Inez Fung

nez Fung’s main focus at the University of California, Berkeley, is climate change. She studies the changing patterns of precipitation by studying East and South Asian monsoons and how trees access water in California’s dry summers and cool the atmosphere. By studying precipitation changes, Fung can begin to understand what influences the location, timing, and intensity of precipitation—and improve our projections of how that could change in the future. “It’s very important for us living on Earth enjoying the biosphere, enjoying the outdoors, to know how things are changing and to understand why things are changing,” says Fung. She is also the founding director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center. “I think nature is always smarter than me,” says Fung. “When I think I’ve got it, there’s another puzzle that nature presents to me.”

First appeared in the Beyond Curie x Outside Magazine Collaboration