You are here

Home / Research / Research Activities / Sensing Change

Scientists

 

Do we have enough of an understanding of how the climate system works to make useful predictions and projections?

—Kenneth J. Davis

 

What is it like to live and breathe your research?

As part of Sensing Change, our Center for Oral History sought scientists who devote their research to better understanding what makes up our air, how it has changed over time, and how it continues to change. This collaborative group of scientists spans the globe: from Antarctica to Hawaii their field studies and air-monitoring techniques have shed new light on the worldwide state of the air. These investigators use, modify, and create instrumentation to gain an increasingly precise view of our atmosphere. Like the artists of Sensing Change, these scientists use a variety of techniques and data to gain new insight—and share with a broader public—how our climate is changing.

The scientists interviewed as part of this project explored not only the details of their lives and careers but also their thoughts on how scientific data might be communicated visually, the state of atmospheric research, and what the public should know—and do—about climate change.

Come learn more about these scientists on the cutting edge of climate-related research. Watch video clips of interviews, and follow links to see the latest regarding atmospheric science research.

Sensing Change: Scientists
Ronald C. Cohen
Research

Ronald C. Cohen is the director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center and a professor of chemistry and of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

Kenneth Davis
Research

Kenneth J. Davis is a professor in the Department of Meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. His work bridges physics, instrumentation, chemistry, data analysis, and meteorology.

Peter DeCarlo
Research

Peter DeCarlo is an assistant professor at Drexel University. He studies the size and chemical composition of the particulates that affect our air quality and climate.

Jose-Luis Jimenez
Research

Jose-Luis Jimenez’s work, which uses high-tech, cutting-edge instrumentation, focuses on the measurement of the size, chemical composition, and morphology of aerosols. 

Murray Johnston
Research

Murray Johnston is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Delaware. He uses mass spectrometry to examine changes of atmospheric, environmental, and biological significance.

Alastair Lewis
Research

Alastair Lewis’s interdisciplinary work spans the globe and combines the development and use of cutting-edge and often miniaturized instruments with new methods of data handling and visualization.

Deb Niemeier
Research

A professor at the Univeristy of California, Davis, Deb A. Niemeier focuses on transportation’s effect on air quality and how air-quality policy and transportation are connected.

A.R. Ravishankara
Research

A. R. Ravishankara is the director of the Chemical Sciences Division at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

Pieter Tans
Research

Pieter Tans is a senior scientist in NOAA’s Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory. Since the 1970s he has worked to increase our understanding of the global carbon cycle,