This is the fourth installment of our collaboration with the "Back to School With the HistoryMakers" event on Friday, Sept. 23, when some 500 renowned African Americans -- from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to Common -- will speak at schools around the country.

Warren Washington is one of the world's leading experts on climate change and global warming. He was developer of one the earliest computer models of the Earth's climate and has been a science adviser to four presidents, from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush. A winner of numerous awards, he was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009 and was one of 10 distinguished researchers selected by President Obama for the National Medal of Science in 2010.

I remember my father once sitting me down to ask me an important question. "Now, son, tell me what you really do," he said. My work involves a lot of theory and math and physical laws that are hard for a layperson to understand, so it is perfectly natural that my father did not understand exactly what I do. But one thing is for sure: I'm doing what he wanted me to do.

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