Dr Arkin is Director of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS) at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) of the University of Maryland, where he also serves as Deputy Director and Senior Research Scientist.  He conducts research into the observation and analysis of precipitation and other aspects of the hydrological cycle of the global climate system in addition to his administrative duties.  Until January 2002, he served as Program Manager for Climate Dynamics and Experimental Prediction in the Office of Global Programs at NOAA, where he managed the Applied Research Centers that provide the research and development that enable NOAA to provide better climate forecasts.  From 1998-2000, he served as the Deputy Director of the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) at Columbia University.  He spent 25 years working at NOAA as a research scientist and administrator in various parts of the climate community, including the Climate Prediction Center, the Office of Global Programs and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.  He invented the GOES Precipitation Index, a method for estimating rainfall from geostationary satellite observations, and created the Global Precipitation Climatology Project and led it from 1985-1994.