Zheng to Receive 2025 Elsevier/JQSRT Goody Award

Congratulations to Jianyu (Kevin) Zheng (613/UMBC), who has been selected to receive the 2025 Elsevier/JQSRT Richard M. Goody Award, in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions in the fields of atmospheric radiation and remote sensing as an early-career scientist. The award will be presented at the 21st Electromagnetic and Light Scattering Conference (ELS-XXI) in Milazzo, Italy on June 23-27, 2025, and it will consist of a certificate and a monetary prize.

Established in 2013 by the Elsevier award program, this prestigious Elsevier/JQSRT (Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer) award is named after Richard M. Goody, whose pioneering research has had a profound and long-lasting impact on the disciplines of atmospheric radiation, remote sensing, and climate science. The Goody award is competed through a nomination process for outstanding early-career scientists internationally. The evaluation from the selection committee is based on the overall achievements of the qualified nominee in the field of Atmospheric Radiation and Remote Sensing at their current career stage.

Dr. Zheng is a postdoctoral research associate who earned his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics from UMBC in December 2023. His research specializes in satellite remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols, with his particular expertise in mineral dust characterization using both passive and active satellite sensors. His research focuses on developing novel techniques that combine thermal infrared and Lidar observations to retrieve dust properties. Currently, Dr. Zheng is developing comprehensive multi-decadal remote-sensing observations of dust for earth science research and applications. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award from NASA GSFC’s Climate and Radiation Laboratory, and the outstanding student presentation awards at AGU 2019 Fall Meeting and AMS 2022 Annual Meeting. He is an active member of the scientific community and was recently selected for the 2024 AMS Early Career Leadership Academy Cohort.

We thank Dr. Zheng for his contributions to this news highlight.