AMS/UCAR Congressional Fellowship Application Deadline Approaching

by Jack Fellows and Paul Higgins
Every year the AMS and UCAR together send one member of our community to work for a member of Congress or a congressional committee through its congressional science fellowship program. The deadline for applying for next year’s fellowship is rapidly approaching, so consider now how this opportunity could enhance your career while giving you a chance to help shape the future.
The program has two goals: (1) to ensure that Congressional policy makers have ready access to the best available scientific information; and (2) to provide policy experiences for community members who think they’d like to pursue a policy career (i.e., develop key decision makers for the future).
David Reid-Miller, the 2010-2011 AMS/UCAR Congressional Fellow, served as a Legislative Fellow in Sen. Mark Udall’s (D-CO) office advising him on an array of energy issues.  David says of the experience: “The deadlines were often fast and usually changing – and the request never the same.  Whether it was clean energy R&D at DOE, fossil fuel subsidies, developing renewable energy on public lands, or crafting the DOD Energy Security Act – I not only learned how to balance the many interests in a “purple” state like Colorado, but I gained enormous insight into the policymaking process and expertise in a range of topics outside my dissertation research.  It was a phenomenal experience – the only regret about it is that it only lasted one year!”
The Fellows bring to the Congress new insights, fresh ideas, extensive knowledge, and education in a variety of disciplines. Not only are the Fellows provided with the opportunity to make a significant public service contribution, but they also obtain firsthand experience in the legislative and political process. Fellows gain a perspective which, ideally, should help them understand how the research community effectively communicates with the larger society on important national policy issues. Fellows may have the opportunity to make significant contributions to public policy making within Congress on disaster preparedness and response, global change, water and energy policy, defense technologies, AIDS, pollution, communications technologies, and many other issues.
The AMS/UCAR fellowship is managed along with over 30 other professional science societies by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  The AAAS reports that these fellowship programs continue to have significant impact based on: (1) the number of Fellows has increased over the years; (2) there are many more congressional requests for possible assignments than there are Fellows; (3) former Fellows are assuming senior positions in Congress, the Executive Branch, academia, and in the private sector; (4) overall, large numbers of qualified individuals continue to apply to the various sponsoring organizations for the fellowships; and (5) reports from the Congress about individual Fellows and the program have been highly laudatory.
What Fellows Do.  Fellows perform every type of work normally asked of the permanent congressional staff, whether they are in members’ offices or with committees. The range of activities is illustrated by these examples:

  • Assist in preparation of major parts of legislation from preliminary agency reviews to House-Senate conferences and final enactment into law;
  • Work on legislative and oversight activities on budgets for various agencies, such as NOAA, NASA, EPA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Defense;
  • Assist with oversight investigations into major national problems such as global change, hazardous wastes, natural disasters, ground water, acid rain, etc.;
  • Help prepare Members for debates on the floors of the House and Senate;
  • Write speeches and other materials for Members on a wide range of topics;
  • Provide liaison and coordination with committees to which a Member is assigned;
  • Give briefings and arrange for public hearings; and,
  • Meet with lobbyists, members of the public, agency representatives, and many others.

For example, Kim Mueller, the 2011-2012 AMS/UCAR Congressional Fellow, is currently serving with the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resource Committee. As part of her assignment on the committee, Kim primarily works on climate change issues, helping to organize briefings for staff and members of Congress, preparing members of the Committee for hearings and events, and researching climate change legislation. Kim also participated in the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban South Africa last month.
Fellowship Term, Stipend, Administration, and Application.  Fellowships usually run from September through August. The stipend for the Fellow is $55,000, plus allowances toward relocation, in-service travel, and health and dental insurance premiums. AAAS organizes a two-week orientation period in Washington in early September. This orientation includes seminars on the Congress and the Executive Branch; meetings with former Fellows, members of Congress, and staff; and preparing for placement in the Congress. There will be over 30 Fellows in the class, sponsored by over two dozen different societies. Following orientation and interviews on Capitol Hill, the AMS/UCAR Fellow will select a position in the House or Senate. Throughout the year, the AMS/UCAR Fellow will join with other AAAS Fellows in participating in seminars, and social and other class activities sponsored by the AAAS. The AMS/UCAR Fellow will also be invited to attend and report on his or her activities at AMS and UCAR meetings.
We strongly encourage you to apply – see http://www.ametsoc.org/csf.  Applications are due to the AMS by March 15, 2012!

