[Boston, MA, USA—August 30, 2023] Each year, the American Meteorological Society recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations in the weather, water, and climate community through its Awards and Honors program. The organization is proud to announce its 2024 recipients, who will receive their award or honor at the 104th AMS Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, 28 January–1 February, 2024.
“Working across a wide range of sciences and services, the members of our community are vital to upholding safety and quality of life in the United States and across the world,” says AMS Executive Director Stella Kafka. “AMS is dedicated to celebrating their excellence. AMS Awards and Honors are one way that we bring attention and acclaim to some of the standouts across our field and recognize the hard work that paves the way for their remarkable achievements. We thank our members and friends for nominating their colleagues and peers for these awards.”
Below are the AMS honorees for 2024.
Honorary Members
AMS Honorary Members are “persons of acknowledged preeminence in the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences, either through their own contributions to the sciences or their application or through furtherance of the advance of those sciences in some other way.” The following people are named AMS Honorary Members:
- Mary Glackin
- Andrea Celeste Saulo
- John Toohey-Morales
Science and Technology Medals
THE CARL-GUSTAF ROSSBY RESEARCH MEDAL
Awarded to Benjamin Santer, for outstanding contributions to comprehending how climate change affects atmospheric structure and behavior based on detection and attribution methods.
Awarded to William Kustas, for foundational advances in the measurement and theory of evapotranspiration, thoroughly examining climate and hydrologic sciences and their bridges to water resources management.
THE HENRY STOMMEL RESEARCH MEDAL
Awarded to Lixin Wu, for exceptional, sustained contribution to studies of multi-scale ocean circulation dynamics and the roles they play in global climate change.
THE VERNER E. SUOMI TECHNOLOGY MEDAL
Awarded to Ernesto Rodriguez, for developing innovative radar technologies and applying them to remotely sense ocean circulation, air-sea interaction, global land elevation, and land surface hydrology.
Awarded to Richard Seager, for significant and innovative contributions in the attribution of past droughts and floods, and to understanding the impact of rising greenhouse gases on future hydroclimate.
THE WARREN WASHINGTON RESEARCH AND LEADERSHIP MEDAL
Awarded to David Randall, for exceptional research and leadership in the science of modeling weather and climate, with special emphasis on the crucial role of clouds.
Science and Technology Prizes
THE DAVID AND LUCILLE ATLAS REMOTE SENSING PRIZE
Awarded to Christine Chiu, for outstanding contributions boosting the development of multi-instrument remote sensing methodologies with broad applications to clouds and their effect on climate.
THE JAGADISH SHUKLA EARTH SYSTEM PREDICTABILITY PRIZE
Awarded to Eugenia Kalnay, for contributions to Earth system predictability through the development of data assimilation techniques with profound leadership and vision in the creation of the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis.
Service Awards
THE CHARLES FRANKLIN BROOKS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE SOCIETY
Awarded to William Mahoney, for a career of sustained and exemplary leadership in the Society and beyond, leading to the advancement of the weather, water, and climate enterprise.
THE CLEVELAND ABBE AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO THE ATMOSPHERIC AND RELATED SCIENCES
Awarded to David Schultz, for outstanding contributions to scientific leadership in a broad range of atmosphere-related domains with tireless dedication to scientific communication, peer review, education, and research excellence.
Teaching and Mentorship Awards
THE EDWARD N. LORENZ TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD
Awarded to Teresa Bals-Elsholz, for innovative and engaging teaching, making challenging curricula accessible and enjoyable, enthusiastic career-long mentoring, and inspiring the next generation of atmospheric scientists, especially empowering women.
Awards for Outstanding Contributions
Awarded to Kristie Ebi, for visionary and tireless dedication to elevating the connection between climate and health with a prime focus investigating how these essential issues impact human resilience.
THE JOANNE SIMPSON TROPICAL METEOROLOGY RESEARCH AWARD
Awarded to Yukari Takayabu, for innovative use of satellite observations and international leadership in establishing key tropical precipitation satellite missions to advance understanding of tropical precipitation variability.
THE SYUKURO MANABE CLIMATE RESEARCH AWARD
Awarded to Ronald Stouffer, for groundbreaking development of coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models with innovative applications to characterize and quantify global climate variability and change.
THE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ADVANCE OF APPLIED METEOROLOGY
Awarded to Fred Martin Ralph, for contributions to understanding hydrometeorological extremes, employing new observing strategies, modeling, and the creation of innovative decision support tools, particularly as related to atmospheric rivers.
THE HENRY T. HARRISON AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS BY A CONSULTING METEOROLOGIST
Awarded to Pam Knox, CCM, for principled leadership on the CCM Board, expertise in the application of weather and climate data, exemplary service to clients, and extensive outreach to the public.
Awarded to Yaítza Luna-Cruz, for unwavering commitment to advancing education in atmospheric science in Puerto Rico and promoting diversity and inclusion by inspiring numerous students and early-career scientists.
Awarded to David Sailor, for outstanding contributions to the urban climate community with special mention to his trailblazing efforts on modeling anthropogenic heat and mitigation strategies.
THE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOMETEOROLOGY
Awarded to David Fitzjarrald, for creatively and innovatively combining physics with ecological theory to advance understanding of energy and trace gas exchanges between the biosphere and the atmosphere.
For significant contributions advancing the understanding of rapid intensification of tropical cyclones and paving the way towards the use of machine learning in operational forecasting.
