In 1997 Arlene M. Fiore graduated Harvard Collegemagna cum laude with an A.B. in Environmental Geoscience. She continued her education at Harvard University, graduating in 2003 with a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences. Her thesis was titled “Linking regional air pollution with global chemistry and climate: The role of background ozone.” In this dissertation, Fiore discusses the importance of background ozone in connecting local air quality with global climate and chemistry, concluding that pollution enhances background ozone and leads to greater climate warming.
Career and research
While attending Harvard College, Arlene Fiore was a graduate researcher with the Harvard Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group as she earned her Ph.D. Before becoming a professor, Fiore continued her research at the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences Program at Princeton University, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Since 2011, Fiore has been a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades, NY. She is currently a full professor. In her time at Columbia she has taught a variety of classes, including Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry, Insights into Climate and Carbon Cycling from Simple Models, Dust in the Earth System, and Atmosphere Tutorial: Chemistry. Her fields of interest are air quality, climate change and variability, and atmospheric chemistry. She studies connections between the biosphere and the atmosphere, changes and patterns in atmospheric composition, and the relationship between climate and chemistry. In addition to being a professor and researcher, Fiore participates in a numerous of professional activities. Since 2016 she has been the Principal Investigator with the NASA Health and Air QualityApplied Sciences Team. She has also been a member of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Meteorological Society Statement on Atmospheric Ozone, the Steering Committee for NYSERDA-sponsored NESCAUM Workshop on New York City Metropolitan Area Energy and Air Quality Data Gaps, and the Steering Committee's IGAC/SPARC Chemistry-Climate Modeling Initiative since 2014, 2017, 2017, and 2013 respectively.
Awards and honors
In December 2005, Fiore won the American Geophysical Union James R. Holton Junior Scientist Award for the research she conducted in the two years after earning her Ph.D. In July 2006, she earned the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for her research applicable to the National Science Foundation. In December 2011, the American Geophysical Union awarded Fiore with the James B. Macelwane Medal, for her work in the geophysical sciences as an early career scientist. As specified by the Geophysical Union website, she met the criteria for the award with her high number of publications on atmospheric chemistry which aided to the scientific community's understanding of ozone pollution impacts. Since 2012, Fiore has received two grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to study U.S. air pollution and climate warming.
Selected publications
Fiore has co-authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications, but the most highly cited are:
Public engagement
In 2002, Arlene Fiore cofounded Earth Science Women's Network. Members of this organization lead workshops about career development and equality in the workplace for female students and professionals.
