Date: July 13, 2021
Title: Riding the Winds and Currents to Understand and Predict the Climate System
Part of the NOAA Environmental Leadership Seminar (NELS) Series. These webinars are public and open to anyone, in or outside of NOAA.
Speaker: Dr. Venkatachalam (Ram) Ramaswamy, Director NOAA/OAR Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL)
Abstract: I will present a perspective on the career journey undertaken in probing into the atmosphere and oceans as part of NOAA's mission, and the richness of the leadership and management challenges. There have been transformative lessons, rich experiences, learnings on caring for the people and mission, and delivering actionable NOAA science-based information on the environment to society.
Bio: Dr. Ramaswamy (Ram) became the fourth Director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in 2009. Ram was named Acting Director of the laboratory in 2007. Previously, he served as leader of the Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry group and senior scientist, after joining the GFDL research staff in 1987. Under his leadership, a new era in supercomputing was launched for GFDL. Significantly enhanced computing power has enabled higher resolutions and greater complexity in the lab’s climate models. GFDL now routinely runs experiments using very high resolution global climate models, capable of revealing regional details. The lab’s new Earth system models simulate the interaction of biogeochemical cycles (including human influences) with the climate system. Future projections from these models produce a level of detail and realism not previously possible. Since 1992, Ram has been a Lead Author or Coordinating Lead Author for each of the assessment reports for the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. He has continued to have a leading role in the Global Change Research program, and served on the Joint Scientific Committee, including as Vice-Chair, of the World Climate Research Program. Ram is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society, and he has received the World Meteorological Organization’s Norbert Gerbier MUMM International Award three times. Ram has also received numerous other awards, including the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, twice, and the Presidential Rank Award. Ram’s research career has focused on improving our understanding of atmospheric physics and the roles of natural and human-influenced factors driving climate change, by developing and using state-of-the-art climate models. His published research includes over 150 papers in refereed journals. Ram teaches atmospheric radiation with applications to climate in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University, and he has mentored graduate students, postdoctoral and visiting scientists. Ram received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from State University of New York at Albany, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Delhi, India. Source: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/v-ramaswamy/.
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