Kimberly Strong, chair of the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Department of Physics and a leading authority in global atmospheric research, has received the prestigious 2022 Willet G. Miller Medal from the Royal Society of Canada.
The award — named in honour of the distinguished geologist and an Ontario mining industry pioneer — is given every two years for outstanding research in any branch of the earth sciences.
“I'm delighted to be recognized by my colleagues, and I appreciate the effort that goes into these nominations,” says Strong who has been a physics professor at U of T since 1996 and served as director of the School of the Environment from 2013-2018.
“Of course, this is not just for me, it's for my group as well, as my research is highly collaborative,” she adds. “When I think of all of my graduate students, postdocs, and other group members over the years, this award is a reflection of their cumulative accomplishment.”
As an atmospheric physicist, Kim Strong has established a national and international reputation for research excellence. Employing an array of experimental techniques to probe the composition of the atmosphere, she is unravelling the chemical and physical processes that are driving atmospheric change. It is my great pleasure to congratulate her on this important and well-deserved honour.
An internationally eminent atmospheric physicist, Strong has greatly increased our understanding of the physical and chemical processes that drive atmospheric change. Her research involves the use of spectroscopic techniques, through which she acquires data on atmospheric composition from balloons, satellites and ground-based observatories.
Her research interests include urban, Arctic, and planetary atmospheric science, long-term measurements of stratospheric and tropospheric trace gases, satellite validation, and laboratory spectroscopy.
Over the course of her career, her research has contributed to the development of new methodologies and original discovery, while her leadership revitalized atmospheric ballooning in Canada, initiated a new investigative program in the Canadian Arctic, and generated valuable long-term measurement capabilities.
For example, data derived from the Middle Atmosphere Nitrogen TRend Assessment balloon project (MANTRA), for which Strong was principal investigator, has been used to investigate the changing chemical balance of the mid-latitude stratosphere, focusing on compounds that play a role in ozone chemistry.
We measure the composition of the atmosphere to study topics ranging from greenhouse gas emissions to stratospheric ozone depletion. We’re also looking at air quality, with an eye on air pollutants — characterizing those emitted from forest fires in Eurasia and North America — that get transported into the Arctic.
As one of the founders — and currently the principal investigator — of the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL), located at Eureka, Nunavut, she’s especially proud of the long-term datasets this project has generated.
“We measure the composition of the atmosphere to study topics ranging from greenhouse gas emissions to stratospheric ozone depletion. We’re also looking at air quality, with an eye on air pollutants — characterizing those emitted from forest fires in Eurasia and North America — that get transported into the Arctic,” she says.
Her commitment to researching atmospheric change also includes founding the University of Toronto Atmospheric Observatory, as well as being a co-investigator on the ACE and Odin satellite missions and director of the NSERC CREATE Training Program in Arctic Atmospheric Science.
As a result of her many achievements and accolades, Strong is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, and a recipient of the Patterson Medal for Distinguished Service to Meteorology.
“As an atmospheric physicist, Kim Strong has established a national and international reputation for research excellence,” says Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “Employing an array of experimental techniques to probe the composition of the atmosphere, she is unravelling the chemical and physical processes that are driving atmospheric change. It is my great pleasure to congratulate her on this important and well-deserved honour.”
This story was updated on November 25 to include photos from the Royal Society of Canada's Celebration of Excellence and Engagement held at the University of Calgary on Nov. 23 - 26.