About NSSL: Awards & Honors

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About NSSL
Awards & Honors

About NSSL: Awards & Honors

At NSSL, we're proud of our legacy of excellence. The following is a list of accomplishments by our researchers and support staff. Celebrate with us!

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2025

AMS Fellow: Pam Heinselman

2024

NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Keli Pirtle “in recognition of the extensive, strategic work she has done to ensure that NOAA science and branding are well represented in Twisters, Universal's major motion picture about tornadoes.”

2023

AMS Fellow: John S. (Jack) Kain
Department of Commerce Gold Medal: National Severe Storms Laboratory, Forecast Research and Development Division, Global Systems Laboratory, Assimilation, Scientific Computing, and Evaluation Novel Division, and National Weather Service Science & Operations Officers (NWS), “for scientific and engineering excellence in developing a revolutionary prediction tool that provides short-term probabilistic thunderstorm guidance.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: John S. (Jack) Kain “for exemplary service to NOAA by high-quality scientific research and by bringing research and operations together to improve high-impact hazardous weather prediction.”
NOAA Employee of the Month (July): Brandy Griffis
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award for Personal and Professional Excellence: Daniel Wasielewski, “for outstanding leadership and management of the Radar Engineering and Development team overseeing the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD) to facilitate operation during severe weather season and supporting other radar engineering activities.”
NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Linda Crank

2022

AMS Fellow: Qin Xu
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Dusan Zrnic “for nearly 50 years of internationally acclaimed innovations in the science and engineering of weather radars”
NOAA Research EEO Diversity Award: Jeremy Gibbs, Pam Heinselman, and Elizabeth Smith “for exemplary service to expand DEIA activities and awareness within the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.”
NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Colleen Hickman

2021

AMS Award for Early-Career Professional Achievement: Joseph Trujillo Falcón (NSSL/CIMMS), “for innovative and extensive collaboration in risk communication for Spanish-speaking communities and leadership as an exceptional student member across multiple AMS boards and committees.”
AMS Editor's Award: Michael Coniglio, for Weather and Forecasting
National Weather Association Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award: Pamela Heinselman, “for outstanding leadership of the NOAA/NSSL Warn-on-Forecast research and development program, particularly her work in developing collaborations with the operational community that have strengthened the research-to-operations and operations-to-research pipelines.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Harold E. Brooks, “for extraordinary scientific contributions to climatology and prediction of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, and their societal impacts in 30 years of service to NOAA.”
NOAA Service Recognition: Richard Doviak, (posthumous) “in recognition of 50 years of Federal service in support of Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration missions.”
NOAA Research EEO Diversity Award: Sean Waugh “for exemplary service to expand DEIA activities and awareness within the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.”

2020

AMS Editor's Award: Sebastian Torres (NSSL/CIMMS), for Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
OAR EEO/Diversity Award for Exemplary Service: Elizabeth Smith, “for consistent educational outreach and mentorship activities with women and minority communities.”
NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Kurt Hondl

2019

White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Jeffrey Snyder (NSSL/CIMMS), “for cutting-edge research using radar to improve forecasts of tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hail.”
AMS Spiros G. Geotis Student Prize: David Schvartzman (NSSL/CIMMS), for the outstanding student paper presented at the 39th International Conference in Radar Meteorology that took place in Nara, Japan.
AMS Editor's Award: Kimberly Klockow-McClain (NSSL/CIMMS), for Weather, Climate, and Society
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: John M. Lewis, “for exemplary service as a brilliant scientist with extraordinary contributions to theoretical and applied research in atmospheric data assimilation and numerical weather prediction.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Lans Rothfusz, “for leadership in improving NOAA services through more than 20 years of outstanding contributions in management positions in OAR and NWS.”
Atmospheric Science Librarians International's (ASLI's) Choice Award: Alexander Ryzhkov and Dusan Zrnic, for their book, Radar Polarimetry for Weather Observations, as best book in the field of atmospheric science.
Society of American Indian Government Employees (SAIGE) Leadership Award: Bob Rabin, “for his efforts to support OAR American Indian outreach activities that are in line with the goals of SAIGE. His activities include giving science presentations and serving as a mentor at Tribal Colleges and Universities, AISES, Native Youth Community Adaptation Leadership Congress and activities with the USGS South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center in Oklahoma.”
NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Sterling Butler

