Cliff Mass is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at University of Washington. He is the chief scientist of the Northwest Modeling Consortium, a group that facilitates state-of-the-art prediction over the U.S., and is active in improving the Weather, Research, and Forecasting (WRF) model. Based on a strong interest in improving operational weather prediction, he has written a number of papers examining the strengths and weaknesses of the National Weather Service. Cliff has been involved in a number of other initiatives, including the acquisition of coastal radar on the Washington coast, improving the infrastructure of the National Weather Service, the use of smartphone pressure observations for weather prediction, and the improvement of K-12 math education. He is the author of the 2008 book “The Weather of the Pacific Northwest” and broadcasts a weekly weather information segment on KPLU, a local public radio station. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, has been an editor of a number of meteorological journals, is a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, and has served as a member of a number of National Academy committees.

This is part of the The Duck Family Colloquium Series. The Center for Environmental Politics organizes a monthly colloquium series on environmental politics, policy, and governance. This series is made possible by the generous support of Gary and Susan Duck, UW alumni and long-standing benefactors of the department. Susan passed away in December 2015 after a prolonged illness. We miss her a lot.