CLASP Prof. Sushil Atreya

Prof. Sushil Atreya elected as an AGU Fellow

The AGU Fellows program recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space science through a breakthrough, discovery, or innovation in their field.

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CLASP Prof. Sushil Atreya has been elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He joins 59 other individuals in the 2021 Class of Fellows.

Prof. Sushil Atreya

The AGU citation reads:

“Prof. Atreya was selected for outstanding achievements and contributions by pushing forward the frontiers of our science. He also embodies the AGU’s vision of a thriving, sustainable, and equitable future powered by discovery, innovation, and action. …Prof. Atreya has conducted himself with integrity, respect, and collaboration while creating deep engagement in education, diversity, and outreach.”  

Prof. Atreya will be formally recognized along with other recipients at the annual AGU Fall Meeting, December 13-17, 2021, in New Orleans, LA.


Prof. Sushil Atreya’s research focuses on cross cutting themes of the origin and evolution of the solar system and the exoplanet atmospheres, planetary habitability, and the climate evolution. His principal areas of expertise include coupled chemistry-clouds-composition processes, interior-surface-atmosphere interactions, and the comparative structure and composition of planetary atmospheres.

He will lead the origin and evolution of Venus atmosphere effort on the recently selected DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission. DAVINCI will be the first NASA mission to study the atmosphere of Venus since 1978. The mission is scheduled for launch in 2029.

For nearly four decades, Sushil Atreya has been actively engaged in the development of future planetary exploration mission concepts with NASA, ESA, JAXA, and the former Soviet Union. He began his space science career with the Voyager missions to the giant planets, continuing with Galileo, Cassini-Huygens, Venus Express, Mars Express, Mars Science Laboratory, Juno, and now DAVINCI.

He is a professor of climate and space sciences and engineering; a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In addition to AGU, Professor Atreya is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Japan Geosciences Union (JpGU).

Read the AGU release: https://eos.org/agu-news/2021-class-of-agu-fellows-announced

Read more about DAVINCI+ here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-to-explore-divergent-fate-of-earth-s-mysterious-twin-with-goddard-s-davinci

Read more about Professor Sushil Atreya here: https://www.umich.edu/~atreya

Congratulations, Prof. Atreya!