UCI Chancellor receives prestigious Revelle Medal
for outstanding achievement in atmospheric research
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 25, 2002 — UC Irvine Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone, one of the world's leading experts on global warming and climate change research, has received the 2002 Roger Revelle Medal of the American Geophysical Union, the world's largest society of Earth scientists.
The Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. Chair of Earth System Science and professor of chemistry at UCI, Cicerone is a highly respected atmospheric chemist whose research on methane, nitrous oxide and many other chemicals has made a significant impact on the understanding of how these chemicals affect the planet's energy balance and temperature.
The prestigious Revelle Medal recognizes outstanding accomplishments and contributions toward the understanding of the Earth's atmospheric processes, and is given to researchers who have made a lasting impact in the field of Earth science. Cicerone is the second UC Irvine researcher to receive the medal. Atmospheric chemist F. Sherwood Rowland, who received the Nobel Prize for his findings on how chlorofluorocarbons help destroy the Earth's protective ozone layer, earned the honor in 1994.
"I'm very proud of the opportunities I've had to make contributions to national and international science policy," Cicerone said. "I'm especially proud to receive this distinguished medal because it honors not just the work of one individual but reflects the entire university's achievements in atmospheric, oceanic and climate science."
Cicerone is one of the few atmospheric scientists who have made an extraordinary breadth of contributions to understanding biochemical cycles and their effect on climate. In the 1970s, his research on the Space Shuttle found that exhaust from certain rockets could damage the ozone layer by emitting hydrogen chloride into the stratosphere. His work on greenhouse gas emissions also influenced the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty establishing a timetable for replacing production of ozone-destroying chemicals with safer substitutes. He currently conducts research on the emission of methane and methyl halide gases from rice paddies.
In addition, Cicerone has played significant roles in scientific policy, both as president of AGU and most recently as the chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee that reported last June to the White House on the science of climate change.
Cicerone came to UCI in 1989 from the National Center for Atmospheric Studies in Boulder, Colo., where he directed the Atmospheric Chemistry Division. He is founding chair of UCI's Department of Earth System Science, which has gained international attention as one of the few programs in the nation devoted to studying global environmental threats to the air, Earth and sea. Based on the importance of Earth system science faculty research, the Institute for Scientific Information cited UCI as the university with the greatest impact on geoscience research in the mid-'90s.
Cicerone became the dean of UCI's School of Physical Sciences in 1994, and in 1998, he was named the university's fourth chancellor.
In 1997, the atmospheric scientist received a prestigious United Nations Environment Programme Ozone Award for research on protecting the Earth's fragile ozone layer. Most recently, The Franklin Institute recognized his contributions to the understanding of greenhouse gases and ozone depletion and his research in biochemistry by selecting Cicerone as the 1999 laureate for the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science.
One of the richest and most prestigious American awards in science, the Bower also recognizes his public policy leadership in protecting the global environment.
Cicerone is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also has served on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences and is a fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology.