Dr. Zhaoxia Pu is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, an elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the Royal Meteorological Society, and a member of the NOAA Science Advisory Board. Her research focuses on improving the prediction of high-impact weather and extreme events. Her areas of interest include numerical weather prediction, data assimilation, numerical modeling, and predictability. Specific topics involve satellite and radar data assimilation, mesoscale severe weather systems, Earth system modeling, coupled land–atmosphere data assimilation, observing system simulation experiments, targeted weather observations, atmospheric boundary layers over complex terrain, and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in numerical weather prediction (NWP) and forecasting weather extremes.
Before joining the faculty at the University of Utah in 2004, Dr. Pu held roles as a graduate student fellow (1993–1996) and a postdoctoral researcher (1997–1998) at the NOAA NCEP Environmental Modeling Center in the Washington, DC area. She also served as a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland from 1998 to 2004.

Dr. Pu has extensive experience collaborating with federal agencies, including NOAA, NASA, DOE, ONR, and NSF. She has led nearly 40 research projects and authored more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles. She has played key roles in fifteen major field campaigns and currently serves as the lead scientist for the NSF-funded field campaign and research project Cold Fog Amongst Complex Terrain (CFACT). In recent years, Dr. Pu has been actively involved in NASA satellite missions, NOAA’s Hurricane Forecasting Improvement Program, the Next-Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS), and the Unified Forecast System (UFS). Her research places strong emphasis on transitioning scientific advances into operational forecasting systems.
Dr. Pu was awarded the "Excellence in Research" Award by the College of Science at the University of Utah in 2024. In 2023, she was selected as a cohort member of the Provost's Banner Project recognizing the university’s top 25 researchers.

Dr. Pu has served on numerous national and international science teams contributing to major scientific collaborations and achievements. She also serves on advisory boards for key science initiatives with NSF NCAR, NOAA, and other government agencies. In addition, she is frequently invited to serve on review panels for NSF, DOE, NOAA, and NASA, and is an editorial board member for several leading professional journals.

An active educator, Dr. Pu teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Since 2007, she has supervised 28 M.S. and Ph.D. students to graduation. She received the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award from the College of Mines and Earth Sciences at the University of Utah in 2012.