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
  2. Douglas Lilly March 29, 1989
  3. Syukuro Manabe March 7, 1990
  4. Edward Lorenz March 19, 1991
  5. Isaac Held April 22, 1992
  6. Howard Bluestein March 17, 1993
  7. Ralph Cicerone March 28, 1995
  8. Peter Rhines April 26, 1996
  9. Richard Turco November 18, 1998
  10. Stephen Schneider April 22, 1999
  11. Joseph Klemp April 19, 2000
  12. Timothy Killeen May 1, 2001
  13. Roger M. Wakimoto April 3, 2002
  14. V. Ramanathan April 16, 2003
  15. William F. Ruddiman October 20, 2004
  16. Susan Avery September 16, 2005
  17. Marvin Geller September 16, 2005
  18. Kerry Emanuel May 2, 2007
  19. Kevin Trenberth April 30, 2008
  20. Warren Washington April 29, 2009
  21. Eugenia Kalnay April 21, 2010
  22. James Feng April 20, 2011
  23. Lou Wicker April 20, 2011
  24. Ming Cai April 21, 2011
  25. John Weatherly April 21, 2011
  26. Peter Webster April 25, 2012
  27. Jon Latham April 17, 2013
  28. Marshall Shepherd October 24, 2014
  29. V. Ramaswamy April 15, 2015
  30. Kenneth Caldeira April 20, 2016
  31. Katharine Hayhoe April 17, 2017
  32. Edward Zipser April 24, 2018
  33. L. Ruby Leung April 19, 2019
  34. Norman G. Loeb April 20, 2021
  35. Xubin Zeng April 18, 2023
  36. Clara Deser April 23, 2024
  37. Adam Sobel April 23, 2025

Distinguished Alumni Lecturers

In 2013, the Department of Climate, Meteorology & 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
  9. Louis J. Wicker September 24, 2024

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 Climate, Meteorology & 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 2023-24

2. Mark Zelinka 2024-25