From Three SBU Faculty Appointed to SUNY Distinguished Professor on Stony Brook News, April 1, 2019
Three members of the Stony Brook University faculty — Yusuf A. Hannun, Joel Kenny Professor in Cancer Research; Peter J. Tonge, Professor of Chemistry and Radiology (by courtesy); and Minghua Zhang, Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences — have been honored with the rank of Distinguished Professor by the State University of New York Board of Trustees.
“The SUNY faculty being honored today with the distinguished ranking are leaders in innovation, research, environmental and cultural studies, and serve as a strong and constant reminder of the quality higher education students receive at our campuses,” said SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson. “On behalf of all our faculty, staff and students, I congratulate these individuals on this honorable distinction.” SoMAS Dean Paul Shepson noted via email that “this is certainly a most richly earned recognition and distinction for our good colleague Minghua,” whose “achievements have been remarkable, and he is an inspiration to us all!”
The Distinguished Professorship is conferred upon individuals who have achieved national and/or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within their chosen field. This distinction is attained through extraordinary contributions to, and impact on, the candidate’s field of study, often evidenced by significant research and/or creative activity. Moreover, the candidate should be a role model for students and other faculty and their work must be of such character that it has the potential to elevate the standards of scholarship or creative activity of colleagues both within and beyond their academic fields. Their work must be of such quality that students and scholars on other SUNY campuses would wish to benefit from lectures and seminars, or other appropriate presentations the faculty members might provide. Further, to be eligible for nomination, a faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five years, and must have at least one year of full-time service at the nominating institution.
Professor Minghua Zhang
Dr. Zhang, Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, has made novel contributions to climate science in the areas of climate feedback with clouds, climate model physics, and methods to utilize field data to Earth’s climate in sophisticated computer models. He has authored or co-authored 143 papers, and his work has garnered more than 12,400 citations. His cloud resolving mathematical scheme is widely used by many modeling communities and investigators worldwide. While Dean of Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences for six years, Dr. Zhang continued to serve as Principal Investigator on several research projects supported by the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Zhang is Editor-In-Chief for the American Geophysical Union’s highly regarded, peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. He was elected to the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and became an Honorary Professor at both Tsinghua University (2010) and the Chinese Academy of Science. For his contributions to climate science, Dr. Zhang shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former Vice President Al Gore in 2007.
More information about SUNY’s faculty award program is available online.
