Dr. Rajesh Kumar, a prominent scientist at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), has been recognized with the prestigious NASA Honor Group Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the ASIA-AQ (Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality) campaign.

The NASA Group Achievement Award is one of the highest honors bestowed by NASA upon an entire team or collaborative initiative. It recognizes an exceptional group effort that significantly advances NASA's Earth Science and observational objectives.

The NASA ASIA-AQ campaign (conducted primarily in early 2024) is an international multi-agency initiative designed to improve the monitoring and understanding of atmospheric pollution, ground air quality, and emissions profiles across several Asian nations including South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Dr. Kumar served as a designated investigator for the campaign's modeling and simulation effort.
• Advanced Modeling Support: He co-led contributions utilizing the WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry) configuration
• Air Quality Forecasting: His work helped provide highly refined regional air quality forecasting, data analysis and model evaluations that aligned with the flight measurements gathered by the NASA DC-8 aircraft and geostationary satellites like GEMS.