Richard C. J. Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, where he has been a professor since 1979. He is a theoretical meteorologist and an expert on climate models and climate change. He received a B. S. in meteorology from Penn State University and a Ph. D. in meteorology from New York University. Somerville’s research addresses critical physical processes in the climate system, especially the role of clouds. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications. He is also the Science Director of Climate Communication, a non-profit science and outreach project which publicizes climate research accessibly and helps both scientists and journalists in communicating climate science to the public. Somerville is an IPCC author and has received awards from the American Meteorological Society for both his research and his popular book, The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change. More information is available at http://richardsomerville.com.