Selected Honors and Awards
2008: Chairman, International Advisory Panel for Weather and Climate, India
2008: Commissioner, Virginia Governor's Commission on Climate Change
2008: Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2007: Lead Author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
(IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Gore)
2007: International Meteorological Organization Prize of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
(Highest honor awarded by the WMO)
2005: Rossby Medal of the American Meteorological Society (AMS)
(Highest honor awarded by the AMS)
2004: Scientist of the year, Association of Indians in America (AIA)
2001: Walker Gold Medal of the Indian Meteorological Society (IMS)
(Highest medal of the IMS; first recipient of the medal)
2001: Joint Scientific Committee of WCRP
(Highest Committee of the World Climate Research Program)
1999: Founded Gandhi College for women in a village in India
(See the article in the New York Times, 17 August 2003)
1996: Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS, Associate Fellow)
1996: Fellow, Indian Meteorological Society
1993: Founded Institute of Global Environment and Society (IGES)
(See www.iges.org)
1989: Helped establish super computer center for monsoon forecasting, New Delhi
(At the behest of the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi)
1988: Started weather and climate program at ICTP, Trieste, Italy
(At the behest of Dr. Abdus Salam, founder of ICTP)
1986: Invited to lecture at the Pontifical Academy, Vatican, Italy
(Audience with Pope John Paul II)
1983: Founded, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere (COLA)
(COLA is considered one of the premiere centers in the world for climate research)
1982: Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal of NASA
(Highest medal given by NASA to a civilian)
1979: Chief Scientist, MONEX experiment in the Bay of Bengal
(Leader of an expedition of three aircrafts and 150 scientists to Calcutta)