Zhibo Zhang

Dr. Zhibo Zhang is a Professor in the Department of Physics at UMBC and serves as Associate Director of Academics at the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET). He holds a Ph.D. (2008) and M.S. (2004) in Atmospheric Sciences from Texas A&M University and a B.S. (2001) in Atmospheric Sciences from Nanjing University. His research focuses on aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions, climate modeling, and remote sensing applications. Key areas include quantifying aerosol effects on Earth's energy budget, analyzing low-level cloud dynamics in the Southeast Atlantic, and improving climate model representations of aerosol-cloud processes.

Research is supported by NASA, DOE, NSF, and JCET. His group, the Aerosol, Cloud, Radiation-Observation and Simulation (ACROS) Group, employs satellite data (e.g., NASA's A-Train, DOE's ARM) and global/regional models to study climate change, air quality, and weather impacts. Recent work examines African biomass burning aerosols' interactions with marine boundary layer clouds and the role of cloud diurnal cycles in regional warming.

Dr. Zhang has received prestigious awards including the UMBC Mid-Career Award (2022) and the IRC Young Scientist Award (2016). He has held leadership roles such as UMBC Physics Graduate Program Director (2014–2019) and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications. His work addresses critical gaps in climate model parameterization, aerosol radiative effects, and satellite data interpretation.

Current research priorities include developing the CAMRO-Dust database, improving dust aerosol retrievals using thermal infrared methods, and leveraging machine learning for cloud detection and classification. Collaborations emphasize multi-sensor data fusion and bridging observational and modeling communities to advance Earth systems understanding.