Hurricanes and Climate Change

This talk will provide an overview on the processes leading to the formation of the hurricanes impacting the eastern coast of the United States. Professor Fuentes will discuss some of the infamous historic hurricanes that have caused significant property damage and loss of life. The seminar will also examine how hurricane intensity has changed in response to the most dramatic climate changes that have occurred during the last fifty years. Professor Fuentes is the winner of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s 2006 Outstanding Faculty Award.

November 3, 2006
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
The Roanoke Higher Education Center
108 North Jefferson Street
Roanoke, VA
Directions

About the Speaker

José D. Fuentes
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences

José Fuentes is a tenured associate professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, where he has worked for 11 years. Fuentes is an internationally recognized expert in the field of atmospheric science, with particular emphasis on the physical, biological and chemical processes that control trace gas and energy exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere. As a faculty member, he engages students in hands-on learning in the laboratory and in field research projects, taking students on scientific voyages to places as distant as the North Pole, the Brazilian Rain Forest and the Marshall Islands.

Fuentes was the first scientist to determine that pollutant deposition is enhanced when receptors are wet due to condensation or precipitation, and he became one of the first investigators to discover the transient dynamics of hydrocarbon emissions from intact natural deciduous forests. He has led several field investigations in the high Arctic to study the causes of ozone disappearance from the lower layers of the atmosphere. His research attracts considerable federal funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior.

Fuentes has generated 86 publications, including 54 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters, 20 conference/symposium proceedings and 10 technical reports. He has made 70 conference presentations and is often invited to present lectures and seminars at prestigious national and international universities and laboratories, including NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Risø National Laboratory in Denmark, and Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais in Brazil. Additionally, Fuentes served as an associate editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmosphere for three years and is currently serving as editor.

Due to his successful undergraduate teaching, Fuentes has received several awards at U.Va., including the Cavaliers’ Distinguished Professorship. He mentors numerous minority undergraduate students, working with student clubs and organizing workshops designed to attract and retain more minority students in science. Fuentes is a founding member of the steering committee for the U.Va. Excellence and Diversity program, which helps attract and retain minority faculty. He has also served on many graduate student committees and was recently elected to serve as the co-chairman for the Gordon Conference on Biogenic Hydrocarbons.

"He has an important ability to instill confidence in his students and bring students from many disciplines together to learn from each other," noted a former graduate student. A colleague added, "Mr. Fuentes is an exceptionally gifted instructor … who is well aware of his responsibilities towards his students and is successful in his continuous assessment and improvement of his teaching style."

Fuentes received his Ph.D. from the University of Guelph in Ontario. In 2006, he received the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award.

-Above article from UVa Top News online, February 23, 2006