D
Committee Biographies
EVERETTE JOSEPH, Co-Chair, is the director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Joseph was the director of the University at Albany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center and the State University of New York Empire Innovations Professor in Atmospheric Sciences. Before joining University at Albany, Joseph served as the director of the Howard University Program in Atmospheric Sciences, director of the Howard University Beltsville Center for Climate System Observations, and deputy director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Atmospheric Science at Howard University. Most recently, Joseph served as the co-lead for the development of the New York State Mesonet, which is a $25 million project for the development of an early warning system to aid state emergency managers and to assist the public in mitigation of the effects of hazardous weather. Joseph also leads an international team of scientists from the United States and Taiwan in the study of weather extremes and decision making and he helped lead the development of a major field observation program with university, government, and industry partners to improve satellite capabilities to monitor the atmosphere from space and the skill of atmospheric models to better forecast weather, climate, and air quality. Joseph received a PhD in physics at the University at Albany.
STEVEN W. RUNNING, Co-Chair, is the Emeritus University Regents Professor of Global Ecology and Emeritus Director, Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula. Running’s primary research interest is the development of global and regional ecosystem biogeochemical models integrating remote sensing with bioclimatology and terrestrial ecology. Running is the land team leader for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and is responsible for the EOS global terrestrial net primary production and evapotranspiration datasets. Running has published over 300 scientific articles, two books, and was a co-lead chapter author for the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment. Running was a lead chapter author for the 4th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Running is a past chair of the NASA Earth Science Subcommittee, a past member of the NASA Science Advisory Council, an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), has been designated a highly cited researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information, and in 2014 was designated one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” in geosciences. Running has been honored with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award, and received the W.T. Pecora award for lifetime achievement in Earth remote sensing from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Running has served on some 34 national and international advisory committees, including those advising NASA, NCAR, USGS, and the World Climate Research Program. Running received a PhD in forest ecology from Colorado State University.
NANCY L. BAKER is a research meteorologist with the Naval Research Laboratory’s Marine Meteorology Division. She has over 35 years of experience with various aspects of atmospheric data assimilation (DA) including observation quality control, satellite data assimilation, and observation impact studies. She has extensive experience with DA methods such as 3D-Var, 4D-Var and hybrid ensemble/variational 4D-Var, and satellite radiance assimilation, and has had a leading role in the
development and transition of these systems to the U.S. Navy for operational implementation. She currently serves as the associate director to the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation for the Navy, and is a member of the National Academies’ Committee on Radio Frequencies. Past service to the National Academies includes serving as the co-chair for the Panel on Weather and Air Quality: Minutes to Subseasonal for the 2018 Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space, member of the Committee on the Future of Rainfall Measuring Missions and the Committee on the Views on the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023, and as a review coordinator for the Airborne Platforms to Advance NASA Earth System Science Priorities: Assessing the Future Need for a Large Aircraft study. She earned her PhD in meteorology from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2000.
ELIZABETH A. BARNES is an associate professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University (CSU). Barnes joined the CSU faculty in 2013 after spending 1 year as a NOAA Climate and Global Change Fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Barnes’s research is largely focused on climate variability and change and the data analysis tools used to understand it. Topics of interest include Earth system predictability, jet-stream dynamics, Arctic-midlatitude connections, subseasonal-to-decadal prediction, and data science methods for Earth system research (e.g., machine learning, causal discovery). Barnes teaches graduate courses on fundamental atmospheric dynamics and data science and statistical analysis methods and is involved in several research community activities. In addition to being a lead of the new U.S. CLIVAR Working Group: Emerging Data Science Tools for Climate Variability and Predictability and a funded member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate and Coastal Oceanography, Barnes recently finished being the lead for the NOAA MAPP S2S Prediction Task Force (2016–2020). Barnes received the AGU Turco Lectureship for 2020, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award for 2020, an NSF CAREER grant in 2018, the George T. Abell Outstanding Early-Career Faculty Award in 2016, and the AGU James R. Holton Junior Scientist Award for 2014. Barnes has also been recognized for teaching and mentoring by being awarded an Honorable Mention for the CSU Graduate Advising and Mentorship Award in 2017 and the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award in 2016 from the graduate students of the Department of Atmospheric Science. Barnes received a PhD in atmospheric science from the University of Washington.
ANA P. BARROS (NAE) is the Donald Biggar Willett Chair of Engineering and department head of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Barros’s primary research interests are in hydrology, hydrometeorology, and environmental physics, with a focus on water-cycle processes in regions of complex terrain, remote sensing of the environment, and predictability and risk assessment of extreme events. Barros is the past-chair of Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is the president of the Hydrology Section of the AGU. Barros is a fellow of the AGU, the AMS, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the AAAS. Barros is also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Barros received a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Washington.
