Inez Fung
University of California at Berkeley and LBNL

Inez Fung received her S.B. in applied mathematics and her Sc.D. in Meteorology from MIT. In 1998, she joined the Berkeley faculty as the first Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Physical Sciences and the founding director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center. She is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, as well as the Co-Director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment.

Fung’s research is in the area of global carbon cycle and climate change. Her work identified the terrestrial biosphere of the northern hemisphere as a significant repository of anthropogenic carbon. Her recent work on global carbon-climate modeling suggests that the capacities of land and oceans to store carbon will likely decrease with global warming. Among her numerous honors are Fellowship of the American Meteorological Society and of the American Geophysical Union, membership of the National Academy of Sciences, and the 2004 Roger Revelle Medal of the American Geophysical Union. In 2005, she was named one the “Scientific American 50”.

Fung is a subject in a new biography series for middle-school readers “Women’s Adventure in Science” launched by the National Academy of Sciences.