AOGS Wing Ip Medal Award

2023 AOGS Wing Ip Medallist
Emeritus Professor Shigeo YODEN

Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kyoto University

Shigeo Yoden has been an international leader in geoscience for over three decades, in his scientific excellence, promotion of geoscience research in the Asia Oceania region, and dissemination of knowledge to the wider community. He obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc., and D.Sc. degrees from Kyoto University and then went to the University of Washington as a JSPS Fellow for Research Abroad. Since 1987 he has served energetically and creatively as a professor at Kyoto University. He is at the forefront of the intersection of applied mathematics and dynamic meteorology. Through his careful and insightful work, he is an inspiring international leader, contributing fundamental new knowledge in stratospheric and tropospheric dynamics, tropical meteorology, climate dynamics, geophysical fluid dynamics, and atmospheric predictability. Examples from his exceptional body of work include numerical and laboratory studies of the QBO, bifurcation and multiple flow regimes, formation of zonal banded structures in 2D turbulence on a rotating sphere, Lyapunov stability analysis and predictability, and idealized numerical studies of waves and convection. Throughout his career, Shigeo has played an integral role in defining international science collaborations in the areas of computational fluid dynamics, atmospheric predictability, stratosphere-troposphere coupling, and tropical-extratropical coupling. His mentoring of graduate students and early career geoscientists has been exceptional, including supervision of 14 Ph.D. scientists, with two from Southeast Asia. During the past two decades he has hosted 42 visiting scholars from abroad, including scientists from Indonesia, the USA, Singapore, Canada, Vietnam, New Guinea, India, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Germany. He has organized 22 international scientific meetings and has served as a member of the WCRP/SPARC steering group. His contributions toward the development of international scientific infrastructure, especially in the Asia Oceania region, are outstanding. In his sustained efforts to foster international cooperation, he has convened AOGS annual meetings and topics almost every year since 2004. He developed the Kyoto University Active Geosphere Investigations for the 21st Century (KAGI21) symposium series during 2003-2007, the KAGI21 International Summer/Spring School (2004-2019), and the Institute of Technology Bandung Biweekly Seminar Series. He was the PI for many international research projects, including International Research for Prevention and Mitigation of Meteorological Disasters in Southeast Asia, and the JPSJ program on Extreme Weather in Changing Climate in the Maritime Continent. His substantial leadership role in promoting aspects of geoscience includes membership in leading scientific societies in Japan, the USA, and the UK, serving as Trustee of the Meteorological Society of Japan, editor of J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. and J. Atmos. Sci., and president of the IAMAS International Commission on the Middle Atmosphere. Shigeo has not only done outstanding research on theoretical aspects of atmospheric sciences, he has been very effective in translating such knowledge to practical, societal applications. He has been especially effective at using AOGS as a platform to promote regional geophysical science collaboration and is thoroughly deserving of the Wing Ip Medal Award.

Matthew Hitchman, Professor, University of Wisconsin – Madison