Jennifer Kay

Jennifer Kay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC) at the University of Colorado Boulder, a Fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). She is also the Associate Director of CIRES and a co-chair of the Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP). Her research is at the forefront of understanding polar climate change, focusing on the complex interactions between clouds, radiation, sea ice, and the broader climate system.

Her research interests are centered on polar climate dynamics, specifically coupled atmosphere-ocean-ice processes, cold cloud and precipitation physics, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, and climate feedbacks and forcing. She employs a powerful combination of tools, including satellite remote sensing data (e.g., from CloudSat and CALIPSO), in-situ observations, and sophisticated global climate models like the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Her work aims to evaluate and improve model representations of polar processes to better understand and project climate change.

The analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong and consistent research focus on the mechanisms of Arctic amplification. Her work frequently investigates how changes in clouds and sea ice interact to alter the flow of energy (radiation) in the Arctic, creating powerful feedback loops that accelerate warming. She also has a significant interest in large initial condition ensembles to separate the effects of natural climate variability from human-forced change, and in developing new observational datasets and model evaluation tools.

• Henry G. Houghton Award, American Meteorological Society (2017)
• CESM Distinguished Achievement Award (2016)
• NSF CAREER Award

Dr. Kay is a dedicated mentor and educator, actively advising a group of Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers. She has successfully guided numerous students and postdocs to successful careers in academia and research, as evidenced by her recent alumni who are now faculty at institutions like Dartmouth, UCLA, and Florida State University. Her research is generously funded by major agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and the Department of Energy (DOE), supporting projects like the NASA PREFIRE mission.

She leads the Jennifer Kay Research Group, which is deeply embedded in the vibrant climate science community of Boulder, Colorado. The group collaborates extensively with scientists at NCAR and NASA, and its members are involved in major field campaigns and modeling initiatives. The group also engages in education and outreach, developing data literacy tools for K-12 classrooms.