The Department maintains several lecture series and awards that bring distinguished members of the community to campus to speak about their research and careers.

Professor Yoshi Ogura Distinguished Lecture Series

In honor of his unique contributions, the Department initiated an annual lecture series in 1988, the Yoshi Ogura Distinguished Lecture. In the past 3+ decades, many distinguished scientists have been invited to speak on topics attractive not only to atmospheric science but also to the general student body and faculty on campus.

The list of awardees is: 

  1. Norman Phillips May 11, 1988 

  1. Douglas Lilly March 29, 1989 

  1. Syukuro Manabe March 7, 1990 

  1. Edward Lorenz March 19, 1991 

  1. Isaac Held April 22, 1992 

  1. Howard Bluestein March 17, 1993 

  1. Ralph Cicerone March 28, 1995 

  1. Peter Rhines April 26, 1996 

  1. Richard Turco November 18, 1998 

  1. Stephen Schneider April 22, 1999 

  1. Joseph Klemp April 19, 2000 

  1. Timothy Killeen May 1, 2001 

  1. Roger M. Wakimoto April 3, 2002 

  1. V. Ramanathan April 16, 2003 

  1. William F. Ruddiman October 20, 2004 

  1. Susan Avery September 16, 2005 

  1. Marvin Geller September 16, 2005 

  1. Kerry Emanuel May 2, 2007 

  1. Kevin Trenberth April 30, 2008 

  1. Warren Washington April 29, 2009 

  1. Eugenia Kalnay April 21, 2010 

  1. James Feng April 20, 2011 

  1. Lou Wicker April 20, 2011 

  1. Ming Cai April 21, 2011 

  1. John Weatherly April 21, 2011 

  1. Peter Webster April 25, 2012 

  1. Jon Latham April 17, 2013 

  1. Marshall Shepherd October 24, 2014 

  1. V. Ramaswamy April 15, 2015 

  1. Kenneth Caldeira April 20, 2016 

  1. Katharine Hayhoe April 17, 2017 

  1. Edward Zipser April 24, 2018 

  1. L. Ruby Leung April 19, 2019 

  1. Norman G. Loeb April 20, 2021 

  1. Xubin Zeng April 18, 2023 

  2. Clara Deser April 23, 2024

Distinguished Alumni Lecturers

In 2013, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences created a "Distinguished Alumni Award" which includes an invited lecture.

The list of awardees and lecturers is:

  1. Robert Fovell December 4, 2013 

  2. Kelvin Droegemeier April 13, 2016 

  3. Ming Cai November 30, 2016 

  4. Long Cao September 4, 2018 

  5. Susan Avery October 15, 2019 

  6.  Robert Wilhelmson February 15, 2022 

  7. Harold Brooks November 17, 2022 

  8. Lourdes B. Aviles October 16, 2023 

Charles David Keeling Lecture Series

In honor of University of Illinois alumnus Charles David Keeling, who was a pioneer in the measurement of atmospheric CO2, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Chemistry created the Charles David Keeling Lecture Series.  This series was discontinued in 2023, and replaced by the Turco Lecturer.

  1. Ralph Cicerone 2010

  2. Susan Solomon 2011

  3. Ralph Keeling 2012

  4. Edward Maibach 2013

  5. Christopher Field 2016

  6. John E. Walsh 2017

  7. Eban Goodstein 2018

  8. Kerry Emanuel 2019

  9. Katharine Hayhoe 2020

  10. Alice Hill 2021

  11. Gavin Schmidt 2022

  12. Manvendra Dubey 2023

Richard P. and Linda S. Turco Lecture Series

In the spirit of their generous donation, in 2023 the Department initiated the annual Richard P. and Linda S. Turco Lecture Series.  This series encompasses the topics of climate science, environmental sciences, and environmental justice.  This lectureship is awarded to early- to mid-career scientists who have made significant contributions in these areas.

1. William Boos 2024