About Sundar

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Dr. Sundar A. Christopher is a professor in the department of Atmospheric and Earth Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has served in numerous leadership positions including Associate Director of the Earth System Science Center (2007-2014); Chairman of the Department of Atmospheric Science (2010-2014), and Dean of the College of Science (2014-2019). He is currently co-director for the Laboratory of Applied Sciences.

Dr. Christopher received his PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from Colorado State University. He also holds a Master’s degree in Meteorology from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a Masters degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Dr. Christopher’s research interests include satellite remote sensing of clouds and aerosols and their impact on air quality, environment, health, and global and regional climate. He works with numerous satellite data sets from polar orbiting and geostationary satellites, ground-based instruments, and aircraft data to study the earth-atmosphere system.

Dr. Christopher enjoys teaching and has designed and developed undergraduate and graduate level courses with special emphasis on hands-on training using satellite data. He also designed a professional development course for graduate students. His book “Navigating Graduate School and Beyond: A Career Guide for Graduate Students and a Must-Read for Every Adviser” is widely used to train graduate students. His book “Navigating Tenure and Beyond” is used to mentor early career faculty.

Dr. Christopher has published more than 125 peer reviewed papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals . He has been invited to speak at major scientific conferences across the globe. He has also won several million dollars in numerous grants and contracts from NASA, NOAA, and other federal agencies for studying earth-atmosphere processes.

Through his leadership roles, Dr. Christopher has worked in complex organizational roles to lead change by developing strategic initiatives and implementing those initiatives in a changing academic environment. Dr. Christopher is widely regarded as an effective mentor to students, faculty, and staff and works to develop careers in an inclusive, collaborative environment. In both his administrative and technical leadership roles he has applied methodical and efficient approaches to solve problems. He is known for his business acumen by efficiently managing budgets and information resources.

He has been invited to speak at major venues including the World Federation of Scientists (Erice, Sicily), the United Nations Symposium in 2007 (Graz, Austria), the American Association for Aerosol Research, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS), the United Nations Symposium on Space Applications, 2008 (Graz, Austria), the Osher Institute of Higher Learning, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and various national and international universities (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Purdue University, Texas A&M, University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin, Goddard Space Flight Center, Colorado State University, and others). 

He has won several million dollars in numerous grants and contracts from NASA, NOAA, and other federal agencies for studying earth-atmosphere processes. 

He has won several awards including the University Award for Research and Creative Achievement in 2006 and NASA New Investigator Award. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has served as an expert reviewer for the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP).

He is a citizen of the United States of America.