Awards and Honors

NSSL has a legacy of excellence in research. The following is a list of the accomplishments of our researchers. Celebrate with us!

International Awards
2010 World Meteorological Organization Dr. Vilho Vaisala Award for an Outstanding Research Paper
Pamela Heinselman, David Priegnitz (CIMMS), Kevin Manross (CIMMS), Travis Smith (CIMMS) and Richard Adams (CIMMS), for “Rapid Sampling of Severe Storms by the National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar.” Weather and Forecasting, 2008.
2007 Nobel Peace Prize: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Harold Brooks and David Stensrud contributed to the shared 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Albert Arnold Gore Jr. for efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.
1996 World Meteorological Organization Dr. Vilho Vaisala Award for an Outstanding Research Paper
Alexander Ryzhkov and Dusan Zrnic, for “Precipitation and Attenuation Measurements at a 10 cm Wavelength.” Journal of Applied Meteorology.
White House Awards
2008 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Mike Coniglio and Pam Heinselman were awarded this highest honor bestowed by the United States government for outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. Coniglio was awarded for his work for improving our understanding of severe convective wind storms, and Heinselman for her work using phased array radar technology to improve tornado warning lead times.
2005 Presidential Rank Award
Jeff Kimpel, for sustained superior accomplishment in management of programs of the U.S. Government and for noteworthy achievement of quality and efficiency in public service.
2004 Presidential Rank Award
Dusan Zrnic, for outstanding long-term accomplishments in radar research.
1998 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Erik Rasmussen, for his work to plan and direct the Verification of the Origin of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX), a field experiment designed to improve tornado predictions and warnings by studying them at close range.
1996 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
David Stensrud, for significant advances in the understanding of meso- and synoptic-scale weather systems by devising and applying innovative techniques for the incorporation of new data in numerical models for weather forecasting.
American Meteorological Society (AMS) Awards
2013 AMS Editor's Award
Jonathan J. Gourley, for Journal of Hydrometeorology.
2012 Kenneth C. Spengler Award
NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed Team—David Bright (NWS), Greg Carbin (SPC), Michael Coniglio, John Kain, Jason Levit (NWS), Jay Liang (SPC), Russell Schneider (SPC), Steven Weiss (SPC)—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.
2012 AMS Fellow
Don MacGorman
2012 AMS Editor's Award
Adam J. Clark, for Weather and Forecasting.
2011 AMS Fellow
Dave Rust, Harold Brooks
2010 AMS Editor's Award
Jack Kain, for the Monthly Weather Review.
2009 AMS Remote Sensing Prize
Dusan Zrnic, for “pioneering and substantial contributions to improvements of meteorological radars for both research and operational applications.”
2009 AMS Cleveland ABBE Award
Bob Maddox, second NSSL Director, was honored “for a lifetime of service to Atmospheric Science through seminal contributions to scientific research, inspirational leadership, and exemplary program management that promoted important interactions between research and operations.”
2009 AMS Fellow
Dave Stensrud, Ron Holle
2008 AMS Best Poster Award
Kevin Manross (CIMMS), Travis Smith (CIMMS), John Ferree (NWS), and Greg Stumpf (CIMMS), for “An on-demand user interface for requesting multi-radar, multi-sensor time accumulated products to support severe weather verification.” 23rd Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems, 2008.
2007 AMS Editor's Award
Alexander Ryzhkov (CIMMS), for the Journal of Applied Meteorology.
2006 AMS Best Poster Paper Award
Rodger Brown and Bim Wood, for “WSR-88D monitoring of shallow lake-effect snowstorms over and around Lake Ontario: Simulations of improvements using lower elevation angles.” 22nd Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems, 2006.
2006 AMS Fellow
John Lewis
2003 AMS Fellow
Dave Jorgensen
2000 AMS President
Jeff Kimpel
2000 AMS Editor Award
Dave Schultz, for providing extremely thorough, timely and constructive evaluations of a large number of manuscripts over a diverse range of topics and for special assistance to the editors in evaluation of controversial issues for Monthly Weather Review.
1999 AMS Fellow
Dick Doviak
1998 AMS Councilor
Jeff Kimpel
1997 AMS Fellow
Bob Davies-Jones
1996 AMS Fellow
Dusan Zrnic
1994 AMS Editor Award
Chuck Doswell, “for providing penetrating and thought-provoking reviews on numerous manuscripts submitted to Weather and Forecasting.”
