Inez Fung facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Inez Fung
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born | April 11, 1949 |
| Education | Utica College Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS, ScD) |
Inez Fung (Chinese: 馮又嫦; born April 11, 1949) is a brilliant scientist who studies our planet's atmosphere. She is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She works in two important areas: earth and planetary science, and environmental science. She also helps lead the Berkeley Institute of the Environment.
Inez Fung is a member of several top science groups, like the National Academy of Sciences. She is also a fellow in groups like the American Geophysical Union. Since 2021, she has been part of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). This group advises the President of the United States on science and technology.
Contents
Growing Up and Learning
Inez Fung was born and grew up in Hong Kong. At that time, Hong Kong was a British colony. She spoke Chinese at home and learned English at school. Her parents did not finish high school. They believed it was very important for their four children to get a good education.
She graduated from King's College, Hong Kong, in 1967. After some unrest in Hong Kong that year, her family moved to North America. Inez traveled to the United States. She started college at Utica College in New York.
Later, Fung transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Science, in applied mathematics in 1971. She continued her studies at MIT. She wrote her doctoral paper about how spiral rainbands form in a hurricane. She won an award for this excellent paper.
In 1977, she earned her Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) degree. She was only the second woman to get a doctorate in Meteorology from MIT. Meteorology is the study of Earth's atmosphere and weather.
A Career in Climate Science
Inez Fung joined the National Academy of Sciences in 1977. She worked there as a research associate. In 1979, she moved to the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. She worked there until 1986.
In 1986, she also started working for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This is a big NASA center that studies space and Earth. That same year, she began serving on the National Research Council Climate Research Committee. She also helped edit the Journal of Climate.
Fung was a visiting professor at the University of Washington in 1988. She also taught at Columbia University. In 1993, she joined the University of Victoria in Canada. She worked as a professor there.
In 1998, Inez Fung left the University of Victoria and NASA. She joined the University of California, Berkeley.
Understanding Climate Change
Since then, she has done a lot of important work on climate modeling. This means using computers to predict how Earth's climate will change. She also studies biogeochemical cycles. These are the ways that important elements like carbon move through Earth's systems. Her work helps us understand climate change.
She has contributed to major reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These reports gather the best science on climate change. They help governments around the world make decisions.
In 2006, she joined other climate scientists. They wrote a special legal document to support the need for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is a gas that causes climate change.
Life Outside Work
Inez Fung lives in Berkeley, California. She is married to Jim Bishop, who is an oceanographer. He is also a professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
Awards and Achievements
Inez Fung has received many honors and awards for her important work.
- 2019 Foreign Member of the Royal Society
- 2019 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal from the American Meteorological Society (AMS)
- 2010 Member of the Academia Sinica
- 2007 National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model Distinguished Achievement Award
- 2005 Scientific American 50 award
- 2004 Roger Revelle Medal, American Geophysical Union
- 2002 Henry W. Kendall Memorial lecturer in Global Change Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1997–2002 NASA Goddard Senior Fellow
- 1991 NOAA Distinguished Authorship Award
- 1990–1997 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Most Valuable Paper Award
- 1989 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal
- 1987–1993 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Peer Award
- 1977 C.G. Rossby Award for the outstanding thesis of the year, Department of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