How does it feel?

Sunday was supposed to be National Weatherperson’s Day. Did you receive flowers? Did distant relatives call to congratulate you? Did adoring fans of your forecasts voice their support?
Or did the much anticipated holiday pass uneventfully while everybody was preoccupied by lesser events…oh, like the Super Bowl, for instance? Just a case of bad scheduling conflicts, or a conscious attempt to diss you?
If you’re a meteorologist, especially a forecaster, you know how it feels to be underappreciated, to be told you’re not right often enough, that your job is going to be taken by a computer. Not only might you get ignored on the very day meant for you, now you get replaced…by a cube:

No substitute for the real thing.

Hook the device to your smart phone weather app and it adjusts its temperature to match the forecast temperature. So that’s how the weather feels! And how does it feel to be replaced by an aluminum box with a heating element and simple sink inside it?
Bob Dylan stuck the knife in with “You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows,” but he twisted it cruelly with:

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone.

A forecaster’s fate? We think not.
Clearly this invention leaves much to be desired. In addition to being unable to prognosticate without a web app, after a decade or more of good minds trying to develop better ways of conveying uncertainty information in weather forecasts in a few words or pictures, here comes a giant deterministic step backward for communicating tomorrow’s conditions. And of course, although inventor Robb Godshaw of Rochester Institute of Technology insists that the Cryoscope compensates for the difference between conducting heat with aluminum versus air (and also effects of wind chill), it is difficult to imagine equating the touch of the hand to how it feels to move and breathe in the atmosphere. No, this box is not how it feels at all.
In fact, there’s a lesson here. Much as it is difficult to teach any scientific concept to a wide audience, let’s keep in mind that over the years people have developed an uncanny sense of how they feel, personally, when it’s 40, or 50, or 60 degrees Fahrenheit and so on (not to mention wiser folks who’ve learned all this in terms of Celsius). In fact, people probably have a much more acute ability to imagine what a 10 degree rise in temperature will feel like than what carrying a 10 pound increase in load will feel like.
The depth to which the temperature scale is ingrained with exquisite sensitivity into our consciousness is summed up by a viewer’s comment on the Cryoscope promo video page:

The step after that would be to hook up a water hose to it to tell you when it is rainy.

Avid Surfer, Forecaster Receives Joanne Simpson Award for Sustained Mentorship of Colleagues

Mark Willis, a development manager and forecast strategist for Surfline—the go-to global surfing forecast company—is the 2012, and first, recipient of The Joanne Simpson Mentorship Award. Willis, a lifelong surfer who is at home when the surf is cranking, won the award for aiding NWS volunteer interns in gaining experience valuable to their future careers through dedicated mentorship, and sustained encouragement and guidance.
The Front Page set out to learn more about Willis and his penchant for mentoring. He worked for Surfline for several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s before joining the NWS Eastern Region marine program. Then, recently, he returned to Surfline. The following is our Q and A session in which Willis sheds some light on his particular style of engagement with colleagues.

Mark Willis surfing an impressive wave along the North Carolina coast.