2018

National Weather Association Larry R. Johnson Special Award: mPING Team (Kim Elmore (NSSL/CIMMS), Zac Flamig (NSSL/CIMMS), Jeff Brogden (NSSL/CIMMS), Brian Kaney (NSSL/CIMMS), Aaron Anderson, Darrel Kingfield (NSSL/CIMMS), Vicki Farmer, Susan Cobb, Heather Reeves (NSSL/CIMMS), Valliappa Lakshmanan (NSSL/CIMMS)), “for creating the Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING) applications which improved forecast operations by significantly increasing the number, quality, and type of ground-truth weather observations.”
NOAA Administrator's Award: Conrad Ziegler, John Gamache (OAR/AOML/HRD), and William Greene, Charles Lynch, and Bobby Peek (NOAA/OMAO), “for outstanding effort in the design, fabrication, and validation of the next-generation airborne dual-Doppler weather radar system.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Allen Zahrai, “for weather radar designs that proved concepts and were prototypes to NOAA’s national network of WSR-88D Doppler weather radars and upgrades of these to dual polarization.”
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: PaTrina Gregory, for Administrative/Technical Support
NOAA Research EEO/Diversity Laboratory of the Year: NSSL, “for showcasing NSSL research and careers at the 2018 American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Conference held in Oklahoma City, OK.”

2017

White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Corey Potvin (NSSL/CIMMS), “for significant and innovative contributions to observational analysis of thunderstorms, assimilation of observed storms into numerical prediction models, and groundbreaking research to predict localized thunderstorm-related threats such as tornadoes.”
AMS Fellow: Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/CIMMS)
AMS Editor's Award: Pierre-Emmanuel Kirstetter, for Journal of Hydrometeorology
NOAA Administrator's Award: Doug Kennedy and Sherman Frederickson, “for the design, construction, testing and successful deployment of two remote sensing profiling systems for weather research and forecasting.”

2016

AMS Charles Franklin Brooks Award: James F. Kimpel “for decades of faithful service and enlightened leadership in the Society, guiding it to remain vigorous, relevant, and focused on the future.”
AMS Remote Sensing Prize: Richard J. Doviak “for fundamental contributions to weather radar science and technology, with applications to observations of severe storms and tropospheric winds.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Qin Xu, “for exemplary service as a research scientist with extraordinary contributions to theoretical understanding and fundamental applications of atmospheric dynamics, physics, and numerical prediction.”

2015

European Severe Storms Laboratory Nikolai Dotzek Award: Harold Brooks, “for innumerable and diverse contributions to the science of severe storms, and for his support to the European and international communities of severe storm researchers.”
AMS Charles Franklin Brooks Award: David P. Jorgensen “for over two decades of substantial contributions to, and visionary leadership of, the Society's all-important scientific publication process, including tireless service as Publications Commissioner (2007–2012).”
Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Editor's Award, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Qin Xu, “for detailed reviews of multiple manuscripts, always delivered on time.”
National Weather Association Larry R. Johnson Special Award: The Hazardous Weather Testbed (NSSL, CIMMS, SPC, WFO Norman), “for significant contributions to the field of operational meteorology.”
Department of Commerce Silver Medal: Kenneth Howard, Jian Zhang, Jonathan Gourley, Luis Cano (NWS), Mark Miller (NWS), Scott Jacobs (NWS), Rebecca Cosgrove (NWS), Michelle Mainelli (NWS), and Cameron Shelton (NWS), “for successful transition of the Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor system into operations to provide critical radar-based products to forecast weather hazards.”
NOAA Employee of the Month (December): Linda McGuckin

