News | September 1, 2009

Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu Elected JPL Fellow

Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu - OST Project Scientist

Dr. Fu's research includes investigating decadal trends of sea level change. This image shows cumulative changes from 1992 to 2005. Ocean changes of ever-increasing time scales are being discovered. Over seventeen years of sea surface height data are not sufficient to determine a long-term trend of ocean change, however. The NOAA/CNES/Eumetsat/NASA Jason-3 proposed follow-on mission, and the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission concept being developed by NASA and CNES can provide critical data for this work.

Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu has been selected as a JPL Fellow for his exceptional and sustained leadership in establishing and nurturing ocean sciences at JPL, promoting and developing space-based precision radar altimetry, and for his outstanding accomplishments in applying satellite observations to understanding ocean circulation.

A JPL Fellow is at the highest level of individual contribution at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The honor recognizes those who have made extraordinary technical contributions to JPL over an extended period of time. Fellows are sought out for advice on strategic technical decisions and contribute to establishing the course for Laboratory's future.

Dr. Fu is NASA Project Scientist for the U.S./French Jason-1 Mission and the NASA/NOAA/CNES/Eumetsat OSTM/Jason-2 Mission, and is the Science Lead for the next generation altimeter mission, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission concept that will feature wide swath altimetry technology. He received a B.S. degree in Physics from National Taiwan University (1972) and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1980). He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

Dr. Fu's research has been focused on the dynamics of ocean waves and currents ranging from internal gravity waves (scales of meters to kilometers) to the general circulation of the ocean (scales of hundreds to thousands of kilometers).

His previous honors include being elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008 - among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society and is a recipient of the Verner E. Suomi Award of the American Meteorological Society, the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales Medal for his scientific and programmatic contributions to satellite remote sensing of the ocean.

Our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Fu for this well-deserved honor!