We are pleased to announce that Dr. Jun A. Zhang has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Weather and Forecasting” in Forecasting (ISSN 2571-9394).
Dr. Jun A. Zhang received his Ph.D. degree in Applied Marine Physics from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the University of Miami, FL, USA, in 2007. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Research Council. He is currently a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division and University of Miami. His research interests include hurricane intensity change, boundary layer dynamics, turbulent mixing, air–sea interaction, and physical parameterizations. Dr. Zhang has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal papers. He has served as the co-Chief Editor for Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans since 2019.
He received the NOAA Gold Medal Award for the significant improvement of the operational Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) model for hurricane forecasts and for pioneering the application of uncrewed surface vehicles (saildrones) to observe hurricanes and tropical storms. He also received the American Meteorological Society’s Banner I. Miller Award, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Award for Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel Group Achievement, and Aviation Laureate Award. In the past 15 years, Dr. Zhang has participated in NOAA’s Hurricane Field Program, serving as the lead project scientist and instrument scientist. He has flown through more than 50 storms with NOAA’s aircraft and experienced more than 100 eyewall penetrations.
The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Jun A. Zhang, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and Open Access publishing:
1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
The Forecasting journal covers a broad range of studies related to forecasting, including both theoretical and practical applications in different research areas.
2. What is your vision for the journal?
I believe that this journal will provide an advanced forum for researchers and forecasters to publish their innovative ideas and findings that will have a high impact on the relevant fields.
3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
The field of forecasting will be a combination of theoretical, experimental and computational results that benefit society.
4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
Open Access is an excellent approach in the publishing field that benefits scientists and researchers in exchanging ideas and findings in a timely manner.
We warmly welcome Dr. Jun A. Zhang as the Section Editor-in-Chief of “Weather and Forecasting”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership.