2014

White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Adam Clark (NSSL/CIMMS), “for pioneering contributions to the study of forecast-system predictability, significant mentoring of students, and building bridges between the different components of the weather enterprise.”
AMS Fellow: Doug Forsyth
National Weather Association Operational Achievement Individual Award: Lans Rothfusz, “for passion and dedication to the science of meteorology which have led to numerous innovations in the NWS throughout his career, and for maintaining a visionary influence on the future of operational meteorology.”
American Geophysical Fellow: W. David Rust, “for outstanding contributions to our understanding of lightning and the electrical nature of storms and to the development of mobile observing systems.”
AGU Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing: Harold Brooks, “for constructive and thoughtful reviews in Geophysical Research Letters.”
Department of Commerce Gold Medal: Office of Science and Technology, Office of Operational Systems, Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services, and National Severe Storms Laboratory, “for developing and implementing Dual-Polarization technology on the Next Generation Weather Radar network to improve weather hazards warning services.”
Department of Commerce Gold Medal: Dave Jorgensen (NSSL), Erica D. Kuligowski (NIST), Franklin T. Lombardo (NIST), and Long Thanh Phan (NIST), “for conducting the Federal investigation of the 2011 Joplin Tornado. Their study of building performance, warnings, and human behavior resulted in 16 recommendations to save lives and reduce losses.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Richard J. Doviak, “for development of breakthrough radar methods that have greatly enhanced operational severe weather detection and advanced meteorological research.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: David J. Stensrud, “for exemplary service as a brilliant scientist, inspiring mentor, and generous collaborator in 28 years with the National Severe Storms Laboratory.”
NASA Robert H. Goddard Award for Exceptional Achievement in Science: Pierre Kirstetter, Jonathan Gourley and Yang Hong, “for contributing to the success of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Algorithm Teams (Radar, Radiometer, Combined, and Merged).”

2013

AMS Editor's Award: Jonathan J. Gourley, for Journal of Hydrometeorology
National Weather Association Special Lifetime Achievement Award: Charles A. Doswell III, “for his exceptional service and contributions to the operational forecasting and research communities through high–quality scientific research, educational workshops, and mentorship of colleagues and students.”
American Geophysical Union Outstanding Student Paper Award: Sean Waugh
NOAA Technology Transfer Award: Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Kiel Ortega (NSSL/CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (MDL), Kevin Manross (NCAR), Valliappa Lakshmanan (NSSL/CIMMS), Karen Cooper (INDUS), Madison Miller (NSSL/CIMMS), John Cintineo (University of Wisconsin-CIMSS) and David Jorgensen, were recognized “for leading the development of an on-demand, near real-time, web-based tool for tracking severe weather and hail swaths across the continental US.”

2012

AMS 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.”
AMS Fellow: Don MacGorman
AMS Editor's Award: Adam J. Clark (NSSL/CIMMS), for Weather and Forecasting.
American Geophysical Union Editor's Award: Alex Fierro (NSSL/CIMMS), for Geophysical Research Letters, "excellence in refereeing."
OAR Dr. Daniel L. Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator Award: Harold Brooks, “in recognition of outstanding achievement in communicating the meaning and value of NOAA-related science and research to non-scientific audiences. The award is named in honor of Dr. Daniel Albritton, a retired OAR scientist who proved to be one of the most effective communicators of NOAA research and related science.”
Council of NOAA Fellows: Dusan Zrnic

2011

AMS Fellow: Dave Rust, Harold Brooks
Department of Commerce 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.”
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.”
NOAA Bronze Medal: Kenneth Howard, Jian Zhang (NSSL/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.”
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.”
NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper: Matthew Kumjian (NSSL/CIMMS) and Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/CIMMS), for “Storm-Relative Helicity Revealed from Polarimetric Radar Measurements,” Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 2011.
INDUS Excellence Award: James Murnan, NSSL videographer

2010

World Meteorological Organization Dr. Vilho Vaisala Award for an Outstanding Research Paper: Pamela Heinselman, David Priegnitz (NSSL/CIMMS), Kevin Manross (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS) and Richard Adams (NSSL/CIMMS), for “Rapid Sampling of Severe Storms by the National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar.” Weather and Forecasting, 2008.
AMS Editor's Award: Jack Kain, for the Monthly Weather Review.
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.”
NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Sustained Career Excellence: Robert Davies-Jones, “for scientific achievements in the application of observations and theory to the understanding of the dynamics of severe convective storms and tornado genesis mechanisms.”
NOAA Employee of the Month (September): Alan Zahrai
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Kurt Hondl

2009

AMS Remote Sensing Prize: Dusan Zrnic, “for pioneering and substantial contributions to improvements of meteorological radars for both research and operational applications.”
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.”
AMS Fellow: Dave Stensrud, Ron Holle
Cooperative Conservation Award: Suzanne Van Cooten, for the protection of aquifer resources in Oklahoma.
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Pamela Heinselman, David Priegnitz (NSSL/CIMMS), Kevin Manross (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS) and Richard Adams (NSSL/CIMMS), for “Rapid Sampling of Severe Storms by the National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar.” Weather and Forecasting, 2008.
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

