Professor Rong Fu received her B.S in Geophysics from Peking University (1984) and Ph.D in Atmospheric Sciences from Columbia University in New York City (1991). After completing her graduate studies, she participated in post-doctoral research at the University of California, Los Angles (1991-1993), and was later appointed as a visiting scientist fellow at Princeton University (1994). Dr. Fu began her role as a faculty member as an Assistant Professor at University of Arizona (1994-1999), Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology (1999-2008), and Professor (2008-2016) and Associate Chair (2011-2015) of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Fu is currently Professor in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department and Director of JIFRESSE at the University of California, Los Angeles.  

Dr. Fu’s research aims at understanding the role of the atmospheric hydrological cycle and its interaction with earth’s surface in determining the stability of the Earth’s climate at global and regional scales, and at applying climate science to support regional decision.  Her research has been focused on the mechanisms that control the rainfall variability over Amazonian and Pan-American monsoon regions, how changes of global climate, local vegetation and biomass burning, and oceanic decadal variability have influenced rainfall variability in recent past and will influence rainfall and droughts in the future. Her research is among the earliest to show an active role of tropical rainforests in initiating dry to wet season transition over Amazonia and the significance of the Tibetan Plateau in determining water vapor transport to the global stratosphere.

Dr. Fu received a NSF CAREER Award (1995), NASA EOS New Investigator Award (1996), and is an elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (2015).  She has also received the AGU Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letter (2006) and a NASA Group Achievement Award (2007). She has published 84 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, and delivered 109 invited or keynote presentations/lecture/seminars. Dr. Fu was a founding associate editor of “Anthopogence” (Elsevier, 2012-2014), a science advisor of Oxford Press-Environment (2013-2015), served on the National Research Council’s Committees on “Challenges and Opportunities in Earth Surface Processes” (2007-2009) and “Understanding and Observing Abrupt Climate Change” (2012-2013), and NOAA Science Advisory Board’s Climate Working Group (2015-).  She has served on AGU Meeting Committee (2010-2012), AGU Council (2014-2016), and Council Leadership Team (2015-2016).  Dr. Fu was also formerly President-Elect (2013-2014) and currently President (2015-2016) of the AGU Global Environmental Change Focus Group.