1. Introduction
The School of Atmospheric Science (SAS) of Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST) develops from the Department of Meteorology, which was founded within the Nanjing Institute of Meteorology (the predecessor of NUIST) when the latter was established in 1960. It was among the first batch of schools and departments that were authorized by the State Council to offer master’s degree programs in 1978. In 1993 it was authorized to offer doctoral degree program in Weather Dynamics. In 1997 Climatology became a Key Discipline of the China Meteorological Administration. Atmospheric Science, the level I discipline of SAS, was approved to be a doctoral degree program in 1998, and began to have post-doctoral workshop since 1999. Meteorology, a level II discipline of SAS, was selected as a National Key Discipline in 2002 and 2007. Atmospheric Science was then rated as a Level I Key Discipline of Jiangsu Province in 2008 and an Advantageous Discipline of Jiangsu Province in 2011 and 2014. It also ranked No. 1 in the third round of national discipline evaluation conducted by the Ministry of Education of China (MOE) in 2012. In year 2017, it became a discipline of the “Double First-Class” Initiative (a state-level initiative that aims at building first-class universities and disciplines of the world), and was rated A+ in the fourth round of national discipline evaluation of MOE. In 2014, SAS was awarded the Advanced Collective of the National Education System by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and MOE.
Faculty: SAS has 140 faculty members, including 122 teachers. Among the teachers, there are 44 professors (research fellows), 31 associate professors (associate research fellows), 49 supervisors of doctoral degree candidates, and 52 supervisors of master’s degree candidates. All teachers under 50 years old are doctoral degree holders, while 83.02% of them have been abroad.
Within SAS there are 1 academician, 4 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (including 2 overseas recipients), 1 chair professor of the Chang Jiang Scholar Program of MOE, 2 experts selected by the “New Century Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project”, 2 chief scientists of the “973 Project”, 3 chief scientists of the National Key R&D Plan, 1 young expert of the “One Thousand Talents Project”, 1 top-notch young expert of the “Ten Thousand Talents Project”, 1 expert supported by the “New Century Talent Supporting Project” of MOE, 1 expert receiving the Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers, and 12 experts receiving special government allowance from the State Council. SAS also has 3 recipients of the Zou Jingmeng Award for Meteorologists, 3 Young or Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions in Jiangsu Province, 1 expert and 2 doctors of the Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Jiangsu Province, 4 Distinguished Professors of Jiangsu Province, 1 Renowned Teacher of Jiangsu Province and 1 Outstanding Worker of Jiangsu Province.
Students: SAS currently has 602 postgraduates and 1143 undergraduates.
Scientific Research: SAS has 2 teams supported by the Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Jiangsu Province (which are led by Academician Wang Huijun and Professor Tim Li, respectively), 3 Outstanding Scientific Innovation Teams of Jiangsu Colleges and Universities——the Typhoon and Meso-scale Meteorology Team, the Data Assimilation and Meso-scale Meteorology Team, and the Land Surface Process-atmosphere Interaction Team, and 2 Scientific Innovation Teams of the “Qinglan Project” for Jiangsu Colleges and Universities——the Climate Modeling and Forecast Team and the East Asian Monsoon and Regional Climate Change Team.
SAS has formed 6 main research directions that are most distinctive in the domestic atmospheric science circle: Atmospheric Circulation and Its Dynamic Process, Monsoon and Air-sea-land Interaction, Numerical Modeling and Climate Prediction, Meteorological Data Processing and Assimilation Application, Meso-scale Meteorology and Typhoon, and Climate Change and Regional Response.
Teaching Quality: The Atmospheric Science Program in SAS was rated as the Brand Major of Jiangsu Province in 2006 and 2015 respectively, and selected as one of the 2nd batch of Distinctive Major Building Sites of MOE in 2007. In 2012 it was selected as the pilot program of the “Comprehensive Major Reform” conducted by MOE, and the Key Major of Jiangsu Colleges and Universities in the 12th Five-year.
SAS boasts a teaching team of the main courses of Atmospheric Science, which is an Outstanding State-level Teaching Team, and a specialized teaching team of Atmospheric Science, which is an Outstanding Jiangsu Provincial Teaching Team. It has two excellent national open courses: Principle of Synoptic Meteorology and Numerical Weather Prediction, and 4 national or provincial level excellent courses including Synoptic Meteorology and Numerical Weather Prediction. Besides, it has produced 7 nationally planned textbooks and 5 national or provincial excellent textbooks. It won the first prize of the National Award for Outstanding Achievements in Teaching twice, and the grand, first and second prize of the Jiangsu Provincial Award for Outstanding Achievements in Teaching (High Education) twice, respectively.
