, and Jorge Sarmiento). I cannot thank Chip Levy enough for leading me into atmospheric sciences and for his support, confidence, excellent mentoring, and care in balancing work and life. Thanks too for the interactions, advice, and training in knowability I received at the University of Washington from Gerard Roe, David Battisti, Eric Steig, and Tom Ackerman. The amazing women that are members of the Earth Science Women’s Network (ESWN) and my colleague, friend, and cheerleader Tracey Holloway, I have so benefited all along the way from your advice and support. Today, I am surrounded at Brown University by excellent colleagues, fantastic students, and Ruby Ho, without whom my lab would not be productive! To my amazing and supportive husband, Eric, and our beautiful girls, Anne and Lyla, thank you for being a constant source of joy.

—Meredith Hastings, Brown University, Providence, R.I.

Kenneth Carslaw, Meredith Hastings, Adam Sobel, and Rodney J. Weber received 2014 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

We congratulate Dr. Adam Sobel, winner of a 2014 Ascent Award “for fundamental contributions leading to a better understanding of the dynamics of the tropical atmosphere.”

—Peter Webster, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I wish to thank Professor Webster and the Atmospheric Sciences section awards committee for selecting me for this award and also those who nominated me for it. It’s a great honor, and I am humbled to be in the company of previous recipients.

It takes a village, as the cliché goes. I learned the field first and foremost from my Ph.D. advisor, Alan Plumb, and my postdoctoral advisor, Chris Bretherton. Kerry Emanuel, Isaac Held, and David Neelin also stand out as mentors from whom I’ve been privileged to learn over the years. Lorenzo Polvani and Mark Cane have been my most important mentors and colleagues at Columbia, guiding me through academic life since I arrived here 15 years ago. Many more colleagues than I can name at my two Columbia homes—the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Math in Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences—have made this a wonderful place to go from junior to “midcareer.”

I have been especially fortunate, though, to be able to sustain long-term collaborative relationships with several people here in particular, especially Suzana Camargo and Michela Biasutti and, more recently, Michael Tippett and Shuguang Wang as well. Whatever success I have had in research over the last decade is due in large part to them, as well as to an outstanding series of postdocs and graduate students. I consider myself truly fortunate for having had the opportunity to work with scientists of this exceptional caliber. I hope that we are able to keep working together for many more years.

Most of all, I thank my family: my parents and sister; my wife, Marit Larson; and our sons, Eli and Samuel, for their love and support.

—Adam Sobel, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.

Kenneth Carslaw, Meredith Hastings, Adam Sobel, and Rodney J. Weber received 2014 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences."

Citation

We congratulate Dr. Rodney Weber, winner of a 2014 Ascent Award “for significant advances in our understanding of aerosols and for the development of novel instrumentation to measure particle formation.”

—Peter Webster, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I feel very privileged to receive this award from the American Geophysical Union Atmospheric Sciences section and am truly indebted to those who committed their valuable time and effort into putting together my nomination. Receiving the award is a highlight of my research career and provides motivation to continue to pursue topics of interest to me in my own way. Of course, what successes I have had are largely due to the people I have worked with and the generosity of the community of scientists in my research area. This started from Virgil Marple taking me on as new graduate student with dubious background to Peter McMurry, my Ph.D. adviser, who was a role model and provided guidance and opportunities primed for success. After graduate school it was my many friends and colleagues at Brookhaven National Laboratory who showed by example the effort and rigor needed to do good science. But having spent most of my career at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), it is the efforts of my graduate students and postdocs and collaborations with Georgia Tech colleagues that have contributed the most. All of this would have been impossible and meaningless without the support of my family. I thank you all.

—Rodney J. Weber, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Cecilia M. Bitz, Paul A. Ginoux, Mark Z. Jacobson, Sergey Nizkorodov, and Ping Yang received 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the five Ascent Awards to Professor Cecilia M. Bitz of the Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Washington for advancing our ability to model climate in numerous ways, especially in relation to sea ice.

Bitz is best known for her integrated and powerful contributions on Arctic sea ice. She developed improved representations of sea ice physics for implementation in coupled global climate models to determine the role of sea ice in the climate system and high-latitude climate and the role of changing sea ice in climate change. She was able to show from first principles that sea ice thinning greatly amplifies climate variability.

