Dr. Chameides has combined more than 30 years in academia as a professor, researcher, teacher, and mentor with a 3-year stint in the NGO world as the chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Dr. Chameides’s research focuses on the atmospheric sciences, elucidating the causes of and remedies for global, regional, and urban environmental change and identifying pathways towards a more sustainable future. Specifically his research helped lay the groundwork for our understanding of the photochemistry of the lower atmosphere, elucidated the importance of nitrogen oxides emission controls in the mitigation of urban and regional photochemical smog, and the impact of regional air pollution on global food production.
Dr. Chameides has served on numerous national and international committees and task forces. For his efforts he was recentlynamed a National Associate of the National Academies for “extraordinary service.” He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s MacElwane Award.
He joined Duke as the Dean of the Nicholas School in 2007.
Dr. Chameides has led two major, multi-institutional research projects: the Southern Oxidants Study, a research program focused on understanding the causes and remedies for air pollution in the Southern United States; and CHINA-MAP, an international research program studying the effects of environmental change on agriculture in China.