IVONA CETINIĆ is a senior scientist at Morgan State University and an oceanographer in the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Universities Space Research Association. Cetinić’s research focuses on developing new ways of resolving ocean biogeochemistry and phytoplankton diversity from satellite and other remote observations. At the University of Southern California, Cetinić conceived of and participated in field campaigns focused on developing innovative ocean observing technology, serving as the chief scientist for several. These campaigns include the ground-breaking Tara Oceans circumnavigation of the globe, as well as others that utilized unique fusions of cutting-edge technology such as hyperspectral radiometry, light polarimeters, and airborne lidar, allowing for more detailed information about the concentration and composition of particles in the ocean
(as well as the atmosphere). Cetinić has served as the project scientist for Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing, a large-scale NASA-led field campaign, and as the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) project science lead for Ocean Biogeochemistry, a NASA mission scheduled for launch in 2022. In the past 10 years, Cetinić has been a member of multiple international science teams and committees and has served as the co-chair of the Ocean Optics Conference, the premier biannual gathering of the ocean color remote sensing community. Cetinić received a PhD in biological oceanography at the University of Southern California.
DON P. CHAMBERS is a professor of physical oceanography at the University of South Florida. Chambers specializes in using satellite observations such as radar altimetry and satellite gravimetry to better understand ocean dynamics. Chambers’s primary research focus is quantifying and understanding sea level variability, especially trying to separate natural climate variability from anthropogenic climate change. Chambers also studies the dynamical processes that cause sea level change, including ocean circulation, ocean heat storage, ocean mass redistribution, and influx of freshwater from the continents and ice sheets. Chambers has been a member of the science teams for several NASA missions, including TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1, and is currently a member of the NASA Sea Level Change and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On science teams. Chambers was selected as the Bowie Lecturer for the 2013 Fall Meeting of the AGU and was elected as a fellow of the AGU. Chambers received a PhD in aerospace engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.
WILLIAM E. DIETRICH (NAS) is a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. Dietrich’s research focuses on the processes that underlie the evolution of landscapes. His research group and collaborators are developing geomorphic transport laws for soil production, weathering and transport, and river and debris flow incision into bedrock. They are exploring the processes that control the sorting of sediment on river beds, the transport of sediment in steep, coarse bedded channels, the routing of sediment through river networks, the influence of sediment supply on river morphodynamics, the entrainment of sediment to form debris flows, and the dispersion and deposition of sediment across floodplains. New computational approaches are being tested to predict the size and location of shallow landslides. He is collaborating in an intensive field investigation to identify, quantify, and model the processes that will control the co-evolution of climate, vegetation, and water availability in Northern California forested landscapes. He is part of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission to Mars and is collaborating on related field studies of the soil development and landscape evolution in the hyper arid Atacama Desert in Chile. Dietrich co-founded the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping. As part of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics he is co-developing a digital terrain model for predicting salmon populations from digital terrain data. Other collaborative studies are under way to link ecologic and geomorphic processes. He earned his PhD in geology from the University of Washington. He has served on the National Academies’ 2017–2027 Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space.
RILEY DUREN is a research scientist at the University of Arizona’s Office of Research, Innovation and Impact and the chief executive officer for the non-profit organization Carbon Mapper. Duren also maintains a joint appointment as an engineering fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Duren is currently the principal investigator (PI) on two NASA-funded research projects, both of which are focused on multi-scale methane and CO2 monitoring. Duren has led previous projects on the same topic for multiple federal and state agencies. Previously, Duren served as the chief systems engineer for the JPL’s Earth Science and Technology Directorate with a portfolio including spaceborne instruments and missions, airborne studies, research and analysis, and applied science. For over three decades, Duren has worked at the intersection of science and engineering to deliver observational systems, including seven successful satellite missions ranging from Earth-mapping radars to telescopes in deep space. Duren received a BS in electrical engineering from Auburn University.
KASS O’NEILL GREEN is the president of Kass Green and Associates. Green’s experience spans over 30 years of managing and supervising geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing professionals, as well as leadership in GIS and remote sensing research and policy. Green’s research includes innovations in automated change detection and machine learning for object-oriented image classification. Green is the past chair of NASA’s Earth Science Applications Committee; Green also co-founded and chaired the Department of the Interior’s Landsat Advisory Group and has served on a variety of Federal Advisory Committees for NASA, NOAA, and the Department of the Interior. Green is a fellow and a past president of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Green received a PhD in agriculture and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
GEORGE J. KOMAR is an independent consultant with over 35 years of experience in engineering, program, project, and operational management. Komar retired as the associate director in the Earth Science Division at NASA. Komar also served as the deputy associate administrator for technology for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, facilitating the development and optimization of advanced technology. Komar served as the program manager for the Landsat 7 Program, an Earth-imaging satellite with eight spectral bands and resolution from 15 to 60 m, and the TOPEX/Poseidon Program. Before NASA, Komar served in the Air Force for 21 years in various capacities, including the coordination of all Air Force headquarters activities for strategic airlift weapons system acquisition programs. Komar has received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Achievement, as well as the NASA Exceptional Leadership Medal. Komar received an MBA in management and finance from the Hardin-Simmons University.
ANNA M. MICHALAK is the director of the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science and Professor (by courtesy) in the Department of Earth System Science and the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Michalak studies the cycling and emissions of greenhouse gases at the Earth surface at urban to global scales—scales directly relevant to informing climate and policy—primarily through the use of atmospheric observations that provide the clearest constraints at these critical scales. She also explores climate change impacts on freshwater and coastal water quality via influences on nutrient delivery to, and on conditions within, water bodies. Her approach is highly data driven, focusing on the development and application of spatiotemporal statistical data fusion methods for optimizing the use of limited in situ and remote sensing environmental data. She is the lead author of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan, a former editor of the journal Water Resources Research, and the chair of the scientific advisory board for the European Integrated Carbon Observation System. She is a fellow of the AGU and the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (nominated by NASA), the NSF CAREER award, the Leopold Fellowship in environmental leadership, and the AGU Simpson Medal.
ANNE W. NOLIN is a professor of geography and serves as the director of the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno. Nolin’s research focuses on the interactions of climate with mountain snow, snow-forest interactions, and mountains as social-ecological systems. Nolin has extensive experience in remote sensing, field measurements, and modeling of changing snow and ice and is recognized for her work in snow remote sensing, pioneering the development of snow and ice mapping techniques to augment in situ observations and modeling. Nolin is a member of the NASA Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer Science Team, serving as a liaison to the cryosphere community and publishing on multi-angular remote sensing of snow and ice. Nolin was elected and served 3 years as the chair of the Cryosphere Focus Group of the AGU. Nolin has also served on NASA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee. Nolin received a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
PETER A. PILEWSKIE is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. Pilewskie previously conducted research at the NASA Ames Research Center centered on airborne measurements of atmospheric radiation, cloud and aerosol remote sensing, and analysis of the
atmospheric radiative energy budget. Pilewskie’s research interests include Earth radiation budget observations from space; climate trend monitoring; surface, airborne, and satellite remote sensing of clouds and aerosols; and atmospheric radiative transfer. Pilewskie is currently the PI for the NASA Libera Mission, the LASP PI for CLARREO Pathfinder, and deputy PI for the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor. Pilewskie is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal and the Humboldt Research Award. Pilewskie received a PhD in atmospheric science from the University of Arizona.
DAVID T. SANDWELL (NAS) is a professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics. Sandwell’s research activities are focused on mapping large-scale topographic features beneath the ocean using data collected by remote sensing instruments on satellites orbiting Earth and sonars on research vessels. Sandwell worked as a research geodesist at the National Geodetic Survey and as a research geophysicist at The University of Texas at Austin before taking a faculty position at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Sandwell is the president of the AGU’s Geodesy Section. Sandwell earned a PhD in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
DUANE E. WALISER is the chief scientist of the Earth Science and Technology Directorate at NASA JPL, which formulates, develops, and operates a wide range of Earth science remote sensing instruments for NASA’s airborne and satellite program. Waliser provides science guidance and scrutiny to mission concept, development, and implementation across the breadth of JPL’s Earth Science program. Waliser is also a visiting associate at the Geological and Planetary Sciences of the California Institute of Technology, as well as an adjunct professor for the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department at the University of California. Waliser’s principal research interests lie in weather-climate prediction and predictability, with emphasis on the Tropics, Earth system processes, and Earth’s water cycle. Waliser’s recent research focuses on utilizing new and emerging satellite data sets to study weather and climate, as well as advance model simulation and forecast capabilities, particularly for long-range weather and short-term climate applications. Previously, Waliser served as the principal scientist for the Water and Carbon Cycle Group at JPL, and as an adjunct associate professor at the Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, part of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Waliser has earned multiple honors and awards, including the NASA Group Achievement Award, the JPL People Leadership Award, the JPL Magellan Award, and a fellowship from the American Meteorological Society. Waliser received a PhD in physical oceanography from the University of California, San Diego.
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