Daniel Gropper Honored as NOAA Environmental Hero for 2008
April 22, 2008
NOAA has selected Daniel Gropper from Vienna, Va. as an Environmental Hero for his support of the National Weather Service warning dissemination and Skywarn™ programs.
NOAA established the Environmental Hero Awards in 1995 to commemorate Earth Day by honoring volunteers who help NOAA carry out its mission — to understand and predict changes in Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s economic, social and environmental needs. The award program also raises awareness about NOAA’s volunteer programs.
“Thousands of people across the country join forces with NOAA each year and the Environmental Hero award is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to several of those individuals that have made a significant impact,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. ”Dan is an outstanding volunteer – he has been sharing his time, knowledge and experience for the last twenty years.”
In the early 1990s Gropper helped to modernize the National Weather Service severe weather spotting program. His efforts resulted in the creation of the Skywarn™ program which utilizes trained volunteer severe weather spotters that provides the weather service with timely and accurate severe weather reports.
Gropper continues to be a resource and supporter of the National Weather Service and Skywarn™ programs around the country and often volunteers his legal and business background to assist NOAA in many areas. He is a professional engineer, a patent attorney, a ham radio operator and an inventor with a passion for the weather and public service.
“Dan Gropper has worked closely with our engineers to improve national reliability of the emergency alert system and NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards,” said James E. Lee, meteorologist-in-charge of the Baltimore/Washington Weather Forecast Office. “Dan continues to be a valuable technical resource to many forecast offices throughout the country and has a long history of helping us resolve and explain technical issues. I am thrilled this award was given to a man who tirelessly gives back to his community for the greater good.”
In addition to his volunteer work, Gropper has been designing commercial NOAA weather radio systems to link fire, police, public safety and corporations to the critical NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards alerts and has received a number of patents for these inventions. He developed a NOAA Weather Radio receiver that is used in many local schools, public buildings and government agencies with nearly flawless performance and warning dissemination. Most recently, this receiver was selected for use at Fairfax County’s new Emergency Operations Center.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Contact: Marcie Katcher, 631-244-0149