1993 AMS Editor Award
Dusan Zrnic
1993 AMS Fellow
Don Burgess
1989 AMS Fellow
Jeff Kimpel
1986 AMS Editor Award
Bob Davies-Jones
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Awards
1993 IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize
Pravas Mahapatra and Dusan Zrnic, for “Sensors and Systems to Enhance Aviation Safety Against Weather Hazards.” Proceedings of the IEEE, September 1991.
1989 IEEE Fellow
Dusan Zrnic
1988 IEEE Harry Diamond Memorial Award
Dusan Zrnic and Richard Doviak, for outstanding technical contributions in the field of government services in any country.
1988 IEEE Fellow
Dick Doviak
Department of Commerce Awards
2011 Gold Medal
NSSL/CIMMS Radar Research and Development Division, for “scientific and engineering excellence in adapting military phased array radar technology to improve U.S. weather radar capabilities.”
2004 Gold Medal
Vincent Wood and Jim Purpura (NWS), for instituting a program of disseminating NWS hazardous weather warnings to the Oklahoma deaf and hard-of-hearing community through alphanumeric pagers.
2002 Silver Medal
Harold Brooks and Daphne Zaras (CIMMS), for development of the first highly accurate and accessible estimates of threats from tornadoes, wind storms and large hail anywhere in the U.S.
1999 Silver Medal
NSSL Warning Research and Development Division, for “developing a prototype Warning Decision Support System for weather forecasters and making significant enhancements to the NEXRAD system, resulting in more timely and reliable warnings.”
1995 Gold Medal
NSSL, for “achieving scientific and technical breakthroughs leading to the continuous improvements in the national network of Doppler radars (WSR-88D).”
1989 Silver Medal
Chuck Doswell, Ken Howard, Gary Grice (NWS) and Stan Barnes, for meritorious authorship and editing associated with “A Guide for Operational Meteorological Research.”
1988 Gold Medal
Dave Rust and Vlad Mazur, for “research accomplishments in understanding atmospheric electrification and extraordinary contributions to the nation's aviation and space programs.”
1976 Silver Medal
Dave Rust, “for contributions... in suppressing lightning strokes in thunderstorms.”
Department of the Interior Awards
2009 Cooperative Conservation Award
Suzanne Van Cooten, for the protection of aquifer resources in Oklahoma.
NOAA Awards
2012 Council of NOAA Fellows
Dusan Zrnic
2011 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Scientific Achievement
W. David Rust, “for contributions to the understanding of lightning and storm electrification and to the development of mobile storm observing systems.”
2011 NOAA Bronze Medal
Kenneth Howard, Jian Zhang (CIMMS), Jonathan J. Gourley and Steven V. Vasiloff, “for the design and implementation of a seamless gridded system for multi-sensor-derived precipitation estimation over the continental U.S.”
2011 NOAA Bronze Medal
Rodger A. Brown, Vincent T. Wood, Charles Parish, Scott Enders, Sallie Ahlert, Keith Peabody, Christina Horvat, Michael Weeks, Zack Jing, “for excellence in transferring research to operations and providing a new WSR-88D radar capability that significantly enhanced forecast operations.”
2010 NOAA Technology Transfer Award
Dusan Zrnic, for developing a method that allows for faster updates of dual-polarized data without losing function, and provides significant cost savings.
2010 NOAA Employee of the Month
Alan Zahrai
2008 NOAA Technology Transfer Award
Kurt Hondl, Travis Smith (CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (MDL) were recognized “for team leadership during the development of the Warning Decision Support System - Integrated Information and for fostering its adopted use in the private sector.”
2008 NOAA Bronze Medal
Mike Jain, “for leadership and technical excellence in implementing a major, life-saving enhancement to the nation's Doppler weather radar network.”
2008 NOAA Administrator's Award
Harold Brooks, for outstanding dedication developing Climate Change Science Program synthesis and assessment products integrating climate research for decision support.
2008 NOAA Team Member of the Month
Bob Staples
2008 NOAA Distinguished Career Award
Carl Hane, “for scientific achievement in the application of Doppler weather radar to the understanding of the dynamics of convective storms.”
2007 NOAA Administrator's Award
Doug Forsyth, in recognition of leadership in overseeing the design, construction and occupancy of the National Weather Center, a joint NOAA and University of Oklahoma project which was realized both on time and under budget.
2007 NOAA Administrator's Award
Dave Jorgensen, “for successful planning, implementation, and initial deployment in the San Diego and Oxnard Hydrologic Service Areas of the first NOAA/USGS Debris Flow Warning System.”
2006 NOAA High Performance Computing and Communication NOAA Tech Award
Dave Schultz and Kevin Kelleher, “for interactive web access to historical weather data archives.”