Working from her improved understanding of sea ice, Cecilia assessed the controls on Arctic amplification in climate models, finding strong dependence on the mean state of the sea ice. From this finding, Bitz provides a path toward improved model projections.

Her research deals with both complex systems and important problems in climate. As stated by her nominator regarding aspects of the climate system, “understanding the recent decline is a very complex challenge since its attribution requires quantification of the roles of ocean heat transport, atmospheric heat fluxes, sea-ice age distributions, and unforced interannual modes of coupled Arctic variability among many other factors.”

In noting Cecilia’s qualifications for an Ascent Award, one letter of support stated, “Professor Bitz’s scholarship on sea ice is both superlative and unmatched among her faculty peers. This is especially evident given her rapid climb in international standing as she has progressed from an early-career scientist to mid-career faculty member.” Another stated, “As a high-latitude scientist, Cecilia has gained an enormous respect in the community, and her advice and opinion is valued in the United States and the world.”

We are extremely pleased to present a 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Professor Cecilia M. Bitz.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta

Response

I am delighted and honored to receive this award. I am grateful to my nominators and to the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section for this recognition. Many of my students and colleagues have become my friends over the years. It has been a pleasure to share the joy of scientific discovery and companionship with them. I am also fortunate to have had teachers and advisors who inspired me and were generous with their time and encouragement.

I am grateful for having had the opportunity to be a part of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) project. From early in my career, I have been asked to serve on various committees with the CESM, National Research Council, and National Science Foundation that have helped me grow and exposed me to fantastic scientists, leaders, and mentors. I feel that some have gambled when they chose me for various positions. I shall strive to be as bold when I have the opportunity to choose others for such opportunities in the future.

—CECILIA M. BITZ, Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Washington, Seattle

Cecilia M. Bitz, Paul A. Ginoux, Mark Z. Jacobson, Sergey Nizkorodov, and Ping Yang received 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the five Ascent Awards to Dr. Paul A. Ginoux of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for outstanding world-leading research on dust aerosols using observations and models that has contributed to a comprehensive scientific understanding of atmospheric aerosols.”

Ginoux investigates the role of dust in climate using a wide range of data and methodologies. He has extracted information from observations obtained from multiple platforms (satellites, ground-based networks, aircraft, lidar), constructed parameterizations for a range of numerical model types, and formulated model intercomparisons and assessments against observations.

In conducting his research, Paul has collaborated widely across institutions and with scientists nationally and internationally. As stated by his nominator, “he has been unselfish…freely imparting his knowledge and findings…in order for the science to become wholesome and for the knowledge to be integrated.”

Paul is responsible for the extremely important result that anthropogenic activity (primarily agricultural in origin) contributes about 25% of the observed atmospheric concentration of dust. This would seem to be of immense importance for climate research as the field attempts to determine the relative influences of man and natural variability in a changing climate.

Ginoux’s research on the physical nature of dust aerosols, their emissions, the manner in which they are transported and transformed that he has deduced from first physical principles, numerical techniques, and observations garners the following accolades from his nominators: “world-leading scientific credentials par excellence,” “among the among the top world experts spanning virtually all areas of relevance in aerosol physics,” and “is really an outstanding scientist with a lot of imagination and a sense of perfection. He is working very systematically and rigorously. I regard him as a real world scientific leader and a pioneering scholar. Undoubtedly, he is one of the few top specialists in dust modeling with a rare intellectual breadth.”

We are extremely pleased to present a 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Dr. Paul A. Ginoux.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta

Response

I am honored to receive the 2013 AGU Ascent Award, although it came with some surprise. If I get quickly passionate when speaking about dust, most colleagues and friends wonder with amazement how that is possible. One reason for it is the widespread interactions between dust and all parts of the Earth’s system.

Reading a wide spectrum of scientific journals has been crucial to make such links, but access to scientific libraries is not always easy. So I would like first to thank all public libraries, particularly the Library of Congress and its mesmerizing atmosphere; the University of Colorado at Boulder Library, which I like to associate with the “Library of Babel” by Luis Borges; and the library of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where I discovered many scientific journals.

There are many people whom I would like to thank, and I will start with my dust buddies, who occasionally get more excited about dust than me, especially Joe Prospero and Tom McGill. My scientific career started with my Ph.D. advisor, Guy Brasseur, who created a wonderful atmosphere at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The opportunity to work at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with Mian Chin as a postdoctoral fellow was instrumental in finding new ideas from the analysis of satellite data. I wish to thank my director Ramaswamy for giving me the chance to work at GFDL and to interact with top scientists modeling each component of the Earth’s system.

