Earth Science and Climate Change

Biography

Venkatachalam (“Ram”) Ramaswamy is Director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) since 2008. He is also a Lecturer with the rank of Professor in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program and the Princeton Environmental Institute at Princeton University. Ram got his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics from Delhi University, Ph. D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the State University of New York at Albany in 1982, and was a Fellow in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, Colorado) prior to joining NOAA/ GFDL in 1985. He held the Senior Scientist “ST” rank (highest scientific position in the US Federal system) at GFDL (2000-2008) before becoming its Director (Senior Executive Service in the US Federal system). His primary interests are the numerical modeling of the global climate system based on fundamental scientific principles, advancing the understanding of atmospheric physics and chemistry and related processes in climate, and investigating the climatic variations and changes due to natural and human-influenced factors. At GFDL, which was established in 1955, he directs one of the world’s premier climate research and modeling centers, with the mission to develop and apply advanced numerical models for understanding global and regional climate, and for making predictions and projections of climate. This research is providing state-of-the-art science inputs for decision-making concerning climate impacts, vulnerabilities, adaptation and mitigation. He has published over 160 papers on atmospheric sciences and climate in refereed journals. He has been a lead author on several international and national scientific assessments e.g., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), World Meteorological Organization Ozone, and US Global Change Research Program assessments, and National Research Council reports related to global warming, ozone depletion, aerosol climate forcing, and climate sensitivity. He was coordinating lead author of chapters in the IPCC Second, Third and Fourth Assessments (1996; 2001; 2007), a review editor on the IPCC Fifth Assessment (2013), and was co-author of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers on the 2001, 2007 and 2013 reports. He has served on the Joint Scientific Committee, including being Vice-Chair, of the World Climate Research Program (2003-2010). He teaches a course on atmospheric physics which he initiated 20 years ago, and mentors graduate students and postdoctoral scientists, in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University. His honors include: Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and American Geophysical Union; American Meteorological Society’s Houghton Award and Walter Orr Roberts Lectureship; WMO Norbert-Gerbier International Award for best scientific paper (3-time recipient, the only such scientist); Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Senior Professional; Bert Bolin Lecture (Stockholm University); Ogura Lecture (University of Illinois); Distinguished Lecturer (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia); Sir Gilbert Walker Chair Professorship (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi); Joseph Priestley Lecture (Chemical Heritage Foundation); several Department of Commerce and NOAA awards for outstanding papers and accomplishments; and member of the IPCC team that was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Research Interest

numerical modeling of the global climate system based on fundamental scientific principles, Advancing the understanding of atmospheric physics and chemistry and related processes in climate, and investigating the climatic variations and changes due to natural and human-influenced factors