2004 NOAA Bronze Medal
Kenneth Howard, Ami Arthur (CIMMS), Gina Cox and Nathan Kuhnert, “for the development and operational implementation of the Flash Flood Monitoring and Prediction System.”
2004 NOAA High Performance Computing and Communication NOAA Tech Award
Kevin Kelleher, Kurt Hondl, Greg Stumpf (MDL), Valliappa Lakshmanan (CIMMS), Karen Cooper, Travis Smith (CIMMS), and Jonathan Gourley, for “Best Presentation Technology Transfer to Operations 'Real-time Dissemination of WSR-88D Radar Data over Internet 2.”
2004 NOAA Technology Transfer Award
Kevin Kelleher, Karen Cooper and Mark Benner, “for development of a national real time radar data, archival, and Internet-2 delivery system for universities, government, and the private sector.”
2003 NOAA Bronze Medal
Don Burgess, Kurt Hondl, Travis Smith (CIMMS), Gregory Stumpf (MDL), “for rapid and innovative actions in collecting, archiving, and analyzing weather radar data to assist the Shuttle Columbia accident investigation.”
2002 NOAA Bronze Medal
Mike Jain, “for designing, developing, testing and deploying the NEXRAD Open Radar Product Generator.”
2002 NOAA High Performance Computing and Communication NOAA Tech Award
Kevin Kelleher, “for Best Use of Advanced Networks: WSR-88D radar data over the Internet- 2/NGI.”
2002 NOAA Administrator's Award
Keli Tarp
2001 NOAA Bronze Medal
Kevin Kelleher, “for developing and implementing the NOAA Advanced Research Network, providing a foundation for improved collaboration among universities and NOAA.”
1998 NOAA Bronze Medal
Ken Howard, for his work on the Franklin Institute's traveling exhibit “Powers of Nature.”
1998 NOAA Administrator's Award
Mike Eilts, for his positive impact on NSSL's research initiatives while enhancing a core element of the NOAA mission.
1997 NOAA Bronze Medal
J.T. Johnson, DeWayne Mitchell, Phillip Spencer, Arthur Witt, Greg Stumpf, and Pam Heinselman, “for dramatic improvements to NEXRAD severe weather detection algorithms that have improved skill by 50%, leading to reduced personal injuries and economic losses.”
1997 NOAA Bronze Medal
J.T. Johnson, “for showcasing U.S. technology and making major advances in the field of meteorology while providing weather support to the 1996 Olympic Games.”
1995 NOAA Bronze Medal
Dennis Nealson and Paul Griffin, “for fabrication of a mobile Doppler Weather Radar, the Doppler-on-Wheels, for close-in probing of severe supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes.”
1994 NOAA Bronze Medal
Dave Jorgensen, Tom Matejka, Brad Smull, “for critical contributions in the design and execution of the turboprop research flight component of TOGA COARE.”
1994 NOAA Bronze Medal
Allen Zahrai, “for transforming the National Severe Storms Laboratory research radar into a remotely controlled polarimetric Doppler weather radar.”
1985 NOAA Bronze Medal
Bob Davies-Jones
1982 NOAA Outstanding Scientific Paper
Dick Doviak
1980 NOAA Outstanding Scientific Paper
Dick Doviak
1976 NOAA Special Achievement Award
Rodger Brown, Don Burgess, and Les Lemon, for co-discovery of the Tornadic Vortex Signature.
1972 NOAA Bronze Medal
Walter Watts
NOAA Research (OAR) Awards
2010 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Kurt Hondl
2009 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Pamela Heinselman, David Priegnitz (CIMMS), Kevin Manross (CIMMS), Travis Smith (CIMMS) and Richard Adams (CIMMS), for “Rapid Sampling of Severe Storms by the National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar.” Weather and Forecasting, 2008.
2008 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Dena Grose
2008 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
David Stensrud, for “Parameterization Schemes: Keys to Understanding Numerical Weather Prediction Models.” Cambridge University Press.
2007 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
John Lewis received Special Recognition for the book, “Dynamic Data Assimilation: A Least Squares Approach.” Cambridge University Press.
2007 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Alexander Ryzhkov (CIMMS), Terry Schuur (CIMMS), Don Burgess (CIMMS), Pam Heinselman, Scott Giangrande, and Dusan Zrnic, for “The Joint Polarization Experiment: Polarimetric rainfall measurements and hydrometeor classification.” Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, 2005.
2006 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Linda Skaggs
2004 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Igor Ivic (CIMMS), Dusan Zrnic and Sebastian Torres (CIMMS), for “Whitening in range to improve weather radar spectral moment estimates. Part II: Experimental evaluation.” Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 2003.
