Ambrose Jearld, Jr. Lecture

Dr. Morris is a Foundation Professor and Associate Dean of Knowledge Enterprise and Strategic Outcomes in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.  He is also a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley School of Sustainability and an Associate Scientist in the Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology (CGEST).  Dr. Morris is one of the inaugural leads for the launch of ASU’s Presidential Postdoctoral Program and Presidential Graduate Scholars Program; two ASU initiatives designed to address the production, enhanced recruitment, and improved retention and success of Black and other racialized faculty across the academy.

Dr. Morris’ research has focused on the chemical evolution of airborne particulate during their residence times in the lower atmosphere and their implications to urban aerobiology, climate, and environmental justice.  He has performed field-based studies in nine countries and four of the five named oceans.  He has served as Chief Scientist for eleven trans-Atlantic science expeditions (the AERosols and Ocean Science Expeditions – AEROSE) aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) class-1 research vessel, the Ronald H. Brown. Each time he led an international team of scientists in a multidisciplinary study of the influences and life cycle of atmospheric particles emitted from the Saharan Desert on the regional atmosphere and ocean.  The AEROSE data represent the most extensive set of in situ observations of Saharan Air Layer in the Tropical Atlantic. These data have been used for improved satellite retrievals, data assimilation for hurricane and tropical storm forecasts, validation of NOAA, DoD, and European numerical weather prediction models, and improved parameterizations for global forecasts.  Morris has published over 80 refereed publications, book chapters, and technical reports and garnered over $75M in research funding as principal investigator.

Dr. Morris is passionate about broadening the participation and success of racialized and marginalized groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). His training programs are responsible for producing 60% of the African American PhDs and 30% of the Latina PhDs in Atmospheric Sciences between 2006 to 2018 in the United States. His geosciences outreach programs have engaged over 25,000 learners.

Dr. Morris earned his B.S. degrees in chemistry and mathematics from Morehouse College and his Ph.D. in Geophysical Sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and currently serves on the National Science Foundation Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering.  His most recent recognitions include being listed as one of the 1000 most inspiring Black scientists of 2020 and the 2020 American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society.  The latter award was a result of his efforts forming and leading the No Time for Silence initiative, which challenges and supports STEM organizations and institutions in their pursuit of actionable goals to achieve equitable participation and access for scholars and learners from marginalized identities.  In 2022, he was named an inaugural Fellow in the USC Wrigley Institute Storymakers Program.