Congratulations to Adeleke Ademakinwa, who successfully defended his dissertation on Monday, February 2, 2026. His dissertation was titled "On the impact of three-dimensional radiative effects on radiation-cloud interactions: consequences for satellite remote sensing of cloud properties and radiative effects estimates." Dr. Zhibo Zhang, who leads the Aerosol, Cloud, Radiation-Observation, and Simulation (ACROS) group in UMBC's Physics Department, was his advisor.
Previously a Graduate Research Assistant with GESTAR II, Adeleke received an Outstanding Student Presentation Award at the 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS) Meeting, has published three first-author papers, and is a co-author on several others. He is now working at NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). We wish you the best, Dr. Ademakinwa!
Previously a Graduate Research Assistant with GESTAR II, Adeleke received an Outstanding Student Presentation Award at the 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS) Meeting, has published three first-author papers, and is a co-author on several others. He is now working at NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). We wish you the best, Dr. Ademakinwa!
Photo of Adeleke and his dissertation committee (l - r): Dr. Sanjay Purushotham (Information Systems, UMBC), virtual; Dr. Belay Demoz (Physics/UMBC), Dr. Zhibo Zhang (Physics/UMBC), Dr. Adeleke Ademakinwa, Dr. Pengwang Zhai (Physics, UMBC), and Dr. Kerry Meyer (NASA GSFC/613). Photo: Provided by Z. Zhang.
Fun fact: Adeleke is Dr. Zhang's 5th doctoral student. High five!
Fun fact: Adeleke is Dr. Zhang's 5th doctoral student. High five!