Ning Zeng is a professor at the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, and affiliate professor with the Department of Geology and the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute. He earned a BS degree in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China, MS degree in Physics and Ph.D in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Arizona. He worked at MIT, UCLA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology.

His professional interests include climate change and variability, carbon cycle and ecosystem, carbon sequestration and other technical solutions and policy implications of climate change. He is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher and on Reuters Hot List of Top Climate Scientists. He is a founding co-chief editor of the journal Earth System Dynamics. He was Chair of the 9th International CO2 Conference. He is a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports and the Global Carbon Project. He served on the US CLIVAR panel and the US Carbon Cycle Science Working Group.