Platform Building: SAS has several critical ministerial and provincial-level research units, such as the International Joint Laboratory on Climate and Environmental Change, Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disasters of MOE, and the Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters.
Talent Training: Boasting the backbone major of NUIST, the “cradle of Chinese meteorologists”, SAS has cultivated numerous high-quality researchers as well as operational and management staff, among whom there are 3 academicians. Its degrees and academic credits are widely recognized by renowned foreign universities and research institutes. In recent years around 45% of its graduates have successfully pursued further education home or abroad. Besides, it has an employment rate of over 99%. The Changwang Experimental Class of Atmospheric Science set up within SAS mainly aims at training a new type of top-notch meteorological talents with solid rudimentary knowledge and skills, high competence and quality and a global mindset.
2. Degree programs
Atmospheric Science was set up within SAS in 1960. SAS began to enroll master’s degree candidates in Atmospheric Science in 1978, and was authorized to grant master’s and doctoral degrees in Atmospheric Science in 1981 and 1993 respectively. It was approved to establish post-doctoral workshop for Atmospheric Science in 1999. Meteorology, a level II discipline of SAS, was selected as a National Key Discipline in 2002 and 2007. Atmospheric Science, the level I discipline of SAS, was rated as a Level I Key Discipline of Jiangsu Province in 2008 and an Advantageous Discipline of Jiangsu Province in 2011 and 2014. It also ranked No. 1 in the third round of national discipline evaluation conducted by MOE in 2012.
The Atmospheric Science program of SAS aims to cultivate high-level professional talents mastering basic theories, knowledge and application skills of atmospheric science. Currently SAS offers master’s degree programs in Meteorology and Climate System and Climate Change, and doctoral degree programs in Atmospheric Science (level I discipline) and in Meteorology and Climate system and Climate Change (level II disciplines). It also has a post-doctoral workshop for Atmospheric Science.
Bachelor’s Degree
1) Atmospheric Science
The Atmospheric Science major in SAS is one of the 2nd batch of Distinctive Major Building Sites of MOE, the pilot project of the “Comprehensive Major Reform” conducted by MOE, the Brand Major of Jiangsu Province, and the Jiangsu Provincial Key High School Major in the 12th Five-year. It aims to produce professional personnel that are capable of undertaking scientific research, teaching, operational and management works in the area of Atmospheric Science or other related fields after gaining rudimentary knowledge of Mathematics, Physics and Atmospheric Science, developing scientific literacy, systematically studying basic theories, knowledge and professional skills of Atmospheric Science, and receiving initial training in scientific research and operational work.
Main courses: College English, Advanced Mathematics, Probability Statistics, Computing Method, College Physics, Equations of Mathematical Physics, Atmospheric Physics, Atmospheric Observation, Fluid Mechanics, Modern Climatology, Thermodynamics, Principle and Methodology of Synoptic Meteorology, Meteorological Statistic Method, Fundamentals of Synoptic Analysis, Typical Weather Process Analysis, Dynamical Meteorology, China Weather, Numerical Weather Forecast, Short-term Climate Prediction, Conference and Discussion on Weather, Atmospheric Circulation, Comprehensive Practice of Weather Forecast, Modern Meteorological Services, and Public Weather Services.
Main practical teaching sections: Atmospheric Observation Practice, Comprehensive Practice of Weather Forecast, Modern Meteorological Services, Public Weather Services, Numerical Forecast Product Trial, Now-casting and Short-time Weather Forecasting Practice, Graduation Fieldwork, and Graduation Thesis.
Main practice: Atmospheric Observation Practice, Meteorological Programming and Plotting, Meteorological Statistic Method, Fundamentals of Synoptic Analysis, Typical Weather Process Analysis, Numerical Weather Forecast, Short-term Climate Prediction, Conference and Discussion on Weather, Synoptic Diagnosis and Analysis, Meteorological Radar Data Processing and Application, Meteorological Satellite Data Processing and Application, and Numerical Model and Simulation.
Master’s Degree
1) Meteorology
This program aims to cultivate top-notch professional personnel that have a good command of profound rudimentary theories of Meteorology and a systematic and in-depth understanding of its specialized knowledge, and that are capable of carrying out scientific research or works that require expertise independently, and undertaking teaching, scientific research, operational and management works in high schools, research institutes, administrative departments or other related institutes and departments.
