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2009     2008     2007

2009

• The JIFRESSE Governing Board met at JPL on June 16, 2009 to discuss JIFRESSE's current accomplishments and the challenges and opportunities facing it over the next three to five years.  Present at the meeting from UCLA were: Vice Chancellor for Research Roberto Peccei (Chairman of the Board), Acting Dean of Division of Physical Sciences Joe Rudnick, and Dean of School of Engineering & Applied Science Vijay Dhir.  Present from JPL were: Chief Scientist Dan McCleese (Co-Chair), Director of the Earth Science and Technology Directorate Diane Evans, Associate Chief Technologist Thomas Cwik (standing in for Chief Technologist Paul Dimotakis, who was on travel), and Associate Chief Scientist Cinzia Zuffada; along with Director Kuo-Nan Liou and Associate Director Randy Friedl.  Director Liou and Associate Director Friedl reported the accomplishments of JIFRESSE since its inception in October 2006, and proposed the second-phase research plans and operations within the next 3-5 years."

 
• Professor Daniel Jacob of Harvard University gave a public lecture on “Pollution-Climate Interactions” on May 8, 2009. This lecture was co-sponsored by JIFRESSE. [PDF]
  
  
• Dr. Xianan Jiang from JPL gave a seminar on “Intraseasonal Oscillation over the Eastern Pacific ITCZ: Northward Propagation, 20 & 40-day modes, and Interannual Variability” on May 6, 2009 in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department. Dr. Jiang is a JIFRESSE Visiting Assistant Researcher.
  
  
• Professor Kenneth Golden of the University of Utah gave a public lecture on “Climate change and the Mathematics of Sea Ice” on April 29, 2009. This lecture was co-sponsored by JIFRESSE. [PDF]
  
  
• On April 23, 2009, Director Liou participated in the 2009 Tech Forum, sponsored by the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Professor Liou was a panelist in the Emerging Clean Technologies Session. He briefly presented JIFRESSE’s vision on regional environmental and climate changes, and his view on clean technologies and the environment with reference to biofuel, solar and wind energies. Professor Liou also commented on issues concerning nuclear energy and geo-engineering.
  
  
• On March 2, 2009, from 8am - 12 noon, JIFRESSE held a retreat for Executive Committee Members and other invited colleagues to discuss the research progress of team members and the future science and application directions. Eleven UCLA members, including Vice Chancellor Peccei, and 9 JPL members participated in the 4-hour meeting.
  Agenda (PDF) Attendees (PDF)
  
  
• JIFRESSE associate Dr. Moustafa Chahine from JPL was elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering in February 2009. He presented a talk at “Engineering for Life Enrichment: a mini-symposium in conjunction with the National NAE Meeting” held at UCLA on February 12, 2009. His talk was entitled “Global Warming and Modern Telemetry from Space.”
  
  
• In the recent AGU (December 15-19, 2008) and AMS (January 12-15, 2009) meetings, JIFRESSE researchers presented a number of poster papers which are available in Research (Research Results)
  
  
• Dr. Randy Friedl, one of the co-founders of JIFRESSE completed his assignment at the NASA HQs and assumed his previous position as Chief Scientist at the JPL Directorate of Earth Sciences and Technology. Dr. Friedl participated in the JIFRESSE Executive Committee meeting on January 9, 2009 during which the role of JIFRESSE within the purview of the JPL's Global Change Focus was discussed.

