William L. "Bill" Chameides (born November 21, 1949 in New York City) is an American atmospheric scientist who was the dean of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment from 2007 until July 1, 2014. He is an ISI highly cited researcher, as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. In December 2013, Chameides announced that he would be stepping down from his position at Duke the following June, saying that he "feels comfortable stepping down now given that he has accomplished many of his initial goals." He was replaced by Alan Townsend on July 1, but remains a member of the Nicholas School faculty. Education and scientific career Chameides, a native of New York City, originally wanted to be a lawyer at the time he went to college. However, he later changed his major, first to physics and then to atmospheric science, as a result of taking an undergraduate physics course. He received a bachelor's degree from Binghamton University in 1970, a Master of philosophy degree from Yale University in 1973, and a PhD in 1974, also from Yale. He then began postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan, where he conducted research with Ralph J. Cicerone. After completing this research, he spent 25 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he eventually became the chairman of the department of atmospheric sciences. While an associate professor there, he was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Geophysical Research from 1985 to 1989, and, five years later, was the lead author on a study in Science which reported that ozone from photochemical smog may significantly reduce global food production. In the study, Chameides et al. wrote that about 60% of smog is produced in North America, Europe, China, and Japan, which also produce about 60% of the global food supply. In 1998, Chameides was elected into the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the second Georgia Tech professor in the university's history to be so honored (the first was Mostafa El-Sayed in 1980). In 2005, he left Georgia Tech to become the chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, a decision that Virginia Gewin referred to as "unorthodox." Chameides said he made this decision because he wanted to "...do more to advance the cause of good environmental stewardship." In 2011, Chameides was the vice-chair of a report issued by the