Stan Benjamin Elected as AMS Fellow
NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) is pleased to announce that the Council of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) has elected Dr. Stan Benjamin, research meteorologist, as a Fellow of the Society. The presentation was made during the Society's 84th Annual Review and Fellows Award ceremony at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Wash. �Only two-tenths of one percent of the membership are approved as a Fellow each year,� said AMS Executive Director Ronald D. McPherson. �Election to the grade of Fellow serves as a recognition of outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences, or their applications, during a substantial period of years.�
As Chief of the Regional Analysis and Prediction Branch, Dr. Benjamin's research focuses on computer weather forecast modeling and data assimilation to initialize those models. He also directed the development of the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC), an operational NOAA weather forecast model designed especially for aviation and severe weather forecasting.
In response to this prestigious recognition, Dr. Benjamin said, �I appreciate this honor from the AMS very much. It is due, in large part, to excellent colleagues in FSL and especially in the RUC group, for whom I am grateful. I also appreciate the larger group of colleagues and mentors who have paved the way and helped us get something useful done with the RUC.�
Dr. Benjamin came to work at NOAA's Program for Regional Observing and Forecasting Services (PROFS) in 1983 as an affiliate of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). He became a federal employee in 1990, two years after PROFS was renamed the Forecast Systems Laboratory as a result of expanded research and technology development. He holds a Bachelor's degree in math from Albion College in Michigan (1973), a Master's in meteorology from Penn State University (1980), and a Ph.D. in meteorology from Penn State University (1983).
FSL's major research interests center around short-range numerical weather prediction, development of advanced modeling and data assimilation techniques, diagnostic studies of mesoscale weather phenomena, and application of numerical weather prediction to daily commerce. The work carried out at FSL is valuable to commercial aviation, civilian and military weather forecasting, regional air pollution prediction, emergency preparedness, and the energy industry.