NPR reporter Jon Hamilton was in Atlanta for the AMS Annual Meeting, searching for the effects of the hacked climate scientists’ emails. He interviewed a number of people at the meeting, with the resulting segment (transcript and audio here) that aired on Morning Edition on Thursday.
The quoted scientists were: Kevin Goebbert, Valparaiso University; Dave Gutzler, University of New Mexico; Chris Folland, UK Met Office; Marcus Williams, Florida State University; and Bill Hooke, AMS Policy Program.
AMS News
We Told You There Would Be Cake. . .
. . . but we may have neglected to mention that it would be the coolest weather-related cake you’ve ever seen! The confectionary delight was a highlight of Monday’s AMS book launch party and celebrated the 2009 release of The AMS Weather Book by Jack Williams.
A few minutes later, in a special ceremony, the accolades for Jack continued when he received an honorable mention ASLI’s Choice Award in the “popular” category. The fifth annual ASLI’s Choice Awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday at 4:45 p.m. at Publisher’s Row in the Exhibit Hall.
Congratulations to Jack on the success of his book!
A Pair of Pairs
If you think you’re seeing double at this year’s Annual Meeting it’s not necessarily because of your grueling schedule here in Atlanta. For instance, that’s not one, but two NCAR scientists being honored with named Symposia this week. Today offers sessions honoring Joachim Kuettner; Thursday is reserved for Warren Washington.
Meanwhile, there were indeed two Businger’s at Sunday’s Fellows Reception. Father Joost was celebrated as one of the three new Honorary Members of the AMS, while son Steve was named a Fellow. We believe this is the first time one family has been so honored at the same Annual Meeting.
Reception Tonight Is a First for AMS
This evening at 8-10 p.m. is the First Annual Reception for
CoRioLiS: LGBTQs & Friends in the American Meteorological Society.
Enjoy refreshments and hear from guest speaker Guy Walton, TWC forecaster, on “Acceptance and Innovation at The Weather Channel.” (By the way, after you hear Walton’s talk at the reception, consider catching his temperature extremes study Tuesday at 11 a.m.).
The reception, in the Juniper Room M2-North Tower of the Omni Hotel, in sponsored by the AMS Board on Women & Minorities, the UCAR Community Building Program, and the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP). For more information, contact Zhenya Gallon at ext. 8607, [email protected],
or see CoRioliS on Facebook.
Author, Sailor, Scientist, AMS President-to-Be
“I’ve been trying to keep this to the scientific side tonight, Amy,” Mike said. “But you can tell this has been more of a spiritual experience, for me.”–from Seraphim Sky, by Jonathan Malay (iUniverse, 2003)
It’s not every day that we get to quote from a novel, but then, with the
results from this fall’s AMS elections announced today, we’re understandably going to stray from the scientific side and get into the spirit of the moment.
Seraphim Sky is not just any book, but a novel by our newly announced AMS President-Elect Jon Malay, a one-time research oceanographer, astronaut candidate, and meteorological officer for the Navy, more recently an entrepreneur, government manager, and long-time proponent and practitioner of space-based observational programs, now at Lockheed-Martin.
Undoubtedly, we’ll have more in this blog later about his ideas for 2011, when he takes over leadership of our Society from incoming president, Margaret LeMone. Already in BAMS he’s emphasized the commitment the United States must maintain in geophysical observations and services, as well as the breadth of AMS and its impact:
We in the AMS have a collective responsibility to do whatever we can to ensure that policy decisions are based on sound science and reasoned judgment. The economic consequences of actions taken by the U.S. government (and, for that matter, governments around the world) will have enormous consequences—either for good or for very, very, bad. What stands between these two extremes is the effectiveness of the educated and technically correct voice of the AMS community.
Congratulations to Jon and to the four newly-elected AMS Councilors, Ken Carey, John Schaake, Rick Spinrad, and Ahsha Tribble. Now back to the (mostly) scientific side.
Have Your Cake and Communicate Better, Too
UPDATE, 1/16/10: Due to a last-minute change, David Schultz will not be able to attend the Annual Meeting and participate in the events discussed in this post. The AMS book launch party will be held as scheduled on Monday.
In the modern world of text messages, Tweets, and, yes, blogs, it’s easy for the craft of writing to be overlooked for the sake of immediacy, shock value, or just plain laziness. Indeed, time for eloquence increasingly seems like a luxury as technology makes communication more convenient and commonplace.
Thankfully, there are still defenders of the art; one of them, the University of Helsinki’s David Schultz, chief editor of Monthly Weather Review, has recently written a book