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11 November 2005

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Antonio J. Busalacchi

Founding Director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) and Professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Maryland College Park

Antonio J. Busalacchi received his Ph.D. degree in oceanography from Florida State University in 1982. He has studied tropical ocean circulation and its role in the coupled climate system. His interests include the study of climate variability and prediction, tropical ocean modeling, ocean remote sensing, and data assimilation. His research in these areas has supported a range of international and national research programs dealing with global change and climate, particularly as affected by the oceans.   Most notably, he has helped to define and plan the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Program. From 1989-1996 he served on the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) TOGA Advisory Panel and for 1991-1993 he was a member of the NAS/NRC Panel on Ocean Atmosphere Observations Supporting Short-Term Climate Predictions.   In 1999 he was appointed Co-Chairman of the Scientific Steering Group for the World Climate Research Programme on Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR).   From 1985-1999 he served as Associate Editor of JGR Oceans and from 1997-1999 he served as Editor of the Journal of Climate. In 2001, he was appointed to the NAS/NRC Climate Research Committee and the NAS/NRC Panel on Climate Change Feedbacks. Presently, he serves as Chairman of the Climate Research Committee.

In 1982 he began his professional career as an oceanographer at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. In 1991, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service (SES) in the U.S. Government as the Chief of the NASA/Goddard Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes.   In that capacity he furnished scientific direction to a broad, many-faceted program in Earth system science. NASA’s Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes was responsible for an extensive range of programs dealing with theoretical and experimental research in the oceanic, cryospheric, and hydrologic sciences.   In year 2000, he was selected as the founding director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) at the University of Maryland, College Park and appointed to the faculty as Professor in the Department of Meteorology. ESSIC is a joint center among the Departments of Meteorology, Geology, and Geography at the University of Maryland in collaboration with the Earth Sciences Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The goal of ESSIC is to enhance understanding of how the atmosphere-ocean-land-biosphere components of the Earth interact as a coupled system. This is accomplished via studies of the interaction between the physical climate system (e.g., El Nino) and biogeochemical cycles (e.g., greenhouse gases, changes in land use and cover).

Professor Busalacchi has received numerous awards and honors. Among these, he is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. In 1991, he was the recipient of the prestigious Arthur S. Flemming Award, as one of five outstanding young scientists in the entire Federal Government. In 1995 he was selected as Alumnus of the Year at Florida State University, in 1997 he was the H. Burr Steinbach Visiting Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in 1999 he was awarded the NASA/Goddard Excellence in Outreach Award and that same year chosen by President Clinton to receive the Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive Award.