Researcher of the Month

Dr. Donald Wuebbles

Dr. Donald Wuebbles is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences here at the University of Illinois, and is the Interim Director of the new School of Earth, Society and Environment (SESE), comprising the Atmospheric Sciences, Geography, and Geology departments. Dr. Wuebbles also is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and is a Faculty Fellow with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications here at the U of I. He has been a highly productive, innovative, and distinguished research scientist through the years, and presently has over 400 research articles that he has authored in some capacity. Dr. Wuebbles has earned an impressive list of awards, honors, grants, and professional activities he has been involved with during his career.

Dr. Wuebbles earned his B.S. (1970), and M.S. (1972) close to home at the U of I in Electrical Engineering. It was during the pursuit of his M.S. that he accidentally became involved in atmospheric science, a subject which greatly intrigued him. It was around this time that he became involved in models designed to examine stratospheric ozone, a topic which was increasingly in the spotlight at that time. One of his first important projects was to assess the impact that supersonic aircraft (such as the Concorde, under development at the time) would have upon stratospheric ozone.

After obtaining his M.S., Dr. Wuebbles did not immediately pursue his Ph.D., instead gaining employment with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Aeromony Lab in Boulder, Colorado as an atmospheric scientist. He was employed there for one year, continuing the pursuit of questions related to the stratosphere. Subsequently, he moved further west to California and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he would spend the next 21 years. Also, while at Livermore, Dr. Wuebbles pursued the Ph.D. degree part-time, which he earned from the University of California at Davis in 1983 in Atmospheric Science. At LLNL, Dr. Wuebbles was immediately involved with the design of atmospheric models that normally would be undertaken by more advanced researchers. He was asked to develop an advanced three-dimensional model of local air quality for the San Francisco Bay Area, which was amongst the first major models treating both the chemistry and physical processes of the atmosphere for this purpose. Dr. Wuebbles continued to focus on the stratosphere and ozone concerns for the balance of the 1970s, while also becoming involved with the connections of these topics to climate change. It was at this time that he authored the most complete analysis of nuclear test impacts upon stratospheric ozone to date. During the 1980s, Dr. Wuebbles co-authored a paper that explained the stratospheric ozone hole in Antarctica (in 1986), and was directly involved with aspects of the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, and the Clean Air Act of 1990. (In part, this involvement would help him earn the EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award later in his career in 2005.) For the balance of the 1980s, Dr. Wuebbles became more involved in chemistry-climate interactions, which led him to focus on climatic effects upon the biosphere and on water.

During the 1990s, Dr. Wuebbles began receiving offers from institutions around the United States for his expertise. He chose to return home to Illinois, accepting a position as head of the Atmospheric Sciences department, which he retained until 2006. He also was the first director of the Environmental Council at the U of I from 1996 until 1999, where he was responsible for the oversight of educational and research programs relating to the environment across campus.

SESE (of which CWACES is a part) was a concept that Dr. Wuebbles began to formulate upon his arrival at Illinois in the mid-1990s, as he recognized then that water was going to be a large issue in the coming century. The concept gained momentum in the ensuing years when, from an environmental research perspective, it became more apparent to the research community that water was going to be one of the hottest issues to face mankind in the 21st century. Subsequently, SESE and CWACES were born out of this effort to increase collaboration among researchers to maximize their ability to pursue cutting-edge research on water and other environmental issues, efforts that Dr. Wuebbles was integrally involved with.

Presently, Dr. Wuebbles is involved in an NSF-funded hydrological synthesis project with Murugesu Sivapalan (Geography/Civil Engineering) and the newly formed Institute for Sustainability in Intensively Managed Landscapes (ISIML) with Praveen Kumar (Civil Engineering). Current research he is involved with focuses upon how climate change may impact water issues in the future. His perspective focuses upon the climate processes that may occur, which can then be used by people who study water as their own research focus. As has been the case much of his career, his present research program utilizes mathematical models of the chemical and physical processes of the atmosphere. He is currently leading a project examining the impacts of climate change on Chicago. Other recent accomplishments include the chairing of a workshop in 2006 on the effects of aviation upon climate that is now resulting in FAA and NASA considering a research initiative to focus more upon this issue. In October 2007, he co-chaired the climate panel for a special meeting of the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization.