National Football Foundation

One of two Campbell Trophy winners to claim a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford, Jim Hansen personified the NFF Scholar-Athlete program during his four years in Boulder and continues to add to his legacy today.

During Hansen's time at Colorado, the Buffaloes tallied a record of 39-6-3. He played as an offensive lineman and participated in two Orange Bowls with national title implications, helping the Buffs to the 1990 crown. A First Team All-Big Eight offensive tackle on the field, Hansen compiled a 3.94 GPA in aerospace engineering before going on to earn a perfect 4.0 in his graduate course work in the field of fluid dynamics. His academic exploits, coupled with his athletic prowess, made him a four-time First Team Academic All-Big Eight and three-time First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American selection. CoSIDA named him its Academic All-American of the Year in 1992.

The lead scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory Probabilistic Prediction Research Office (NRL) in California, he served as a key research scientist for the Marine Meteorology Division of the NRL from 2006-07. Prior to his run at the NRL, he was assistant professor of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for five years.

Hansen, who zipped through his Ph.D. in atmospheric, oceanic and planetary physics at Oxford, has done his part to better the earth's climate and provide answers to some of the world's most pressing environmental questions, assuming a worldwide leadership role in climatological research. The Seattle, Wash., native resides in California with his wife, daughter and son.