Main courses: Advanced Atmospheric Dynamics, Advanced Atmospheric Circulation, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Reading and Writing in Scientific English in Meteorology, Advanced Synoptic Meteorology, Meteorological Data Assimilation, Boundary Layer Theories and Land Surface Process, Climate Dynamics, Monsoon Dynamics, Monsoon Dynamics, Modern Meteorological Statistics Method, Advanced Atmospheric Numerical Simulation, Short-term Climate Prediction Practice, Weather Forecast Practice, Air-sea-land Interaction, Analysis and Diagnosis of Typhoon, etc.
2) Climate System and Climate Change
This program aims to cultivate top-notch professional personnel that have a good command of profound rudimentary theories of Climate System and Climate Change and a systematic understanding of its specialized knowledge, and that are capable of carrying out scientific research or works that require expertise independently, and undertaking teaching, scientific research, operational and management works in high schools, research institutes, administrative departments or other related institutes and departments.
Main courses: Climate Dynamics, Advanced Atmospheric Circulation, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Reading and Writing in Scientific English in Meteorology, Advanced Synoptic Meteorology, Meteorological Data Assimilation, Boundary Layer Theories and Land Surface Process, Monsoon Dynamics, Short-term Climate Prediction, Weather Forecast Practice, Air-sea-land Interaction, Research Progress in Modern Climatology, Modern Method of Climatological Statistical Diagnosis and Its Application, etc.
Doctoral Degree
1) Meteorology
This program aims to cultivate top-notch professional personnel that have a good command of profound rudimentary theories of Meteorology and a systematic and in-depth understanding of its specialized knowledge, and that are capable of carrying out scientific research independently, gaining creative achievements in science or specialized technology, and undertaking teaching, scientific research, operational and management works in high schools, research institutes, administrative departments or other related institutes and departments. Main courses: Selected Lecture of Modern Applied Mathematics, Scientific English Reading and Translation, Research Progress in Atmospheric Science, Professional Literature Reading, Seminars for Frontier Academic Studies, etc.
2) Climate System and Climate Change
This program aims to train top-notch professional personnel that have a good command of profound rudimentary theories of Climate System and Climate Change and a systematic and in-depth understanding of its specialized knowledge, and that are capable of carrying out scientific research independently, gaining creative achievements in science or specialized technology, and undertaking teaching, scientific research, operational and management works in high schools, research institutes, administrative departments or other related institutes and departments.
Main courses: Selected Lecture of Modern Applied Mathematics, Scientific English Reading and Translation, Research Progress in Atmospheric Science, Professional Literature Reading, Seminars for Frontier Academic Studies, etc.
3. Research
Research Teams: In order to improve its overall capacity for scientific and technological innovation,SAS has formed 16 well-functioning scientific research innovation teams with distinctive features since July 2018.
1) Land-atmosphere Interaction: This team is led by Prof. Chen Haishan. Its research areas include: the development, assessment and improvement of land surface models and land surface process simulation; impacts of land-atmosphere interaction and land surface processes on regional climate; regional climate effects of land surface processes related to human activities; the land surface process of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the third pole of the world, and climate change in East Asia.
2) Typhoon and Mesoscale Meteorology: This team is led by Prof. Ge Xuyang. Its research areas consist of: typhoon dynamics and numerical simulation; mesoscale weather dynamics and numerical simulation; typhoon climate dynamics; formation mechanism and prediction of extremely severe mesoscale weather.
3) Atmospheric Circulation Dynamics: This team is led by Prof. Guan Zhaoyong. It mainly studies: the global atmospheric circulation-layer interaction; extreme weather and atmospheric circulation changes; evolution mechanism of atmospheric circulation.
4) Climate Change and Its Regional Response: This team, led by Prof. Jiang Zhihong, investigates: simulation and prediction of regional climate change; diagnosis and attribution of extreme weather; prediction of climate change and extreme weather events.
5) Tropical Weather and Climate Dynamics:Created by Prof. Tim Li, the team focuses on the research of: ENSO dynamics and its teleconnection; MJO dynamics and its climate impacts in East Asia; tropical cyclone dynamics and multi-scale interactions; characteristics of climate change in global warming.
6) The Middle Atmosphere: This team is led by Prof. Liu Renqiang. Its research areas include: dynamic process of the middle atmosphere; stratosphere-troposphere interaction; dynamic-chemical coupling of atmospheric radiation.
7) Climate Prediction and Application: Prof. Luo Jing-Jia is the team leader. He and his team members focus on: the research and innovation of climate theories and mechanisms; development of climate models and forecasting systems; social application of the results of climate research and forecasting data.
