UMD President Wallace Loh and Distinguished Professor Eugenia Kalnay Named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh and Distinguished University Professor of Atmospheric & Oceanic Science Eugenia Kalnay have been named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
With their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, President Loh and Professor Kalnay join some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academic, business, public affairs, the humanities and the arts. Since its founding in 1780, the Academy membership has included more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
“We are honored to elect a new class of extraordinary women and men to join our distinguished membership,” said Don Randel, chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors. “Each new member is a leader in his or her field and has made a distinct contribution to the nation and the world. We look forward to engaging them in the intellectual life of this vibrant institution.”
President Loh was appointed the 33rd president of UMD in November 2010. Loh leads the state’s flagship and land-grant institution with 37,500 students and 9,000 faculty and staff members. Loh’s priorities at UMD include excellence and affordability in education, strategic partnerships for research and innovation, physical facilities and environmental sustainability, the Big Ten conference move, and the revitalization of College Park, Md. He serves on the American Council of Education’s board of directors and on the U.S. Comptroller General’s advisory board, as well as received recognition from the American Immigration Council, the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools.
Previously, Loh served as executive vice president and provost of the University of Iowa; dean of Seattle University's College of Arts and Sciences; director, Governor's Policy Office and chief policy adviser to The Hon. Gary Locke, State of Washington; vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of faculties, University of Colorado-Boulder; and dean, University of Washington Law School. A professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, Loh previously was professor of law at Washington, Colorado-Boulder, and Iowa. He was visiting professor of law at Cornell, Peking University (China), Emory, University of Texas-Austin, University of Houston, and Vanderbilt. His scholarship and teaching are in the areas of law and social change and in criminal justice reforms.
Kalnay is a Distinguished University Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at UMD. She also holds the Eugenia Brin Professorship in Data Assimilation. Her research interests include numerical weather prediction, data assimilation, predictability and ensemble forecasting, coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling, climate change, and sustainability. She has authored several books and more than 100 research papers, many of which have been cited more than 10,000 times. A landmark 2003 paper in the journal Nature on the impact of land use on climate change was chosen by Discover Magazine as one of that year's top 100 science news stories. Her book, Atmospheric Modeling, Data Assimilation and Predictability (Cambridge University Press, 2003), sold out within a year and is now on its fifth printing.
Kalnay is also a former director of the National Weather Service's Environmental Modeling Center, where she was the architect of ensemble forecasting methods that greatly increased the accuracy of long-term (three to five day) weather forecasts. She has received numerous awards, including the 2009 International Meteorological Organization Prize of the World Meteorological Organization, and is a member of the UN Scientific Advisory Board on Sustainability created by the UN Secretary General.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to Academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts and education.
With the addition of Loh and Kalnay, there are now 16 active members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from UMD. The full list can be viewed here.
