Charles F. Kennel
University of California, San Diego
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Primary Section: 16, Geophysics Secondary Section: 63, Environmental Sciences and Ecology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1991)
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Biosketch
Charles F. Kennel is Distinguished Professor, Vice-Chancellor, and Director emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the UC San Diego. He was educated in astronomy and astrophysics at Harvard and Princeton. After a post-doctoral year at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, he joined UCLA’s Department of Physics and its Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics. There he pursued research and teaching in theoretical space plasma physics and astrophysics, eventually chairing the Physics Department. From 1994 to 1996, Kennel was Associate Administrator at NASA, leading Mission to Planet Earth. He was UCLA’s Executive Vice Chancellor from 1996 to 1998, and served as Scripps Director from 1998-2006. He now teaches climate science and policy at Scripps, and is a regular visitor to Christ‘s College, Cambridge. Kennel has chaired the NRC’s Board on Physics and Astronomy and Committee on Global Change Research. He served for12 years on the NASA Advisory Council, chairing it from 2000-2005, and was a member of the Presidential (“Augustine”) Commission on human space flight in 2009. He chaired the NRC Space Studies Board between 2008 and 2014. He now chairs the California Council on Science and Technology Board.
Research Interests
My research revolves around plasma physics, space plasma physics, solar-terrestrial physics, plasma astrophysics, and environmental science and policy.