What’s your area of expertise in meteorology? And did that help you secure the most recent position you had with NOAA?
My expertise is in marine and coastal forecasting, but I enjoy all aspects of meteorology and oceanography. My marine background definitely helped me secure my last position at NOAA as the Marine Program Manager at NWS Eastern Region Headquarters.
What was your passion that got you into marine forecasting?
I became interested in marine forecasting through surfing. I grew up surfing on the East Coast and became fascinated by waves and how they changed so quickly. I learned much of the science behind wave forecasting on my own and by working at Surfline as its difficult to get much formal training on the subject. I became involved in ocean wave modeling in graduate school and continued to work on wave modeling projects in the NWS. I’ve been lucky to be able to work in forecast offices that have marine responsibility as this has greatly enhanced my knowledge of the ocean and the atmosphere.
What is your current title and affiliation, and what is it you now do?
Global Forecast Development Manager/Lead Forecast Strategist with Surfline, Inc. Surfline also owns Buoyweather.com and Beachlive.com. My job is to lead Surfline/Buoyweather/Beachlive’s push into international markets and also help to fine tune existing products and develop future products.
Who were the folks you were mentoring?
I have mentored several students and employees throughout my career as a meteorologist. I mentored volunteer interns when I was a forecaster at the NWS forecast office in Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina. Most were college students but I also worked with a couple of high school students. I also mentored new employees when I was the East Coast forecast manager at Surfline in the early 2000s. I have been fortunate that both of my employers have allowed me to mentor, as it’s something I greatly enjoy.
Tell us your philosophy on mentoring and what sets it apart from others’ techniques/methods?
One thing I always thought of when I was working with students and/or new hires was that I was in their shoes not too long ago. I always ask myself, “What would have made me grow and feel more comfortable?” The answer to that was always the same – just make sure they feel welcome, included during forecast decisions, and find the right times to train and teach. I think it’s important not to continuously throw things like QG theory down their throats and show them how much you know. It’s more important to get to know the person, find their learning style, and adapt to the human being. Most of all, get to know who they really are, ask about their family, hobbies, find their true interests in meteorology and just try to educate and mentor where you can.
As far as what sets that apart from others’ techniques/methods – I’m honestly not sure. I did take the student that nominated me for this out surfing a couple of times though where we talked about life and exchanged waves, so maybe that’s what set it apart!
How do you use that to promote excellence in forecasting/the atmospheric sciences?
I just try to be a hard worker, lead by example, and follow my passions. Hopefully that promotes excellence in our ever so humbling field.
Will you continue to mentor in your new position?
Every chance I get. I also hope I get the opportunity to be mentored by some of the veterans at Surfline as well, as they have an incredible staff with the best group of marine/surf forecasters and modelers in the world. Surfline is always looking for the brightest and the best so hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to mentor new employees in the future.
When you first learned you were going to receive this particular award, what was your reaction?
I was shocked when Jon [Malay] called me to tell me the news, honestly. This award is hands down one of the highlights of my career. I have a great sense of pride in the fact that the students and colleagues I mentored went out of their way to nominate me for this.
One additional thing I’d like to highlight on this subject is that the news of the award came right after a very stressful period of dealing with Hurricane Irene both professionally and personally. The award definitely lifted my spirits after that!
What advice would you give a colleague who wanted to win this same award next year?
Be yourself, get to know the people you are mentoring, and find good entry points to train and mentor. Don’t force it.
What single piece of wisdom would you hope those you mentored would carry into their careers?
As the late Sean Collins (founder of Surfline) taught me and inscribed into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame—“Follow your Passions.” You’ll perform much better and find more satisfaction in your career if you enjoy what you are doing.

The Eyes of Texas Are on Steer-ing Level Winds

Jill Hasling, CCM, president of The Weather Research Center in Houston, kindly sent us confirmation of the latest forecast on this Groundhog Day. In front of 200 kids at the John C. Freeman Weather Museum,

Alamo, the Texas Longhorn, did not see his shadow so Texas should have an early spring.  Texas is too big for a groundhog to predict its weather.

Maureen Maiuri, executive director of The John C. Freeman Weather Museum, and Jill Hasling make a long-range forecast by drawing a bullseye on the 500 mb level winds, bypassing the usual Groundhog Day method of digging into the surface data..

 

Hazardous Weather Testbed Team Wins 2012 Spengler Award for Severe Storm Collaboration

The 2012 Kenneth C. Spengler Award recipient is a team of eight scientists and forecasters with the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT). Their collaborative efforts are being acknowledged for bringing the government, academic, and private sectors together in a visionary, proactive, and exemplary manner to deal with the challenges posed by hazardous weather.
The HWT, a facility jointly managed by NSSL, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), and the NWS Oklahoma City/Norman Weather Forecast Office (OUN), is leading the way to engage the weather enterprise in turning severe storm research into operations.
HWT team members are John “Jack” Kain, Steve Weiss, Russell Schneider, Mike Coniglio, Greg Carbon, David Bright, Jason Levit, and Jay Liang. The Front Page met with Schneider (SPC director) and Weiss (SPC chief of support) to learn more about HWT, its dual programs focused on warnings and forecasts, and the advances HWT has championed as well as the challenges that remain.
The full interview is available below.

