Jerry D. Mahlman, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Rellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO. He previously had been Director of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Princeton, NJ, and a Professor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University. Mahlman received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University in 1967 and has authored more than 100 scientific papers. Much of Mahlman's research career has been directed toward understanding the behavior of the stratosphere and troposphere, and over the past decade, he has occupied a central role in interpreting climate change to policymakers and affected communities.

Mahlman has served on numerous committees and boards, including the NASA Advisory Council and the Board on Sustainable Development of the National Research Council. In 1994 he received the prestigious Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal from the American Meteorological Society and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award – the highest honor awarded to a federal employee.

While at GFDL, Mahlman led development of pioneering mathematical models of the transport of chemicals in the global atmosphere, and of the circulation of the stratosphere. Those models are still heavily used today to address global air pollution questions and various problems relating to stratospheric ozone depletion and its interaction with the global warming problem. Among his current activities, he is a consultant to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.