CONTACT: Patricia Viets FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(301) 457-5005 4/24/95
Gerald J. Dittberner, an engineer and atmospheric scientist, has been named program manager for the nation's new generation of weather satellites, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
Dittberner will manage NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) program. GOES satellites provide precise and timely weather observations and atmospheric data for the United States. The images they take of the clouds can be seen on nightly television weather reports.
"With the next GOES launch right around the corner, this opportunity could not have come at a more exciting time," Dittberner said. "I'm looking forward to a successful launch and a challenging career with NOAA."
Before joining NOAA, Dittberner spent 10 years in industry, most recently as a program manager with Mentor Technologies, Inc., in Lanham, Md. He also spent 21 years in the Air Force, with assignments ranging from satellite data processing at the Air Force Global Weather Central at Offutt Air Force Base to weather forecasting at Thule Air Base, Greenland, and managing research contracts at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Dittberner is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a member of the American Meteorological Society's Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists, and a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. He holds a B.E.E. from the University of Minnesota, an M.S. in meteorology and space science and engineering, and a Ph.D. in climatology. Both graduate degrees are from the University of Wisconsin.
A resident of Springfield, Va., Dittberner and his wife Mary Kay have three children, Colleen, 27, Matt, 24, and Brigitte, 19.