Recipients: Hui Su, Longtao Wu, Jonathan H. Jiang, Raksha Pai, Alex Liu, Albert J. Zhai, Peyman Tavallali, Mark DeMaria
Special Awards
Special Award to Grant Petty, for developing high-quality textbooks for teaching and learning in atmospheric radiation and atmospheric thermodynamics, and low-cost publishing of these and textbooks written by other authors.
Journalism Awards
THE AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SCIENCE JOURNALISM IN THE ATMOSPHERIC AND RELATED SCIENCES
Awarded to Nicola Jones for honest, high-integrity journalism, accurately capturing the greater context of research on atmospheric microplastics pollution and its effects on weather and climate.
Broadcast Meteorology Awards
THE JUNE BACON-BERCEY AWARD FOR BROADCAST METEOROLOGY
Awarded to Jim Jaggers, for decades of outstanding service providing reliable forecasts, lifesaving storm coverage, and an exceptional commitment to community with weather education and charitable endeavors.
THE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE REPORTING BY A BROADCAST METEOROLOGIST
Awarded to Ben Cathey, CBM, for informing Tennesseans of the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on their treasured traditions.
Early-Career Awards
THE CLARENCE LEROY MEISINGER AWARD
Awarded to Allison Wing, for fundamental advances in understanding the organization of tropical convection through innovative modeling, theory, and observation.
THE AWARD FOR EARLY-CAREER PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Awarded to Gaige Kerr, for advancing representation, accessibility, inclusion and diversity within atmospheric sciences, fostering exceptional contributions linking atmospheric science to public health and environmental justice causes.
THE NICHOLAS P. FOFONOFF AWARD
Awarded to Callum Shakespeare, for creative and transformative contributions, including the development of innovative tools, promoting greater understanding of the generation and propagation of internal waves in the ocean.
Awarded to Yuan Wang, for exceptional contributions to understanding the fundamental mechanisms and impacts of anthropogenic/natural aerosols on weather extremes and climate, and to advancing multiscale atmospheric models.
Forecaster Awards
Awarded to George Lessens, for an outstanding broadcast career marked by passion and precision, inspiring confidence among television viewers, and impacting the community with a lifetime of service.
THE AWARD FOR AN EXCEPTIONAL SPECIFIC PREDICTION
Awarded to NWS Buffalo New York, for exceptional forecast, warning, and decision support services to save lives and minimize suffering during the historic December 23-27, 2022, Western New York blizzard.
AMS Chapter Awards
LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Awarded to the North Florida Chapter, for consistent excellence in fostering relationships between meteorology students and professionals and creativity in new public outreach, engagement, and service efforts.
STUDENT CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Awarded to the Oswego State University chapter, for outstanding chapter growth, efforts in networking, investment in student membership, and leadership in collaboration with other AMS chapters.
Lectureship Awards
The Society’s lectureships recognize outstanding mid-career scientists. Lectures will be delivered during the AMS 104th Annual Meeting.
THE WALTER ORR ROBERTS LECTURER: Benjamin Zaitchik
For significant contributions to understanding and predicting regional climate variations and their impacts on water resources, food security, and human health to inform climate adaptation.
THE ROBERT E. HORTON LECTURER IN HYDROLOGY: Huilin Gao
For innovative research using remote sensing for monitoring and modeling global reservoirs of water leading to novel contributions across the disciplines of hydrology and meteorology.
Editor's Awards
The Editor’s Award is given to an individual for outstanding service to the AMS journals, the Glossary of Meteorology, and the Meteorological Monographs. Services may include providing exceptional reviews in a timely fashion, providing consistently helpful reviews, or providing reviews of difficult submissions, as well as other assistance to the publication. Editor’s award winners for 2024 are:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
- Qiaohong Sun
- Stefan Kneifel
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
- David Bodine
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Michael Fischer
- Peter Haynes
Journal of Climate
- Bing Pu
- Riyu Lu
- Hailan Wang
Journal of Hydrometeorology
- Mimi Hughes
- Andrew Feldman
Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Elizabeth Yankovsky
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
- Daniel Sanchez-Rivas
Monthly Weather Review
- Michael French
Weather and Forecasting
- Luke Madaus
Weather, Climate, and Society
- Sarah Fay Buckland
Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems/Weather and Forecasting
- Randy Chase
Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems
- Sebastian Lerch
Cross-Journal
- Aaron Hill
New AMS Fellows
AMS Fellows are elected by the AMS Council based on “outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years." New AMS Fellows in 2024 are:
- Lourdes Aviles
- Cindy Bruyere
- Edmund Chang
- William Collins
- Wade Crow
- Tanja Fransen
- Michelle Hawkins
- Kenneth Holmlund
- Jonathan Jiang
- Gabriel Katul
- Branko Kosovic
- I-I Lin
- Xiaohong Liu
- Gretchen Mullendore
- Michael Prather
- Yun Qian
- A.R. Ravishankara
- David Thompson
- Gabriel Vecchi
- Isabella Velicogna
- Jeff Waldstreicher
- Louis Wicker
- Bernadette Woods-Placky
- Lixin Wu
- Paquita Zuidema
Learn more about AMS Awards and Honors here. Full list of awardees is available here.
About the American Meteorological Society
The American Meteorological Society advances the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of around 12,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts. AMS publishes 12 atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic science journals—in print and online; sponsors more than 12 conferences annually; and offers numerous programs and services. Visit us at https://www.ametsoc.org/.
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