Dr. Aiguo Dai is a world-renowned atmospheric scientist and Distinguished Professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He previously served as a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research from 1997 to 2012, where he rose to the second-highest research category as Scientist III. Dr. Dai earned his PhD in Atmospheric Science from Columbia University and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in 1996, following master's studies at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Beijing and undergraduate education at Nanjing University. His distinguished career trajectory includes a NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellowship from 1997 to 1998, establishing his early expertise in climate system analysis before his impactful tenure at NCAR.
Dr. Dai has made seminal contributions to understanding global and regional climate changes, with particular emphasis on the global water cycle's response to warming and hydroclimate variability. His research has produced approximately 180 peer-reviewed journal articles that have garnered over 70,000 citations, yielding an impressive H-index of 82, positioning him among the world's top 1% most highly cited researchers across all fields. Five of his publications have individually surpassed 2,000 citations, reflecting their transformative impact on atmospheric science. His expertise in climate data analysis and model diagnostics has significantly advanced scientific understanding of precipitation patterns, drought mechanisms, and Arctic climate change, with his work frequently informing international climate assessments and policy discussions.
As a leader in the atmospheric science community, Dr. Dai serves as Editor of the Journal of Climate and has secured over $9.4 million in external funding from major agencies including NSF, DOE, NOAA, and NASA to support his research. He was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society in 2018, a distinction limited to the top 0.2% of members, and received the prestigious SUNY Distinguished Professor title in recognition of his scholarly excellence. His current research focuses on the causes and impacts of Arctic rapid warming, connections between Arctic climate change and mid-latitude weather patterns, and historical and future changes in precipitation and drought patterns since the 1950s. Dr. Dai continues to shape the field through his prolific scholarly output, mentorship of emerging scientists, and leadership in advancing climate science understanding worldwide.
