In recognition of his fundamental research on urban heat islands and desert environments, Senior Sustainability Scientist Tony Brazel has been named the 2015 winner of the International Association for Urban Climate’s Luke Howard Award.

Brazel, who retired in 2011 after 37 years at ASU, is an expert on urban climatology, specializing in arid environments like the greater Phoenix area. He was awarded the American Meteorological Society’s Helmut E. Landsberg Award in 2013, and his research has an enduring influence on his field.

"From the very beginning, Tony Brazel had a tremendous impact on CAP LTER and DCDC, two of our largest urban sustainability research grants of the past two decades,” says Charles Redman, founding director of ASU’s School of Sustainability. “He rightly pointed to the recent and huge impact humans were having on local climate. He introduced us all to the concept of an urban heat island, which has been a central focus of both projects from that day forward."