White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Mike Coniglio (NSSL/CIMMS) and Pam Heinselman (NSSL/CIMMS) 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.
AMS Best Poster Award: Kevin Manross (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), John Ferree (NWS), and Greg Stumpf (NSSL/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.
AMS Fellow: Steven Koch
National Weather Association Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award: Ronald L. Holle
NOAA Technology Transfer Award: Kurt Hondl, Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (MDL/CIMMS) 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.”
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.”
NOAA Administrator's Award: Harold Brooks, “for outstanding dedication developing Climate Change Science Program synthesis and assessment products integrating climate research for decision support.”
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.”
NOAA Team Member of the Month (February): Bob Staples
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Dena Grose
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: David Stensrud, for “Parameterization Schemes: Keys to Understanding Numerical Weather Prediction Models.” Cambridge University Press.
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

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.
AMS Editor's Award: Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/CIMMS), for the Journal of Applied Meteorology.
National Weather Assocation Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award: Dr. Roger A. Brown
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.”
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.”
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: John Lewis received Special Recognition for the book, “Dynamic Data Assimilation: A Least Squares Approach.” Cambridge University Press.
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/CIMMS), Terry Schuur (NSSL/CIMMS), Don Burgess (NSSL/CIMMS), Pam Heinselman (NSSL/CIMMS), Scott Giangrande (NSSL/CIMMS), and Dusan Zrnic, for “The Joint Polarization Experiment: Polarimetric rainfall measurements and hydrometeor classification.” Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, 2005.
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.”
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

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.
AMS Fellow: John Lewis
NOAA High Performance Computing and Communication NOAA Tech Award: Dave Schultz (NSSL/CIMMS) and Kevin Kelleher, “for interactive web access to historical weather data archives.”
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Linda Skaggs
United States National Academy of Engineering: Dusan Zrnic

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.”
National Weather Association Member of the Year: Steve Vasiloff

2004

Presidential Rank Award: Dusan Zrnic, “for outstanding long-term accomplishments in radar research.”
Department of CommerceGold 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.”
NOAA Bronze Medal: Kenneth Howard, Ami Arthur (NSSL/CIMMS), Gina Cox and Nathan Kuhnert, “for the development and operational implementation of the Flash Flood Monitoring and Prediction System.”
NOAA High Performance Computing and Communication NOAA Tech Award: Kevin Kelleher, Kurt Hondl, Greg Stumpf (MDL/CIMMS), Valliappa Lakshmanan (NSSL/CIMMS), Karen Cooper, Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), and Jonathan Gourley, for “Best Presentation Technology Transfer to Operations 'Real-time Dissemination of WSR-88D Radar Data over Internet 2.”
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.”
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Igor Ivic (NSSL/CIMMS), Dusan Zrnic and Sebastian Torres (NSSL/CIMMS), for “Whitening in range to improve weather radar spectral moment estimates. Part II: Experimental evaluation.” Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 2003.

2003

AMS Fellow: Dave Jorgensen
NOAA Bronze Medal: Don Burgess, Kurt Hondl, Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Gregory Stumpf (MDL), “for rapid and innovative actions in collecting, archiving, and analyzing weather radar data to assist the Shuttle Columbia accident investigation.”
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.
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

Department of Commerce Silver Medal: Harold Brooks and Daphne Zaras (NSSL/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.”
NOAA Bronze Medal: Mike Jain, “for designing, developing, testing and deploying the NEXRAD Open Radar Product Generator.”
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.”
NOAA Administrator's Award: Keli Pirtle Tarp
FAA Adminstration Excellence in Aviation Award: John Krause (NSSL/CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Jian Zhang (NSSL/CIMMS), “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.”
FAA Administration Excellence in Aviation Award: Kim Elmore, “for contributions to the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program.”
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Kevin Kelleher
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Bob Wilhelmson and Lou Wicker, for “Numerical modeling of severe local storms.” Meteorological Monographs, 2001.
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.

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.”

2000

AMS President: Jeff Kimpel
AMS Editor Award: Dave Schultz (NSSL/CIMMS), “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.”
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Dave Stensrud, John Cortinas (NSSL/CIMMS) and Harold Brooks, for “Discriminating between tornadic and non-tornadic thunderstorms using mesoscale model output.” Weather and Forecasting, 1997.
NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Donald MacGorman and Dave Rust, for coauthored book, The Electrical Nature of Storms, Oxford University Press.

