Betsy Weatherhead

Dr. Weatherhead is an atmospheric scientist who has received a number of awards for her scientific work on weather, climate, stratospheric ozone, UV radiation and unmanned aircraft. She is proud to share a number of awards, including the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for her contributions on understanding the Arctic climate. She has led a number of successful groups to develop programs and increase scientific activity in a number of areas (Arctic research, unmanned aircraft, renewable energy and weather forecasting). She has also brought together leaders from academia, public sector and private sector to identify a path for the U.S. to become significantly better at weather forecasting. She previously worked in the federal government and at Jupiter Intelligence, a company that advises on managing climate change risks. Currently she is working with the international community to understand trends in tropospheric ozone around the globe.

Scientifically, she is often asked to consult on a variety of topics within atmospheric science that require high level statistical or technical expertise. Her background in solar radiation and its affects on all levels of the atmosphere have resulted in a number of publications and governmental reports. Her work on detecting changes in ozone culminated in the cover story on ozone recovery for Nature in 2006. She has worked to establish defensible criteria for identifying when one weather forecasting model is better than another--even when the improvement is extremely small. Her current research interests include the interface between weather and climate, renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, through a better understanding of long-term and short-term resources and predictability.