2012 Remote Sensing Prize Winner Sees Polarimetric Radar Research Go Nationwide

Viswanathan N. “V.N.” Bringi, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at Colorado State University, is the 2012 recipient of the AMS Remote Sensing Prize. Known to many simply as “Bringi,” his career-long research and development of dual-polarization technology earned him this honor for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of polarimetric Doppler weather radar.
The Front Page sat down with Bringi at the 92nd AMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans last week to learn more about his research as well as the development of polarimetric radar into an advanced forecast tool. You can listen to the interview below.
Bringi spent decades working with what he describes as a relatively simple idea to perfect the complex technology and to convince experimental radar meteorologists that it could be used in operational forecasting. His efforts paid off and his legacy was written when the NWS announced in 2011 that it would be upgrading its nationwide network of 159 Doppler weather radars with dual-polarization technology. NSSL states that the potential benefits with dual polarization will be “as significant as the nationwide upgrade to Doppler radar in the 1980s.”
While Bringi anticipated it would eventually occur, he added,  “I was greatly elated that the upgrade would happen before I retired.” The upgrade of the Doppler radar network is expected to be completed this year, concurrent with Bringi’s change in status at CSU to professor, emeritus.

The 2012 Jule G. Charney Award Winner Strives to Simulate Complex Clouds, Rid Models of Errors

Chris Bretherton, professor in the University of Washington Departments of Atmospheric Science and Applied Mathematics, is the recipient of the 2012 Jule G. Charney Award. He received this distinction for fundamental contributions to our understanding of atmospheric moist convection, particularly the discovery of mechanisms governing the transition from stratocumulus to shallow cumulus convection.
In a video interview, which you can view below, Bretherton discusses his research accomplishments and what he is looking forward to working on next: ridding models of cloud feedbacks on climate. In addition, he also mentions that he isn’t the first member of his family to win The Jule G. Charney Award, which is in the form of a medallion. In an email sent to The Front Page, he explains the connection, and also tells how he got his start in atmospheric research:
“I have a distinguished family history in meteorology.  My father, Francis Bretherton, was awarded the first Jule Charney award in 1983 for his work in areas of geophysical fluid dynamics ranging from internal gravity wave dynamics to frontogenesis to ocean eddy processes.  I have a very similar skill set, and I have always loved mountaineering and other outdoor sports, where weather is of paramount importance.  Thus, I was also drawn into the field.”

 

Some Good Choices for Your Bookshelf

The Atmospheric Science Librarians International (ASLI) announced their ASLI’s Choice Award winners for 2011 on Wednesday afternoon in the exhibit hall. The awards, now in their seventh year, are presented for the best book of the year in the fields of meteorology/climatology/atmospheric sciences and are judged in the following categories:

  • uniqueness 
  • comprehensiveness
  • usefulness
  • quality
  • authoritativeness
  • organization
  • illustrations/diagrams
  • competition
  • references

In keeping with the Annual Meeting’s technology theme, the winning book in the science category was SCIAMACHY: Exploring the Changing Earth’s Atmosphere, edited by Manfred Gottwald and Heinrich Bovensmann, published by Springer. ASLI noted the book provided a “comprehensive summary of the milestone SCIAMACHY mission from its initial conception to most recent results.”
There were two honorable mentions in the science category: The Global Cryosphere: Past, Present and Future, by Roger G. Barry and Thian Yew Gan, published by Cambridge University Press, awarded for “the depth and breadth of its coverage of the major aspects of the cryosphere”; and Physics and Chemistry of Clouds, by Dennis Lamb and Johannes Verlinde, published by Cambridge University Press, for “its data-rich, yet readable exploration of clouds across a range of scales.” 
Awards were also given in the history category. The winner was Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong, by P. Kevin MacKeown, published by Hong Kong University Press, which ASLI lauded for “its account of the scientists and science that comprise the history and accomplishments of the Hong Kong Observatory.” Honorable mention in the history category went to The Warming Papers: The Scientific Foundation for the Climate Change Forecast, edited by David Archer and Ray Pierrehumbert, published by Wiley-Blackwell, awarded “for a compendium of the key scientific papers that undergird the global warming forecast.”
Congrats to all the winners, and it’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s meeting: If you read a good book published this year, you can nominate it for the 2012 award at this page.
 