1999

AMS Fellow: Dick Doviak
Department of Commerce 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.”
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

White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Erik Rasmussen (NSSL/CIMMS), “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.”
AMS Councilor: Jeff Kimpel
AMS Meisinger Award: David Stensrud, "for innovative research into the structure, dynamics, and predictability of mesoscale convective systems and their impact on larger scales."
National Weather Association Research Achievement Award: Steven E. Koch, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”
NOAA Bronze Medal: Ken Howard, for his work on the Franklin Institute's traveling exhibit “Powers of Nature.”
NOAA Administrator's Award: Mike Eilts, “for his positive impact on NSSL's research initiatives while enhancing a core element of the NOAA mission.”
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.
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.
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Paul Griffin

1997

AMS Fellow: Bob Davies-Jones
NOAA Bronze Medal: J.T. Johnson, DeWayne Mitchell (NSSL/CIMMS), Phillip Spencer (NSSL/CIMMS), Arthur Witt, Greg Stumpf (NSSL/CIMMS), and Pam Heinselman (NSSL/CIMMS), “for dramatic improvements to NEXRAD severe weather detection algorithms that have improved skill by 50%, leading to reduced personal injuries and economic losses.”
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.”
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Douglas Forsyth, for his service as Assistant and Deputy Director of NSSL.
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Dennis Nealson, for being instrumental in improving NSSL's mobile observing capabilities.

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 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.”
AMS Fellow: Dusan Zrnic
AMS Editor Award: Qin Xu, “for many prompt, insightful, and thorough reviews for the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.”
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.
NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper: Bob Davies-Jones and Harold Brooks, for “Mesocyclogenesis from a Theoretical Perspective.” Geophysical Monograph 1993.
Royal Meteorological Society Fellow: Harold Brooks

1995

National Weather Association Research Achievement Award: Chuck Doswell, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”
Department of Commerce Gold Medal: NSSL, “for achieving scientific and technical breakthroughs leading to the continuous improvements in the national network of Doppler radars (WSR-88D).”
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.”
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Joy Walton
NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Mike Schmidt
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.
NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific paper: Brad Smull, John Augustine, “Multiscale analysis of a mature mesoscale convective complex.” Monthly Weather Review, 1993.

1994

AMS Editor Award: Chuck Doswell, “for providing penetrating and thought-provoking reviews on numerous manuscripts submitted to Weather and Forecasting.”
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.”
NOAA Bronze Medal: Allen Zahrai, “for transforming the National Severe Storms Laboratory research radar into a remotely controlled polarimetric Doppler weather radar.”
Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research: Dave Rust

1993

AMS Editor Award: Dusan Zrnic
AMS Fellow: Don Burgess
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.
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Outstanding Service Award: Dick Doviak

1992

AMS Fellow: Robert Maddox
National Weather Association Member of the Year: Bob Maddox

1989

AMS Fellow: Jeff Kimpel
IEEE Fellow: Dusan Zrnic
Department of Commerce 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.’”
Honorary Fellow, NESDIS CIMSS, University of Wisconsin-Madision: Robert Rabin
Computer Graphics Film Festival First Place Visualization Award: Lou Wicker, for “Study of a Numerically Modeled Severe Storm.”

1988

IEEE Harry Diamond Memorial Award: Dusan Zrnic and Richard Doviak, “for outstanding technical contributions in the field of government services in any country.”
IEEE Fellow: Dick Doviak
Department of Commerce 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.”

1986

AMS Editor Award: Bob Davies-Jones

1985

NOAA Bronze Medal: Bob Davies-Jones

1983

Royal Meteorological Society Fellow: Rodger Brown

1982

NOAA Outstanding Scientific Paper: Dick Doviak

1981

National Weather Association Research Achievement Award: Robert Maddox, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”
NASA Group Achievement Award: Dick Doviak, “for distinguished scientific contributions to the definition, planning and execution of the Doppler Lidar 1981 Flight Experiment.”

1980

NOAA Outstanding Scientific Paper: Dick Doviak

1979

Department of Commerce Silver Medal: Don Burgess, Larry Hennington and Ken Shreeve (NWS), “for development of a new and critically important system for display of data in the Joint Doppler Operational Project”
NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper: Rodger Brown, Les Lemon, Don Burgess, for “Tornado detection by pulsed Doppler radar.” Monthly Weather Review, 1978.