Finally, I am grateful to my nominators and supporters, and I wish to thank the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section awards committee for this honor.

—PAUL A. GINOUX, Geophysical Fluid Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Princeton, N.J.

Cecilia M. Bitz, Paul A. Ginoux, Mark Z. Jacobson, Sergey Nizkorodov, and Ping Yang received 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the five Ascent Awards to Professor Mark Z. Jacobson of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University for his dominating role in the development of models to identify the role of black carbon in climate change.

Jacobson studies the impacts of black carbon, the major constituent in soot, on the climate of the planet. Through a series of high-impact modeling experiments, he has shown that black carbon is the second largest contributor to global warming. His model, now used by more than 1000 researchers, reproduced this dual effect of black carbon, i.e., it is a strong absorber of solar radiation, heating both the atmosphere and the ground. He also shows that there is an important secondary effect, i.e., heating the atmosphere reduces cloudiness and hence increases surface temperature even more.

Mark and his group have also studied the effects of absorbing organic aerosols (brown carbon) on ultraviolet and visible radiation; of aerosols on ozone, winds, and precipitation; of biomass burning on climate; of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on air quality and stratospheric ozone; of ethanol and diesel vehicles on air quality; of agriculture on air pollution; of aircraft on climate; of urban surfaces on climate; and of combining renewable energy on grid reliability.

His nominators noted, “Jacobson’s model is one of the few, if not the only one, which was able to simulate, and anticipate in some instances, the major features of black carbon warming identified in observations taken by aircraft and surface observatories.” Furthermore, “he is among the top few percent of aerosol climate modelers in the world and has conducted fundamental scientific studies with his models,” and “I cannot think of a more accomplished researcher in his field… He is a first-class scholar whose work is of the highest quality.”

We are extremely pleased to present a 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Professor Mark Z. Jacobson.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta

Response

Thank you, Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU for bestowing this humbling honor on me. Thank you, Dr. Ramanathan, for your gracious nomination. Thank you to all my mentors, colleagues, students, special friends, parents, children, and even critics, over the years who supported my pushing the envelope to better understand the impacts of black carbon on climate and air pollution health through numerical modeling.

We have arrived at a crossroads now between understanding the intricacies of what causes global warming and solving the problem. The greatest gratification I have about working on black carbon is the knowledge that there are tractable solutions to reducing its emissions, including emission control technologies and changing our energy infrastructure to a noncombusting one. Because the atmospheric lifetime of black carbon is so short, controlling its emissions can also quickly reduce its impacts, particularly by delaying the loss of Arctic sea ice, thereby providing some additional time to transition to a clean-energy economy.

Going forward, I think it is incumbent on me as a scientist to focus on examining both problems and solutions. Solving the problems will require a large, integrated effort among scientists, business people, policy makers, and cultural figures. I hope to be a part of this effort and am optimistic that we can solve the problems together. This will make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren. Thank you again.

—MARK Z. JACOBSON, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Cecilia M. Bitz, Paul A. Ginoux, Mark Z. Jacobson, Sergey Nizkorodov, and Ping Yang received 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the five Ascent Awards to Professor Sergey Nizkorodov of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) for elucidating at the molecular level the formation, growth, and reactions of organic molecules in the atmosphere.

Nizkorodov works on atmospheric organic molecules describing, at the molecular level, their formation, growth, and reactions with secondary atmospheric organic aerosols The problem is described by his nominator as “representing the greatest challenge in the field of atmospheric chemistry today.”

He is described as “using laser-like focus to reveal their (organic molecules) impact on climate…to understand these molecules from ‘cradle to grave.’” Sergey conducts laboratory experimentation using high-resolution mass spectrometers to study the generation and life cycle of organic aerosols. A nomination noted that Sergey “is one of the few to address a comprehensive study of the gas-phase volatiles, the residual nonvolatile components, and the changes in absorption and related effects.”

His nominators were “impressed by the strong chemical understanding that Sergey brings to his work, in particular his appreciation of the fundamentals of photochemistry and molecular interactions.” One letter noted his growth in the community: “Sergey is now having a measurable impact on the community: by publishing an enormous amount in the past 2 to 3 years, by placing his latest graduate students in top postdoctoral positions, and by receiving a number of invitations to speak at prestigious meetings.” Furthermore, “there is no doubt that he is one of the world’s leaders in his area of study,” noting the highly competitive nature of his discipline.

