Professor Rong Fu from UCLA’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department has been selected to receive the 2027 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal from the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the society’s highest honor for atmospheric science research. She is being recognized “for pioneering observational insights into the atmospheric water cycle and land-atmosphere coupling, advancing understanding of precipitation, drought and fire weather, and for exceptional scientific leadership.” The medal will be presented during the 107th AMS Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, in January 2027. In the award’s 76-year history, Fu is only the fifth woman to receive the Rossby Medal. The first woman to earn the distinction was the late Joanne Simpson, a UCLA scientist, also from the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department, who received the award in 1983.
Professor Fu is also the director of the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering (JIFRESSE). Her research has transformed scientists’ understanding of the global water cycle and the interactions between the atmosphere, land and vegetation. Over the course of her career, she has produced pioneering work on the mechanisms that drive rainfall variability, drought, fire weather and monsoon systems, while revealing the critical roles that tropical rainforests and the Tibetan Plateau play in shaping regional and global climate. Her research has also advanced seasonal drought prediction and informed water resource planning, helping translate fundamental climate science into practical decision-making.
“Rong’s work has fundamentally changed how we understand Earth’s climate system and the processes that govern water, weather and climate extremes,” said Jacob Bortnik, professor and chair of UCLA’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. “The Rossby Medal recognizes not only a remarkable body of scientific achievement, but also decades of leadership, mentorship and service that have strengthened our field. We are incredibly proud to celebrate this well-deserved honor.”
Fu said she was deeply honored by the recognition and proud to join the distinguished legacy of her department. “I am very humbled and so grateful and honored to be a member of AOS that has a long history of producing Rossby Medalists,” she said.
In addition to leading JIFRESSE, a partnership between UCLA and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Fu is an elected fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her selection for the Rossby Medal further reinforces UCLA’s longstanding leadership in atmospheric and climate science and recognizes a career that has shaped both scientific understanding and the next generation of researchers.