Is Meteorology Turning Into Computer Science?

by A.J. Jain, from his blog Fresh AJ
I was able to attend the student conference career fair on Saturday, the energy committee meeting for students on Sunday, and the climate, energy, and new economy talks on Monday. I was able to network with a lot of wonderful meteorology students, young professionals, senior level executives, energy trade floor meteorologists, and just readers of my blog too. The conference is still going on now, so I can only speak of the 3 days I attended. From what I saw, my friends at the AMS put on an amazing conference!
Now with that being said, let’s get onto my post. Is Meteorology turning into Computer Science?
Why am I asking this question? Well, in my previous post of “The Future of Meteorology”, I discussed that the three main areas of growth will be 1) Weather Modeling 2) Weather Derivatives and Insurance 3) Private weather forecasting. But I never got into what skills would be required for the future of meteorology. Today that’s what I want to discuss based on what I saw at the AMS student conference.
After attending the student conference at the AMS career fair, I spoke to each private employer that was hiring meteorologists. Some of the employers I spoke to at the booths were, Unisys, Climate Corporation, Wunderground, AccuWeather, Impact Weather, among others.
And here’s what was very intriguing: a majority of these employers are looking for meteorology developers (i.e., people who are excellent at programming but also understand meteorology).
Meteorology programmers are a growing trend in today’s meteorology job world. Whether it is programming using Python, C++, Objective C, or PHP, the “new” graduate in meteorology in today’s economic climate should probably have these skills under their belt. When I spoke to a few of them…they mentioned if someone is a M.S. or Ph.D. with programming skills, they would like to talk with you. Some of them even mentioned they were prepared to throw ridiculous amounts of cash if you met those qualifications…so if you’re interested in learning more, let me know!
Many of these private weather corporations deal with large data sets. Since there is a great demand from the private and public industry on high resolution and accurate modeling, many firms are hiring in these areas of the meteorology. So being able to understand database programming and statistics is very important too.
In addition to the student conference career fair, I also attended a presentation about how NOAA/NWS is working with the DOE and the private energy world in providing more resources for these companies to use. The concentration of the presentation was about the WFIP model and how they are working with private industry leaders to make short term wind forecasting more accurate.
I think the meteorology community has plenty of weather models to access now…but the hard part is integrating and customizing them into the private world for them to effectively utilize them. In addition, as I’ve mentioned before, the weather modeling world is continuing to enhance the features of the model, along with it’s accuracy and resolution. And that’s why I feel this is a growing trend and a need for programmers who understand meteorology.
This trend is very interesting to me because when I went to the student conference 10 years ago (yes now you know how I old I am), the majority of the positions I saw were operational meteorology jobs.
To be honest, none of the private employers I talked to at the student conference even mentioned they were hiring operational meteorologists. So in today’s tough economic climate, it requires you to think outside the box. And that also means taking other positions within weather companies (or government) in order to get your “foot in the door”. Once you have your foot in the door, it’s easier to work your way internally to where you want to be.
Bottom line, if the growing trend is to hire meteorological developers, and you happen to be a good developer…you should start applying to these jobs or contacting private employers. Even though you may want to be in forecasting…it’s better to at least “get in” to a company than “wait” for a forecasting job to open up. Hope that makes sense!
Are any of you seeing the same hiring trend out there for meteorologists? Do you think meteorology is turning into Computer Science? Would love to hear your perspective, and your thoughts on the AMS conference, too.
Thanks!