UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Professor Fuqing Zhang in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has been elected as a 2018 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Fellows are selected based on their exemplary leadership abilities and research contributions in the Earth and space fields.

AGU elects as Fellows members whose visionary leadership and scientific excellence have fundamentally advanced research in their respective fields. Only 0.1 percent of AGU membership receives this recognition in any given year.

“I am truly honored that my peers value my research contributions and am very grateful to be selected as a Fellow of AGU,” said Zhang.

Zhang, a professor in Penn State’s Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, was selected as a Fellow “for fundamental understanding of multiscale predictability and dynamics and for breakthroughs in hurricane prediction through ensemble data assimilation.”

Zhang’s research has revolutionized the analysis and prediction of severe weather and hurricanes through developing advanced data assimilation methodologies that have been widely adopted by forecasting agencies and researchers in the world.

“Fuqing’s pioneering data assimilation and predictability research has vastly improved our ability to accurately predict various severe weather phenomena. Being elected a Fellow of AGU in recognition of his research is a well-deserved honor,” said David Stensrud, head of the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences at Penn State.

AGU President-elect Robin Bell will present the newly elected class of 62 esteemed scientists on Dec. 12 at AGU’s Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Zhang, who joined Penn State’s faculty in 2008, also has a joint appointment in Penn State’s Department of Statistics and is the founding director of Penn State’s Center for Advanced Data Assimilation and Predictability Techniques.

He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and given nearly 300 invited or keynote talks at various institutions and professional meetings. He is one of the three editors for the most recent, six-volume edition of the Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences. He has given U.S. congressional briefings on science’s impacts on weather prediction and economy, and his research has been featured in published interviews by Nature, Science, Reuters, The Washington Post, and in other science or media outlets. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the American Meteorological Society's 2009 Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award and 2015 Banner I. Miller Award. Most recently, he was awarded Penn State’s 2018 Faculty Scholar Medal in Physical Sciences.

Zhang earned his bachelor of science degree and master of science degree, both in meteorology, from Nanjing University, China, and his doctorate in atmospheric sciences from North Carolina State University.

AGU is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing nearly 60,000 members in 139 countries.