Ruf Named American Meteorological Society Fellow

Professor Chris Ruf, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

The American Meteorological Society has honored Ruf, who also has a courtesy appointment in electrical and computer engineering, for his contributions to science in the areas of remote sensing of the Earth environment from space, as well as applications of atmospheric observations to understand weather prediction and sea level change, and applications of terrestrial observations to understand surface hydrology.

As principal investigator, Ruf leads NASA’s CYGNSS mission, a constellation of eight small satellites that launched in 2016 to make advancements in predicting cyclones and hurricanes. The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission has since expanded to provide many other products and applications. CYGNSS has been so successful, its hardware, technology and data processing algorithms are being replicated for new missions at space agencies and private companies around the world.

While the CYGNSS mission uses GPS radar receivers to measure ocean surface winds in tropical cyclones, as well as soil moisture and flood inundation over land, it has led to a broad range of applications including detecting micro-plastics in the ocean.

Ruf’s other research activities involve the science and applications of remote sensing, including ocean, atmosphere and land geophysical parameter estimation methods using airborne and spaceborne microwave observations. He facilitates on-orbit calibration and validation methods for microwave remote sensors, the detection and mitigation of radio frequency interference, and the measurement of non-thermal planetary emission.

In addition, he works on the development of space instrumentation and technology, including the design, development, fabrication, testing and field deployment of next-generation microwave sensors and subsystems. These include GNSS-R radar receivers; interferometric Fourier synthesis imagers; spaceborne application specific integrated circuits (ASICs); high-speed digital spectrometer and polarimetric detectors; radio frequency interference detection, and mitigation processors.

In 2023, Ruf was appointed to serve as the director of the University of Michigan Space Institute, the hub of all space-related research at U-M. He has served as an advisor to Muon Space since 2021. He previously served as the director of Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan, leading the physics and engineering lab for about nine years from 2006 to 2015. Ruf is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He sustains an extensive portfolio of service, publication and honors, including many NASA Group Achievement Awards. 

“I am honored and proud to have been elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society,” said Ruf. “While the IEEE recognizes remote sensing specialists such as myself for developing new ways to make the measurements, the AMS recognizes contributions to why those measurements are made. I have always tried to keep one foot in each camp and do some of both.”

Election to the rank of Fellow in the American Meteorological Society serves as recognition of outstanding contributions to advance the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Less than one percent of the society’s membership receives this honor. Dr. Ruf will be formally recognized during the 105th AMS Annual Meeting, which will take place January 12-16, 2025, in New Orleans, La.