Sen Chiao is an emeritus professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science in the College of Science. He earned a doctoral degree in atmospheric science from North Carolina State University and was a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard. He is the director of the NASA Minority University Research and Education Program Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) Center for Applied Atmospheric Research and Education. His research focuses on aerosol and its impacts on air quality, weather and regional climate, urban heat islands, wildfire impacts on air quality, and public health linkages to air quality, weather and climate. He also specializes in hurricanes.