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11 November 2005

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Susan K. Avery

Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Susan K. Avery is the Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School and is currently serving as Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder.   She has recently served as Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

As director of CIRES, Avery oversaw a diverse and rich research agenda in Earth System Science.   During her ten years as director, CIRES facilitated new interdisciplinary research efforts spanning the natural sciences and bridging with the social sciences.   A strong K-12 outreach program was developed and a number of new seed programs were established.   She helped form a regional integrated science and assessment program that examines the impacts of climate variability on water in the interior west and spent a year working with NOAA and the Climate Change Science Program in Washington, DC.   

Avery has served on a number of national committees and boards.   Currently she serves as the Union of Radio Science Representative to the international Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics and as a member of various panels of the National Research Council and the National Science Foundation.    She is a Fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Meteorological Society and is the Past-President of the AMS.  

Avery has earned numerous awards including the University of Colorado Robert L. Stearns Award, recognition for exceptional achievement and/or service; the Elizabeth Gee Memorial Lectureship Award for scholarly contributions, distinguished teaching and advancing women in the academic community; and the Margaret Willard Award, University Women's Club, for her outstanding contributions to the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Avery received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1978. Her research interests include the use of Doppler radar techniques for observing physical processes in the atmosphere; climate variability and water in the interior west; and the role of science in decision making processes. She is currently studying the characterization of the structure and evolution of the upper atmosphere using meteor radar techniques and satellite data.   Through the regional integrated science and assessment project she has been working with an interdisciplinary team to apply climate information for decision support in water management in the interior west.   She is the author of over 75 publications in the refereed literature.   Avery’s teaching includes courses in radar science and techniques, geophysical data analysis, and policy responses to climate variability.