Liou, Kuo-Nan

Biography

Professor Kuo-Nan Liou received his B.S. degree from National Taiwan University in 1970
and his Ph.D. in meteorology and oceanography in the School of Engineering from New York
University in 1970. After a postdoctoral research associate position at the Goddard Institute
for Space Studies/Columbia University and a research faculty position at the University of
Washington, Dr. Liou subsequently become an Associate Professor at the University of Utah
in 1975 and was promoted to Full Professor in 1980. He served as Director of the Center for
Atmospheric and Remote Sensing Studies from 1987-1997 and Chair of the Meteorology
Department from 1996-1997. Dr. Liou joined UCLA in 1997 and served as Chair of the
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department from 2000-2004. He is currently a Distinguished
Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and, since 2006, Director of the Joint Institute for Regional
Earth System Science and Engineering. Professor Liou has held joint appointments with the
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department since 2003 and the Electrical Engineering
Department since 2010.

Research Interests

Professor Liou’s current research interests include electromagnetic scattering by ice crystals
and aerosols, satellite remote sensing, radiative transfer, and climate modeling. Specifically,
his research activities span from regional climate modeling and validation using satellite data
to direct and indirect effects of aerosols on cloud radiative forcing and snow-albedo feedback,
radiative transfer in 3D mountains and surface energy balance in climate models, and laboratory
light scattering and spectroscopy involving small ice crystals and aerosols.

Professor Liou is concerned with the substantial increase in black carbon produced by world-
wide fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning, and the deposition of absorbing aerosols and
snow (mountains)-albedo feedback in a regional context, a highly probable cause of surface
temperature amplification in addition to global warming and mountain snowmelt.

Professor Liou has authored and co-authored more than 215 peer-reviewed papers, invited book
chapters, and review articles. He is best known for his two monographs, “An Introduction to
Atmospheric Radiation” (Academic Press; 1980, 1st edition; 2002, 2nd edition) and “Radiation
and Cloud Processes in the Atmosphere: Theory, Observation and Modeling” (Oxford University
Press, 1992). Dr. Liou recently edited a monograph, “Recent Progress in Atmospheric Sciences:
Applications to the Asia-Pacific Region” (2008). Under contract with Cambridge University, he
is currently working on a book volume, “Light Scattering and Radiative Transfer by Ice Crystals:
Fundamentals and Applications,” with his former student, Professor Ping Yang from Texas
A&M University.

Awards and Recognitions

Professor Liou was elected a Member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United
States in 1999 and is a past Chair of its Special Fields and Interdisciplinary Engineering Section
(2008-2010). He was elected a Member of the Academia Sinica (Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Taiwan) in 2004. Professor Liou is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of
Science, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and Optical Society
of America, and has an Honorary Professorship at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences. In addition to a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Chinese
American Engineers and Scientists Society of Southern California, he received the Jule Charney
Award from the American Meteorological Society, a creativity award from the National Science
Foundation, and the Nobel Peace Prize Certificate bestowed on the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) for “substantial contributions to the work of IPCC” in 2007. Professor
Liou was the recipient of the 2010 COSPAR (Committee on Space Research, ICSU) William
Nordberg Medal, which is awarded biennially for “outstanding contribution to the application
of space science.” In August 2011, Dr. Liou presented a Distinguished Lecture in Atmospheric
Sciences at the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 8th annual meeting held in Taipei,
Taiwan.