Dr Stenchikov completed his PhD in the Numerical and Analytical Study of Weak Plasma Turbulence at Moscow Physical Technical Institute in 1977. Afterwards, he headed a department at the Russian Academy of Sciences, which used computational analysis to carry out crucial early research into the impact of humans on Earth's climate and environmental systems. From 1992 until 1998, Dr Stenchikov worked at the University of Maryland in the USA, after which he held a position as a Research Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences of Rutgers University for almost a decade. Since 2009, he been a Professor and a Chair of the Earth Sciences and Engineering Program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. His work has brought about important advances in fields including climate modelling, atmospheric physics, fluid dynamics, radiation transfer, and environmental sciences. Dr Stenchikov co-authored the Nobel Prize winning report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC-AR4 of 2007.