KEYNOTE ADDRESS

"From Floods to Drought: How Aerosols Impact Our Climate"

Professor Kimberly Prather

Professor Kimberly Prather is a Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry at UC San Diego and Director of Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (CAICE). CAICE is one of eight NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation. In September 2013, CAICE was the recipient of a five-year, $20 million grant from NSF for research on addressing the chemistry of atmospheric aerosol particles.

Dr. Prather’s research group is focused on improving our understanding of how humans are influencing our atmosphere and climate. In the early part of her career, Professor Prather and her research group developed a unique method, aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ATOFMS), for the on-line characterization of the size and chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols. Using ATOFMS and a wide array of other gas and particle instruments, the Prather group is now performing studies worldwide to better understand the role of aerosols in climate change. The ultimate goal of their research is to determine which aerosol sources play the largest role in affecting key atmospheric processes such as heterogeneous reactions, cloud formation, and ice nucleation.

Dr. Prather is the recipient of several notable awards, including the American Chemical Society Analytical Chemistry Arthur F. Findeis Award, the Kenneth. Whitby Award, the GAeF Smoluchowski Award, the National Science Foundation Special Creativity Award, the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Award, and the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award. Dr. Prather is an Elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Association for the Advancement for Science.