We are extremely pleased to present a 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Professor Sergey Nizkorodov.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta

Response

I am truly honored to accept the Ascent Award from the Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU. The amazingly dynamic and intellectually stimulating atmospheric sciences community always makes my annual trips to the AGU Fall Meeting a real treat. I feel really fortunate to be a member of this vibrant community.

This award would not have been possible without my fantastic research group at UCI. I am indebted to my past and present group members for their enthusiasm, dedication, and hard work. I would like extend special thanks to my mentors at UCI, Barbara Finlayson-Pitts and James Pitts Jr., who supported me and my group members in a number of ways throughout my career at UCI. Jim’s book Photochemistry served as an inspiration for me early on to become an atmospheric photochemist. Barbara’s leadership and vision led to the creation of the Atmospheric Integrated Research at UCI (AirUCI) Institute, which has been providing a highly stimulating and collaborative environment for doing research in atmospheric sciences for me and my colleagues.

I also want to thank my dear friends and collaborators from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Alexander Laskin and Julia Laskin. My group members and I have been enjoying a highly productive collaboration with Alex and Julia since 2007. All of the wonderful methods we use to examine photochemical transformation of aerosols at molecular level with high-resolution mass spectrometry, such as nano-DESI, have been developed by Alex and Julia. I would never be writing this response note without their support and friendship.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who spent their valuable time to nominate me for this award. I will do my best to live up to your expectations!

—SERGEY NIZKORODOV, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine

Cecilia M. Bitz, Paul A. Ginoux, Mark Z. Jacobson, Sergey Nizkorodov, and Ping Yang received 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the five Ascent Awards to Professor Ping Yang of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University for significant contributions to atmospheric scattering, radiative transfer, and remote sensing.

Yang’s area of research and expertise is atmospheric scattering, radiative transfer, and remote sensing. Much of his work has been in understanding and simulating the single-scattering properties of nonspherical ice crystals and aerosol particles with various shapes ranging from quasi-spherical shapes to highly complicated geometries.

In addition, Ping has developed comprehensive databases of the single-scattering properties of ice crystals and dust aerosols (for a spectral region spanning from ultraviolet to the far-infrared). These databases have been made available to the research community and are extensively used by top research groups worldwide in the remote sensing of radiative properties of ice clouds and dust aerosols. Yang’s dust optical property database has been used not only by atmospheric scientists but also by researchers in planetary science.

Among many major accomplishments, Ping Yang was among the first to investigate the impact of ice crystal habit (shape) on the radiative forcing of tropical ice clouds using satellite retrieval products and rigorous radiative transfer modeling capabilities. The products of Ping’s research have been used by a wide range of researchers working in radiative transfer in cirrus clouds in association with climate modeling and satellite remote sensing.

His nominators noted especially his “unselfish services to the research community…serving on many boards and committees, including the International Radiation Commission.” Another noted that his “accomplishments are amazing.” They also noted, “as a mid-career researcher, Dr. Ping Yang is already an internationally recognized scientist and leader in the discipline of atmospheric scattering, radiation, and remote sensing.”

We are extremely pleased to present a 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award to Professor Ping Yang.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta

Response

I am honored and humbled that the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section decided to select me as one of the five recipients of the 2013 Ascent Award and would like to thank the selection committee for this recognition.

I am very grateful to my Ph.D. dissertation advisor, Kuo-Nan Liou, for introducing me into the discipline of atmospheric radiation and for guiding my career development over the years. I would also like to thank Drs. Gerald North, George Kattawar, Thomas Wilheit, Kenneth Bowman, Warren Wiscombe, Michael King, James Coakley, Thomas Vonder Haar, William L. Smith, and Andrew Heymsfield for mentoring my academic growth.

Additionally, I am extremely fortunate to have had opportunities to collaborate with a number of outstanding researchers, particularly, the following individuals, listed in alphabetical order: Anthony Baran, Bryan Baum, Helene Chepfer, Peter Colarco, Andrew Dessler, Oleg Dubovik, Qiang Fu, Bo-Cai Gao, Andrew Heidinger, Christina Hsu, Yongxiang Hu, Hung-Lung (Allen) Huang, Hironobu Iwabuchi, Ralph Kahn, Jhoon Kim, Istvan Laszlo, Jun Li, Quahua Liu, Xu Liu, Alexander Marshak, Patrick Minnis, Michael Mishchenko, Martin Mlynczak, Shaima Nasiri, Lazaros Oreopoulos, Steven Platnick, Jerome Riedi, ­Byung-Ju Sohn, ­Si-Chee Tsay, Manfred Wendisch, Fuzhong Weng, and Daniel Zhou.

Furthermore, it is a great privilege to work with the former and current graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in my research group at Texas A&M University.

Last but certainly not least, I thank Hal Maring of NASA, Dr. Bradley Smull of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Sid Boukabara of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Drs. Mohan Gupta, Rangasayi Halthore, and S. Daniel Jacob of the Federal Aviation Administration for their encouragement and support.

—PING YANG, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station

Andrew E. Dessler, Jose L. Jimenez, Stephen A. Klein, and Athanasios Nenes received 2012 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the four Ascent Awards to Professor Andrew E. Dessler of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University for fundamental contributions to the understanding of stratospheric-tropospheric exchange processes and the physics of ozone depletion and for attempts to unravel water vapor and cloud feedbacks in the climate system. In addition, he is commended for his ceaseless work in communicating the science of climate change to the public.

His letters of recommendation speak to his work and “path breaking” and imparting of a “major impact on science and on dissemination.” His work on climate feedbacks is described as “pioneering,” and his accomplishments “have enhanced our understanding and assessment of the intricate play among water vapor, clouds, and surface temperature increase in the Earth’s atmosphere.”

Andrew E. Dessler is well worthy of an Ascent Award and personifies exceptional scientific accomplishments in a field of difficult but important science.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I’d like to thank the Atmospheric Sciences Section Award Committee for this recognition.

I’d like to say that I’m humbled to join the illustrious group of former winners, but because this is the first time the award has been given, I leave that platitude for next year’s winners. Most of all, I’d like to acknowledge the entire climate science community. Over the last several decades, thousands of us have devoted our professional lives to studying climate, and the community has done a remarkable job of working out the physics of the problem. Ignored by many, demonized by some, I believe that future generations will look back and say, “They nailed it.” It has been an honor to work with all of you on this problem.

—ANDREW E. DESSLER, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station

Andrew E. Dessler, Jose L. Jimenez, Stephen A. Klein, and Athanasios Nenes received 2012 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the four Ascent Awards to Professor Jose-Luis Jimenez of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. The award is made for the development and utilization of innovative measurement technology to address critical aspects relating to the sources, transformations, and environmental fates of fine atmospheric particles.

The letters of nomination note the prolific and highly cited publication record of Professor Jimenez and his group that is almost unprecedented for a mid-career scientist. It was also highlighted that he has played a leading role in a large number of field experiments. Perhaps Professor Jimenez’s career can be summarized best by the following statement from his nomination letter: “Professor Jimenez is without question a brilliant and productive atmospheric scientist, a wonderful mentor, and a leader in his field.”

Professor Jimenez is well worthy of an Ascent Award through thoughtful and important research that has been disseminated broadly in the literature and is having a major impact on the atmospheric sciences.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I am honored and humbled to receive the 2012 Ascent Award from AGU. Not so long ago, I remember being amazed by the energy, excitement, and rigor that I witnessed at my first AGU Fall Meeting in 1999. I have been lucky to participate in a period of rapid learning about the composition and sources of aerosols at a time when science is increasingly collaborative. There is still much to be learned in this and related fields to have confidence in our predictions of climate forcing and air quality, and I look forward to many more collaborations and AGU Fall Meetings during the second half of my career.

There are many people I would like to thank. I have had excellent mentors during my career, but I owe special thanks to Doug Worsnop for his unrelenting support and for being a truly inspiring role model, always ready to answer any question or be challenged into an interesting discussion. The many talented members of my research group, past and present, have made research invigorating and taught me how to be a better mentor. The Aerodyne mass spectrometer communities have been an example of cooperation and a constant source of interesting ideas and discussions. I have been fortunate to collaborate widely across our community, including several intense field studies, and I am grateful to the many researchers I have worked with in the process. And, of course, none of this would have been possible without the support and encouragement of my wife, Yumi; my family; and my good friends. I dedicate this award to them.

