Dr. Belay Demoz is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Director of the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), a cooperative center between University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He also serves as an adjunct Professor at Howard University. Prior to joining UMBC, he held the position of Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science at Howard University, served as a Physical Scientist at NASA GSFC (2002-2008), and was adjunct professor at university of UTAH.

Dr. Demoz received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics and his M.Sc. in Atmospheric Science from the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada-Reno in 1992, after completing his B.Sc. in Physics with a Minor in Mathematics at Asmara University, Eritrea, East Africa, 1984.

Dr. Demoz research interest includes mesoscale observation and instrumentation in atmospheric physics and climate as well as atmospheric science influence in climate policy. He has chaired the Committee for Atmospheric LIDAR Application Studies (CLAS) for the American Meteorological Society and has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research and the web magazine Earthzine. He has organized national and international conferences and workshops and serves in a number of working groups and international organization and is also active in organizing national and international research field observations (e.g. WAVES 2007, IHOP2002, PECAN 2015 for example).