Dr. Thomas Ackerman is Executive Director of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and the Ocean (JISAO)at the University of Washington. He heads the institute’s multi-pronged research effort into climate change, ocean acidification, fisheries, and tsunamis. Ackerman’s own research includes studies of the climatic influence of volcanic eruptions and asteroid collisions, the impact of clouds on the Earth’s climate, the use of ground-based and satellite observations to study clouds and climate, and the science and ethics of geoengineering. He has been elected a Fellow of both the American Geophysical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Prior to coming to UW, Ackerman was Chief Scientist of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and for his work in that capacity he was awarded NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal.