Dr. Jiang Zhu is a truly exceptional early-career paleoclimate modeler who has fundamentally changed our views of past climate change. His research has both resolved outstanding paradoxes in paleoclimate research and furthered our ability to use past climates as benchmarks for climate model development. Jiang recognized, early on in the Community Modeling Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) modeling cycle, that the strength of the low cloud feedback was a key determinant of climate sensitivity in this new generation of models, and also was a predictor of how well a model could simulate past climates. He showed that while improvements to cloud parameterization in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) version 1.2 enabled the model to resolve the decades-old “equable climate problem” for the Eocene greenhouse world, the subsequent changes in CESM version 2 made the model too sensitive, and it therefore overestimated past climate changes. Going further, he used paleoclimates to tune model cloud parameterizations, demonstrating how we as a community can go beyond simple proxy-model comparison and actually use paleoclimates to improve our model predictions for the future.

Beyond his scientific contributions, Jiang is a generous collaborator who is always ready to share his results and work with others—he has contributed to a staggering number of paleoclimate studies. He also helped found the Paleoclimate Advances Webinar Series (PAWS), which is a virtual platform for members of the paleoclimate community to share their science. As a rising star in climate modeling with a community ethos, Jiang embodies the namesake of this award, Dr. Nanne Weber, who likewise was a paleoclimate modeler with a generous spirit. We are thrilled that Jiang has been selected for this year’s Nanne Weber Early Career Award, and we have no doubt that his research will continue to advance paleoclimatology in the decades to come.

—Jessica Tierney, University of Arizona, Tucson

Paleoclimatologists have long been charged with the task of using past climate to inform our future. Achieving this goal requires a close collaboration between scientists working with paleoclimate data and climate modeling, facilitating interdisciplinary research. Dr. Nanne Weber, as a leader in paleoclimate modeling and model-data comparison, perfectly exemplifies these aspects. She once articulated, “Although there are no analogous situations in the past, the past does provide suitable exercise material. Do we understand why the climate changes and which mechanisms are involved in those processes?” I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the AGU 2023 Nanne Weber Early Career Award in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, which is named in honor of Dr. Nanne Weber. I am thrilled to be part of the community’s collective effort in transcending disciplinary boundaries to gain insights into our climate’s future through the lens of the past. I extend my sincere gratitude to Drs. Jess Tierney, Bette Otto-Bliesner, and Dan Lunt for their nomination and support. Over the years, I have had the privilege of learning from exceptional mentors and role models. Prof. Zhengyu Liu, my Ph.D. adviser, has been a constant source of inspiration and taught me to approach complex climate problems from fundamental principles. Profs. Chris Poulsen and Jess Tierney provided invaluable mentorship and encouragement during my postdoctoral years, which has greatly broadened the scope of my research and my professional network. Drs. Bette Otto-Bliesner and Esther Brady have played a pivotal role in nurturing my growth as a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, providing constant support in my pursuit of the questions that most intrigue me. I must also express my deep appreciation to the friends I’ve made among my peers and colleagues, whose support and shared joy have enriched my professional journey. Last, I am deeply indebted to my wife, Ke, and our son, Victor, as well as my parents, for their unwavering love and support. —Jiang Zhu, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.