Dr Ian Watterson (OH 1975) obtained a B.Sc. (Hons I) from The University of Melbourne in 1979 and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and meteorology at Harvard University in 1985.  He then completed two-year postdoctoral research appointments at the University of Reading in England and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Colorado, where he analysed tropospheric planetary waves, southern hemisphere circulation and the Antarctic ozone hole. 

In 1989, Ian commenced work with CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research at Aspendale. He has contributed to the development of ACCESS, the Australian Community Climate and Earth Systems Simulator, which is the suite of software used to generate Australia’s daily weather forecasts and longer-term climate projections. He has performed large scale computer simulations to analyse the global warming effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and to predict climate change scenarios for the Australian continent. This work has involved extensive international collaborations, notably with the Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services in the United Kingdom. 

Ian has authored over 100 journal articles and conference papers on meteorology and climate science. He is a Fellow of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and a Member of the American Meteorological Society. From 2004–2007 he served as a lead author for the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. 

Ian continues to work as an Honorary Fellow for CSIRO Environment, while also devoting greater time to other interests such as music, tennis, sailing, bushwalking and train travel. 

In 2010 Ian became the third recipient of the annual OHA Medal of the Old Haileyburians Association.