Biographies of Committee Members and Staff - The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate - page 51

planetary-scale structure of the atmospheric circulation, climate sensitivity, and various aspects of
geophysical turbulence. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the AGU and a
member of the NAS. Among other awards he has received are two Presidential Rank Awards for
Government Service and the Carl Gustav Rossby Medal, the highest award of the American
Meteorological Society. Dr. Held received his Ph.D. in atmospheric and oceanic sciences from Princeton
University. He is currently a member of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, and his prior
NRC service includes the Committee on Stabilization Targets for Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas
Concentrations.
GERALD A. MEEHL is a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. His research
interests include studying the interactions between El Niño/Southern Oscillation and the monsoons of
Asia; identifying possible effects on global climate of changing anthropogenic forcings, such as carbon
dioxide, as well as natural forcings, such as solar variability; and quantifying possible future changes of
weather and climate extremes in a warmer climate. He was contributing author, lead author, and twice a
coordinating lead author for the first four IPCC climate change assessment reports. He is currently a lead
author on the near-term climate change chapter for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. He was a recipient
of the Jule G. Charney Award of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Meehl is an associate editor
for the Journal of Climate , a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and a visiting senior fellow
at the University of Hawaii Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research. Dr. Meehl earned his
Ph.D. in climate dynamics from the University of Colorado. He serves as co-chair of the Community
Climate System Model Climate Change Working Group and as co-chair of the World Climate Research
Programme Working Group on Coupled Models. He is chair of the NRC's Climate Research Committee,
and he previously served on the NRC's Panel on Climate Observing Systems Status.
LARRY J. PAXTON is a staff scientist and head of the Atmospheric and Ionospheric Remote Sensing
Group at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). He is the co-principal
investigator for the global ultraviolet imager on the NASA Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere
Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission and the principal investigator on the Defense Meteorological
Satellites Program's special sensor ultraviolet spectrographic imager. His research focuses on the
atmospheres and the ionospheres of the terrestrial planets, in particular the aeronomy of Earth's upper
atmosphere and the role of solar-cycle and anthropogenic change in creating variability in the dynamics,
energetics, and composition of the upper atmosphere. Dr. Paxton was APL's chief scientist for the
Ultraviolet and Visible Imagers and Spectrograph Imagers on the Midcourse Space Experiment. He has
been involved in more than a dozen satellite, space shuttle, and sounding rocket experiments. He has
served on several NASA and NSF committees, panels, and working groups and currently chairs the
International Academy of Astronautics Commission 4 on Space Systems Utilization and Operations. Dr.
Paxton has published nearly 200 papers on planetary and space science, instruments, remote sensing
techniques, and space mission design. He earned his Ph.D. in astrophysical, planetary, and atmospheric
sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Paxton currently serves as a member of the
NRC's Panel on Atmosphere-Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Interactions of the Committee on a Decadal
Strategy for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics).
PETER PILEWSKIE is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the
University of Colorado, Boulder, with a joint appointment in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space
Physics (LASP). He is the director of the joint LASP and NASA Goddard Sun Climate Research Center.
Dr. Pilewskie is the principal investigator for the NOAA and NASA Joint Polar Satellite System Total
and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor and a co-investigator on the NASA Solar Radiation and Climate
Experiment. His research interests include solar spectral variability and its effects on terrestrial climate;
quantifying the Earth-atmosphere radiative energy budget; surface, airborne, and satellite remote sensing
of clouds and aerosols; and theoretical atmospheric radiative transfer. Prior to his arrival at the University
of Colorado, Dr. Pilewskie spent 15 years at the NASA Ames Research Center, where his research