1977

Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research: Dave Rust

1976

Department of Commerce Silver Medal: Dave Rust, “for contributions... in suppressing lightning strokes in thunderstorms.”
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

1968

AMS Fellow: Edwin Kessler

International Awards

2015 European Severe Storms Laboratory Nikolai Dotzek Award: Harold Brooks, “for innumerable and diverse contributions to the science of severe storms, and for his support to the European and international communities of severe storm researchers.”
2010 World Meteorological Organization Dr. Vilho Vaisala Award for an Outstanding Research Paper: Pamela Heinselman, David Priegnitz (NSSL/CIMMS), Kevin Manross (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS) and Richard Adams (NSSL/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

2019 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Jeffrey Snyder (NSSL/CIMMS), “for cutting-edge research using radar to improve forecasts of tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hail.”
2017 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Corey Potvin (NSSL/CIMMS), for significant and innovative contributions to observational analysis of thunderstorms, assimilation of observed storms into numerical prediction models, and groundbreaking research to predict localized thunderstorm-related threats such as tornadoes.
2014 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Adam Clark (NSSL/CIMMS), for pioneering contributions to the study of forecast-system predictability, significant mentoring of students, and building bridges between the different components of the weather enterprise.
2008 White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Mike Coniglio (NSSL/CIMMS) and Pam Heinselman (NSSL/CIMMS) 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 (NSSL/CIMMS), “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

2025 AMS Fellow: Pam Heinselman
2023 AMS Fellow: John S. (Jack) Kain
2022 AMS Fellow: Qin Xu
2021 AMS Award for Early-Career Professional Achievement: Joseph Trujillo Falcón (NSSL/CIMMS), “for innovative and extensive collaboration in risk communication for Spanish-speaking communities and leadership as an exceptional student member across multiple AMS boards and committees.”
2021 AMS Editor's Award: Michael Coniglio, for Weather and Foecasting
2020 AMS Editor's Award: Sebastian Torres (NSSL/CIMMS), for Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
2019 Spiros G. Geotis Student Prize: David Schvartzman (NSSL/CIMMS), for the outstanding student paper presented at the 39th International Conference in Radar Meteorology that took place in Nara, Japan.
2019 AMS Editor's Award: Kimberly Klockow-McClain (NSSL/CIMMS), for Weather, Climate, and Society
2017 AMS Fellow: Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/CIMMS)
2017 AMS Editor's Award: Pierre-Emmanuel Kirstetter, for Journal of Hydrometeorology
2016 Charles Franklin Brooks Award: James F. Kimpel “for decades of faithful service and enlightened leadership in the Society, guiding it to remain vigorous, relevant, and focused on the future.”
2016 Remote Sensing Prize: Richard J. Doviak “for fundamental contributions to weather radar science and technology, with applications to observations of severe storms and tropospheric winds.”
2015 Charles Franklin Brooks Award: David P. Jorgensen “for over two decades of substantial contributions to, and visionary leadership of, the Society's all-important scientific publication process, including tireless service as Publications Commissioner (2007–2012).”
2014 AMS Fellow: Doug Forsyth
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 (NSSL/CIMMS), 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 (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), John Ferree (NWS), and Greg Stumpf (NSSL/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.
2008 AMS Fellow: Steven Koch
2007 AMS Editor's Award: Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/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 (NSSL/CIMMS), for Monthly Weather Review.
1999 AMS Fellow: Dick Doviak
1998 AMS Councilor: Jeff Kimpel
1998 Meisinger Award: David Stensrud, "for innovative research into the structure, dynamics, and predictability of mesoscale convective systems and their impact on larger scales."
1997 AMS Fellow: Bob Davies-Jones
1996 AMS Fellow: Dusan Zrnic
1996 AMS Editor Award: Qin Xu, for Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.
1994 AMS Editor Award: Chuck Doswell, for Weather and Forecasting.
1993 AMS Editor Award: Dusan Zrnic
1993 AMS Fellow: Don Burgess
1992 AMS Fellow: Robert Maddox
1989 AMS Fellow: Jeff Kimpel
1986 AMS Editor Award: Bob Davies-Jones
1968 AMS Fellow: Edwin Kessler

