Roger Wakimoto

Roger Wakimoto
Vice Chancellor for Research
Atmospheric Scientist

Ph.D. University of Chicago
B.S. San Jose State University

He is an accomplished atmospheric scientist specializing in research on mesoscale meteorology, particularly severe convective storms and radar meteorology. He is a former member of UCLA atmospheric sciences faculty in 1983 – 2005, serving as department vice chair in 1993-96 and chair in 1996-2000. After his initial tenure at UCLA, Vice Chancellor Wakimoto served as the director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Earth Observing Laboratory from 2005-2010 and subsequently as director of NCAR from 2010-2013. He most recently served as assistant director of the National Science Foundation Directorate for Geosciences from 2013-2017, where he led a division that supported atmospheric, geospace, polar, earth, and ocean sciences with a $1.3 billion annual budget.