2008

• Dr. Ronald Kwok from JPL gave a seminar on "The Behavior of the Arctic Ocean Sea Ice Cover: Dynamic and Kinematics" on December 3, 2008 in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department.
• Director Kuo-Nan Liou was invited to attend the Governor's Global Climate Summit, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, on November 18-19, 2008.
• Dr. David Crisp from JPL gave a seminar entitled "The Orbiting Carbon Observatory: NASA's First Dedicated Carbon Dioxide Mission" on October 22, 2008 in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department.
• Director Kuo-Nan Liou participated in an international regional climate modeling workshop from September 16-19, 2008, held in Kunming in Southern China, and presented an invited paper entitled "Mountain Snow and Regional Climate Change: Aerosol Absorption and 3D Radiative Transfer."
• Dr. Duane Waliser from JPL presented a paper entitled, "Anthropogenic Climate Changes in California: Hydroclimate, Snowpack, and Santa Ana Winds "at the Fifth Annual California Climate Change Conference, September 8-10, 2008, Sacramento, California. Poster papers were also presented by Dr. Jinwon Kim and two graduate students, Sarah Kapnick and Mimi Hughes.
• On Tuesday, August 12, 2008, there was a meeting between UCLA administrators to discuss future directions for JIFRESSE. Those in attendance were: Vice Chancellor, Research, Roberto Peccei; Dean, Physical Sciences, Joe Rudnick; Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Vjay Dhir and JIFRESSE Director, Dr. Kuo-Nan Liou.
• JIFRESSE hosted the fourth workshop on Tibetan Plateau Surface-Troposphere-Stratosphere Interaction (STSI) on July 14-15, 2008 at UCLA. The two-day workshop featured speakers Professor K. N. Liou, JIFRESSE, UCLA, Professor Daren Lu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Yongkang Xue, from the Department of Geography at UCLA and Professor Rong Fu from The School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Topics such as Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Cloud and SW Flux, Radiative Transfer in Mountains/Snow, Satellite Analysis involving Clouds, Aerosols, and Surface Properties, Direct Radiative Effect of Aerosols on Precipitation and Regional Climate, the Role of Convection over the Tibetan Plateau in Seasonal Hydration of the Global Tropical Stratosphere, and Introduction of the Integrated Observation System over Tibetan Plateau were addressed with approximately 20 national and international workshop participants.
• Dr. Qinbin Li was appointed on July 1, 2008, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric And Oceanic Sciences at UCLA.
• Dr. Yufang Jin was appointed, on July 1, 2008, Assistant Researcher at the JIFRESSE.
• Dr. Annmarie Eldering, UCLA Adjunct Professor, has been appointed to the position of Section Manager for Earth and Atmospheric Science at JPL.
• Jim Margitan is the new Deputy Manager of the Science Division, and is also the manager of the Earth Science Research and Analysis Program and the Atmospheric Chemistry Program in the Earth Science and Technology Directorate
• Dr. Alex Hall is being promoted to Associate Professor in the UCLA Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department effective July 1, 2008.
• Dr. Robert Fovell, was promoted to the rank of Professor in the UCLA Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department effective July 1, 2007.
• Janice Amar, JIFRESSE Chief Operating Officer, is retiring from the University of California effective June 27, 2008.
• Professor Kuo-Nan Liou, Director of JIFRESSE, was recognized on April 7, 2008, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for his substantial contributions to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report that shared this year’s Nobel Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.
• A JIFRESSE Open House was hosted by JPL on April 9, 2008 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Approximately 50 JPL scientists attended the Open House which included presentations by Dr. Kuo-Nan Liou and Janice Amar on JIFRESSE's research community, activities and sponsored research infrastructure
• 2nd JIFRESSE Collaboration Board Meeting
  March 31, 2008
• UCLA / JPL Energy and Climate Planning Meeting
  March 19, 2008
• Mike Gunson, JPL’s Coordinator to JIFRESSE, has now been appointed Chief Scientist for Earth Science and Technology. Dr. Gunson replaced Dr. Randall Friedl who held the Chief Scientist position when Dr. Friedl accepted a position at NASA Headquarters in summer 2007 as Deputy Chief Scientist for Earth Science.
• William Yeh, Chairman and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA and Member of JIFRESSE’s Steering Committee, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
• Special Public Lecture: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Challenges of Climate Policy, Equity and Ethics
  Richard C.J. Somerville, Ph.D.
  Wednesday, January 16, 2008
  5:00 p.m.
  LaKretz Hall Auditorium, room 110
  University of California at Los Angeles
  Webcast/Podcast
  

2007

• The JIFRESSE Steering Committiee held its second meeting on December 3, 2007. All members were present except Dr. Jason Hyon who was on travel status.
• Director Liou was elected Vice Chair of the “Special Fields and Interdisciplinary Engineering” Section of the National Academy of Engineering. He will become chair of this Section on July 1, 2008.
• JIFRESSE’s Science Team presented a poster at the Fourth Annual Climate Change Research Conference, 9/13-9/17/2007 in Sacramento, California. The Research Conference was sponsored by the California Energy Commission and the California EPA.
• Dr. Randy Friedl, one of JIFRESSE’s JPL Coordinators, is currently on leave from JPL at NASA Headquarters as the Deputy Chief Scientist for Earth Science.
• Professor Jim McWilliams, JIFRESSE Science team member and a member of the JIFRESSE Steering Committee, was appointed Chair of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department at UCLA effective July 1, 2007. JIFRESSE science team member, Robert Fovell, was promoted to Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences effective July 1, 2007.
• The Science Division at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has undergone a recent reorganization of two Earth science sections.  Dr. James Margitan, appointed to JIFRESSE's Steering Committee, is the new Section Manager for the Earth Atmospheric Science Section. UCLA Adjunct Professor Yi Chao, a JPL founding member of JIFRESSE, was appointed Section Manager for the Climate, Oceans and Solid Earth Section. The new sections were created from the former Earth Science and Earth Remote Sensing Science Sections.  Dr. Annmarie Elderling, UCLA Adjunct Assistant Professor and another JPL founding JIFRESSE member, has been appointed as the Deputy Section Manager for Earth Atmospheric Science.
• Dr. Randy Freidl, JIFRESSE Coordinator at JPL, presented two position talks, "Regional Effects Underway at JPL/Caltech and UCLA" and "California Climate Observations: Calsat" at a climate change initiative workshop sponsored by the California Council for Science and Technology in Sacramento, May 24, 2007. Director Liou also participated in the meeting. On May 31, 2007, Dr. Friedl gave a lecture, "Future Earth Observations from Space," in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department
• Seminar: Adjoint Sensitivity of Global Sea-Air CO2 flux in a Marine Ecosystem Model
  Jerry F. Tjiputra, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 1:30 p.m., 3637 Geology Bldg.
• Director Liou was invited to make a presentation on JIFRESSE at a half day meeting hosted by the College of Letters and Science for representatives of Aerospace Corporations on March 20, 2007.
• Public Lecture: Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes
  Kerry Emanuel, Ph.D.
  Monday, February 12, 2007
  4:30 p.m.
  LaKretz Hall, Room 110
  University of California at Los Angeles
• Director Liou was invited to make a presentation about JIFRESSE to the Mechanical and Aerospace Department faculty in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science on February 9, 2007.
• First JIFRESSE Steering Committee Meeting
  February 1, 2007
• First JIFRESSE Collaboration Board Meeting
  October 25, 2006
• JIFRESSE OPENING AND SIGNING CEREMONY
  Wednesday, October 25, 2006
  11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  Charles E. Young Grand Ballroom
  Kerchoff Hall, UCLA