Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm was named chair of AOSC for a five-year term effective July 1, 2018. He is currently a professor in the department and interim director of UMD’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC). He will continue leading ESSIC through 2021. Miralles-Wilhelm also serves as executive director of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS), which is administered by ESSIC.

Congratulations to AOSC Prof. Sumant Nigam and graduate student (and lead author) Natalie Thomas, co-authors of a new paper, “20th-Century Climate Change over Africa: Seasonal Hydroclimate Trends and Sahara Desert Expansion,” published online today in the Journal of Climate.