Lesley Ott is a climate scientist with 20 years experience studying air pollution and greenhouse gases. She received her PhD in atmospheric science from the University of Maryland in 2006 and has been working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center ever since. She leads the carbon group within the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA’s center for understanding contemporary weather and climate using advanced Earth system modeling tools, where she uses satellite data and numerical models to understand greenhouse gases. She also coordinates a group of scientists that guides future satellite missions to improve understanding of carbon pollution and policy.