She divides her time between research on atmospheric water vapor (the largest contributor to greenhouse forcing) and on policy responses to greenhouse-gas increases. She received her BS in physics from Stanford University and a PhD in planetary science from Caltech. At the University of Chicago she develops spectroscopic instrumentation used for atmospheric measurements in the laboratory and in high-altitude aircraft . She is also part of the multi-institution CIM-EARTH project building open-source economic models for policy analysis. 2010 Winner Avi Muchnick