—JOSE L. JIMENEZ, University of Colorado Boulder

Andrew E. Dessler, Jose L. Jimenez, Stephen A. Klein, and Athanasios Nenes received 2012 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the four Ascent Awards to Dr. Stephen Klein of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The award is made for the substantial contributions Dr. Klein has made toward understanding some of the field’s most important problems, the interaction of clouds and climate through (as noted in his nomination) “the careful analysis of observations, the insightful use of models of varying complexity and his ability to synthesize diverse strands of knowledge.”
He has worked on a broad range of problems, from microphysical processes in mixed-phase Arctic clouds to the role of clouds in ocean-atmosphere interactions. He is described as working “at the important intersection of cloud observations, analysis, and climate model development.” His work is summarized as “doing it all, in a challenging field, successfully bridging across areas of research…in a way no one else in the U.S. can match.” His nominators point toward the enormous influence he has had on advancing the study of clouds and climate, and he is described as “pioneering contributions in every facet of our field, from the development of new ideas, to the building of tools, to the creation of important organizational structures.”

Dr. Klein’s Ascent Award is well deserved and results from his thoughtful and important research into the critical problems associated with the interaction of clouds and climate.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

I am honored to receive this recognition. I wish to thank all those who have helped me in my career, including those from where I received my education as well as those I have encountered at the different positions I have held. I have been very fortunate in interacting with many great people.

—STEPHEN A. KLEIN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.

Andrew E. Dessler, Jose L. Jimenez, Stephen A. Klein, and Athanasios Nenes received 2012 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the four Ascent Awards to Professor Athanasios Nenes, of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering of the Georgia Institute of Technology, for the creation of thermodynamical models for tropospheric aerosols and the development of physically based ­aerosol-­cloud parameterizations. In addition, he is recognized for the design of instrumentation and techniques to characterize the hygroscopicity and activation of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and also for contributions to the understanding of the role of aerosols in climate and air quality.
His nomination letters speak of the enormous contribution he has made over a wide range of fields. For example, “each of these contributions [referring to the Nenes’ instrumentation development] has reshaped the landscape of how one measures and interprets CCN data…. I know of no other individual who is equally adept across theory, instrument development, and laboratory and field measurement.” Another nominator notes, “the amazing thing about Thanos is that he has served as a one-stop-shop, end-to-end source of information into aerosol processes and cloud-aerosol interactions, from the laboratory to the field to theory to parameterizations” and “his scholarly work…both experimental and theoretical, is without peer at any age.”

Professor Nenes is abundantly qualified to receive an Ascent Award through his major contributions to many areas of aerosol research.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Response

It is a rare privilege and a deeply fulfilling experience to pursue science while helping shape future generations of scientists and engineers. To be awarded on top of it is humbling to say the least. I am deeply grateful to my nominator and supporters and thank the AGU Atmospheric Sciences Section Awards Committee for this honor. What makes the Ascent Award even more special is its strong vote of confidence for the future, which is both energizing and inspiring.

I have many people to thank: first and foremost, my wife, Luz. Her love, patience, understanding, and continuous support are a source of inspiration that has only strengthened since the birth of our two lovely children, Hector Angelos and Esperanza Dafni. I also thank the Georgia Institute of Technology and my chairs, Glenn Cass, Judith Curry, Ronald Rousseau, and William Chameides, for providing the opportunity to start a research program and doing everything possible to help it flourish. I thank my colleagues Mike Bergin, L. Greg Huey, and Rodney Weber for generously sharing their expertise and resources all these years. My deepest gratitude goes to present and past members of my research group; your inexhaustible enthusiasm, motivation, creativity, and hard work have accomplished more than I could have ever imagined.

I am forever grateful to my Ph.D. advisor John Seinfeld, Spyros Pandis, Richard Flagan, and my M.Sc. advisor Christodoulos Pilinis. They introduced me to aerosol science, shaped me as a scientist, and provided continuous guidance, support, friendship, and opportunity for collaboration. I am also grateful to Greg Roberts for an amazing collaboration on CCN instrumentation and to Greg Kok, of Droplet Measurement Technologies, for enabling its commercial success.
Finally, I dedicate this award to my parents, Theodosio and Maria. By example, they taught me to aim high, work hard for it, and never give up trying.

—ATHANASIOS NENES, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta