Science Team

Thomas P. Ackerman received the M.Sc. degree in Physics in 1971 and the Ph. D. in Atmospheric Sciences in 1976 from the University of Washington. He is currently Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Director of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) at the University of Washington. He served as the Chief Scientist for the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program from 1999 to 2007 and prior to that was a Professor of Meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include atmospheric radiative transfer, the effect of aerosol and clouds on Earth radiation budget, remote sensing of aerosol and cloud properties both from ground and satellite, and the use of multi-sensor data to evaluate clouds and radiation in climate models. He is a member of the MISR science team, a former member of the CloudSat science team, and past chair of the GEWEX international Science Steering Group.