2003 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Bob Davies-Jones, Jeff Trapp and Howie Bluestein, for “Tornadoes and tornadic storms.” Severe Convective Storms, Meteorological Monographs, American Meteorological Society, 2001.
2003 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Dave Jorgensen, T. R. Shepherd, A. Goldstein, for “A multiple pulse repetition frequency scheme for extending the unambiguous Doppler velocity of the NOAA P-3 airborne Doppler radar.” Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 2000.
2002 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Kevin Kelleher
2002 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Bob Wilhelmson and Lou Wicker, for “Numerical modeling of severe local storms.” Meteorological Monographs, 2001.
2000 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Dave Stensrud, John Cortinas (CIMMS) and Harold Brooks, for “Discriminating between tornadic and non-tornadic thunderstorms using mesoscale model output.” Weather and Forecasting, 1997.
2000 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Donald MacGorman and Dave Rust, for coauthored book, The Electrical Nature of Storms, Oxford University Press.
2002 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Dave Stensrud, J.W. Bao, and T. T. Turner, for “Using initial condition and model physics perturbations in short-range ensembles of mesoscale convective systems.” Monthly Weather Review, 2000.
1999 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Jeff Trapp and Bob Davies-Jones, for “Tornadogenesis with and without a Dynamic Pipe Effect.” Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 1997.
1998 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Dave Stensrud, for “Effects of a persistent, midlatitude mesoscale region of convection on the large-scale environment during the warm season.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1996.
1998 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award
Conrad Ziegler, Tsendgar Lee, Roger Pielke, Sr., for “Convective initiation at the dryline: A modeling study.” Monthly Weather Review, 1997.
1998 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Paul Griffin
1997 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Douglas Forsyth, for his service as Assistant and Deputy Director of NSSL.
1997 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Dennis Nealson, for being instrumental in improving NSSL's mobile observing capabilities.
1996 NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper
Harold Brooks and Chuck Doswell, for “The Role of Midtropospheric Winds in the Evolution and Maintenance of Low-Level Mesocyclones.” Monthly Weather Review 1994.
1996 NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper
Bob Davies-Jones and Harold Brooks, for “Mesocyclogenesis from a Theoretical Perspective.” Geophysical Monograph 1993.
1995 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Joy Walton
1995 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award
Mike Schmidt
1995 NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper
Bob Davies-Jones, Harold Brooks, for “Mesocyclogenesis from a theoretical perspective. The Tornado: Its Structure, Dynamics, Prediction, and Hazards.” Geophysical Monograph, 1993.
1995 NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific paper
Brad Smull, John Augustine, “Multiscale analysis of a mature mesoscale convective complex.” Monthly Weather Review, 1993.
1979 NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper
Rodger Brown, Les Lemon, Don Burgess, for “Tornado detection by pulsed Doppler radar.” Monthly Weather Review, 1978.
Other Awards
2011 INDUS Excellence Award
James Murnan, NSSL videographer
2009 COMET Hall of Fame
Don Burgess, in recognition of outstanding contributions to professional training, and contributing to the success of the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training program.
2008 The Alan Clive Service and Spirit Award
Vincent Wood and the Oklahoma Weather Alert Remote Notification Program, for outstanding leadership in providing that all aspects of emergency management are conducted in an equitable and impartial manner without discrimination and with the inclusion of all people who can make a contribution.
2007 National Weather Association Fujita Research Achievement Award
Rodger Brown, for more than 30 years of applied research and development activities that have led to improved WSR-88D detection of tornadoes and other hazardous weather events and that have resulted in forecasters issuing warnings that have increased lead times.
2007 NASA Group Achievement Award
Michael Douglas, for outstanding accomplishment in the successful NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis Mission conducted in the Cape Verde Islands.
2006 United States National Academy of Engineering
Dusan Zrnic
2005 National Weather Association Member of the Year
Steve Vasiloff
2002 FAA Adminstration Excellence in Aviation Award
John Krause, Greg Stumpf, Travis Smith, Jian Zhang, “for contributions to the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program, which was organized to generate more accurate and accessible aviation weather observations, warnings and forecasts.”
2002 FAA Administration Excellence in Aviation Award
Kim Elmore, “for contributions to the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program.”
1995 National Weather Association Research Achievement Award
Chuck Doswell, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”
1994 Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research
Dave Rust
1989 Computer Graphics Film Festival First Place Visualization Award
Lou Wicker, for “Study of a Numerically Modeled Severe Storm.”
1977 Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research
Dave Rust