Mark A. Cane is G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences and Director of the Master of Arts Program in Climate and Society at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. With Lamont colleague Steven Zebiak, he devised the first numerical model able to simulate ENSO, and in 1985 this model was used to make the first physically based forecasts of ENSO. Since then the Zebiak-Cane model has been the primary tool used by many investigators to enhance understanding of ENSO. Professor Cane continues to work on El Nino prediction and its impact on human activity, especially agriculture and health. His efforts over many years were instrumental in the creation of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia. His current research interests include paleoclimate problems and the light they shed on future climate change. Professor Cane has been honoured with the Sverdrup Gold Medal of the American Meteorological Society (1992), the Cody Award in Ocean Sciences from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (2003), and the Norbert Gerbier-MUMM International Award from the World Meteorological Organization (2009). He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.