8) Data Assimilation and Numerical Forecasting: Prof. Min Jinzhong leads the team, which studies: storm-scale ensemble forecast; meteorological data processing and data assimilation; parameterization scheme of physical process; regional numerical model application.
9) Climate Variation at Mid-high Latitudes and Its Mechanism:This team is led by Academician Wang Huijun. It aims at revealing themechanism of the interannual-interdecadal variation of mid-high latitude climate and the future evolution trend of mid-high latitude climate.
10) Intraseasonal Variability and Extended-range Prediction:This team is led by Prof. Pang-Chi Hsu. Its research areas include: dynamic mechanism of the triggering and propagation of the MJO; 2. characteristic diagnosis and dynamics of atmospheric ISV at mid-high latitudes; the influencing mechanism of the MJO on East Asian weather and climate and the extended-range predictability of severe weather; extended-range prediction methods and model development.
11)Monsoon and Regional Climate:Created by Prof. Xu Haiming, this research team mainly studies: monsoon and regional climate; air-sea interaction; mesoscale numerical simulation; applicability of boundary layer parameterization scheme; climate system and climate change.
12)Air-sea Interaction: Led by Prof. Zhang Wenjun, the team primarily investigates: ENSO dynamics and its climate effects; dynamics of air-sea interaction in mid-high latitudes and its climate impacts; interaction between ENSO and the interdecadal variability of mid-high latitudes; regional climate simulation and prediction based on air-sea interaction.
13)Model Product Interpretation and Ensemble Prediction:The leader of this team is Prof. Zhi Xiefei. He and his team members focus on: multi-model ensemble forecast; model product interpretation; severe convective weather diagnosis mechanism and simulation; application of deep learning in numerical weather prediction.
14)Weather and Climate over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: The leader of this team is Prof. Zhou Shunwu. He and his team members research on: the weather system and severe weather over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; the dynamic and thermal effects of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; intraseasonal oscillation and numerical simulation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; interaction between the troposphere and the stratosphere over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
15)Research and Application of Data Assimilation:Led by Prof. Zou Xiaolei, this team focuses on the research of satellite data assimilation application, and radar data assimilation application.
16)Earth System Modeling (ESM): Founded and led by Prof. Bin Wang, the ESM team mainly studies the development and application of the Earth system model, monsoon dynamics, tropical weather and climate dynamics, and the mechanism of paleoclimate change and prediction of future climate change.
Research Achievements: Regarding academic performance, SAS ranks among the best in the domestic Atmospheric Science circle due to tremendous research achievements it has made. It successively wins over 170 scientific awards of various kinds and levels, including: 4 international awards, 2 National Awards for Natural Sciences, 7 National Awards for Progress in Science and Technology, 2 National Scientific Conference Awards, and 25 Jiangsu Provincial Awards for Progress in Science and Technology. In 2015, Prof. Bin Wang, the overseas dean of SAS, was awarded with the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, the highest award for Atmospheric Science.
In the recent 5 years, SAS has led or participated in over 420 research projects. Apart from 2 programs of “Project 973”, it has also led 4 programs and 12 topics of the National Key Research and Development Project, and received 1 grant from the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 8 from the National Science Fund for Key Programs, and nearly 140 from other national or key programs. Scientific research funds of SAS have grown rapidly, with the total grants for research projects increasing from RMB 34.88 million in 2012 to RMB 70 million per annum. Compared with its domestic counterparts, the growth rate of the scientific research funds of SAS ranks among the fastest, and the total amount ranks among the largest. In the meantime, SAS has also witnessed a steady annual growth of the number of scientific papers as well as improvement of their quality. In the recent 5 years, SAS faculty members have published over 1400 high-quality papers, among which 630 are accepted by SCI journals.
Research Platforms: SAS has set up several research units, such as the Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disasters of MOE, the Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing Atmospheric Data Center of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Data Assimilation Research Center, the Pacific Typhoon Research Center, the Earth System Modeling Center, the Climate Dynamics Research Center, and the Institute of Climate Application Research. Collaborating with famous foreign universities such as the University of Hawaii, the Florida State University and the University of Oklahoma, SAS has established the International Joint Laboratory on Climate and Environmental Change, which is one of the first 3 international joint laboratories approved by MOE.
4. Contact us
Address: School of Atmospheric Science, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China
Post code: 210044
Contact name: Liu Lin
Cellphone: 86-25-58731186
Email: dqkx@nuist.edu.cn
Website: www.nuist.edu.cn