National Weather Association (NWA) Awards

2021 Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award: Pamela Heinselman, “for outstanding leadership of the NOAA/NSSL Warn-on-Forecast research and development program, particularly her work in developing collaborations with the operational community that have strengthened the research-to-operations and operations-to-research pipelines.”
2018 Larry R. Johnson Special Award: mPING Team (Kim Elmore (NSSL/CIMMS), Zac Flamig (NSSL/CIMMS), Jeff Brogden (NSSL/CIMMS), Brian Kaney (NSSL/CIMMS), Aaron Anderson, Darrel Kingfield (NSSL/CIMMS), Vicki Farmer, Susan Cobb, Heather Reeves (NSSL/CIMMS), Valliappa Lakshmanan (NSSL/CIMMS)), “for creating the Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING) applications which improved forecast operations by significantly increasing the number, quality, and type of ground-truth weather observations.”
2015 Larry R. Johnson Special Award: The Hazardous Weather Testbed (NSSL, CIMMS, SPC, WFO Norman), “for significant contributions to the field of operational meteorology.”
2014 Operational Achievement Individual Award: Lans Rothfusz, “for passion and dedication to the science of meteorology which have led to numerous innovations in the NWS throughout his career, and for maintaining a visionary influence on the future of operational meteorology.”
2013 Special Lifetime Achievement Award: Charles A. Doswell III, “for his exceptional service and contributions to the operational forecasting and research communities through high–quality scientific research, educational workshops, and mentorship of colleagues and students.”
2008 Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award: Ronald L. Holle
2007 Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award: Dr. Roger A. Brown
2005 Member of the Year: Steve Vasiloff
1998 Research Achievement Award: Steven E. Koch, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”
1995 Research Achievement Award: Charles A. Doswell, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”
1992 Member of the Year: Bob Maddox
1981 Research Achievement Award: Robert Maddox, “for outstanding contributions to operational research.”

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.
1993 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Outstanding Service Award: Dick Doviak
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

Other Professional Societies

2015 Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Editor's Award, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Qin Xu, “for detailed reviews of multiple manuscripts, always delivered on time.”
2014 American Geophysical Fellow: W. David Rust, “for outstanding contributions to our understanding of lightning and the electrical nature of storms and to the development of mobile observing systems.”
2014 AGU Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing: Harold Brooks, “for constructive and thoughtful reviews in Geophysical Research Letters.”
2013 American Geophysical Union Outstanding Student Paper Award: Sean Waugh
2012 American Geophysical Union Editor's Award: Alex Fierro (NSSL/CIMMS), for Geophysical Research Letters, for "excellence in refereeing."
1996 Royal Meteorological Society Fellow: Harold Brooks
1983 Royal Meteorological Society Fellow: Rodger Brown

Department of Commerce Awards

2023 Gold Medal: National Severe Storms Laboratory, Forecast Research and Development Division, Global Systems Laboratory, Assimilation, Scientific Computing, and Evaluation Novel Division, and National Weather Service Science & Operations Officers (NWS), “for scientific and engineering excellence in developing a revolutionary prediction tool that provides short-term probabilistic thunderstorm guidance.”
2015 Silver Medal: Kenneth Howard, Jian Zhang, Jonathan Gourley, Luis Cano (NWS), Mark Miller (NWS), Scott Jacobs (NWS), Rebecca Cosgrove (NWS), Michelle Mainelli (NWS), and Cameron Shelton (NWS), “for successful transition of the Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor system into operations to provide critical radar-based products to forecast weather hazards.”
2014 Gold Medal: Office of Science and Technology, Office of Operational Systems, Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services, and National Severe Storms Laboratory, “for developing and implementing Dual-Polarization technology on the Next Generation Weather Radar network to improve weather hazards warning services.”
2014 Gold Medal: Dave Jorgensen (NSSL), Erica D. Kuligowski (NIST), Franklin T. Lombardo (NIST), and Long Thanh Phan (NIST), “for conducting the Federal investigation of the 2011 Joplin Tornado. Their study of building performance, warnings, and human behavior resulted in 16 recommendations to save lives and reduce losses.”
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 (NSSL/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: National Severe Storms Laboratory, “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.”
1979 Silver Medal: Don Burgess, Larry Hennington and Ken Shreeve (NWS), “for development of a new and critically important system for display of data in the Joint Doppler Operational Project”
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

2024 NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Keli Pirtle “in recognition of the extensive, strategic work she has done to ensure that NOAA science and branding are well represented in Twisters, Universal's major motion picture about tornadoes.”
2023 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: John S. (Jack) Kain “for exemplary service to NOAA by high-quality scientific research and by bringing research and operations together to improve high-impact hazardous weather prediction.”
2023 NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Linda Crank
2023 NOAA Employee of the Month (July): Brandy Griffis
2022 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Dusan Zrnic “for nearly 50 years of internationally acclaimed innovations in the science and engineering of weather radars”
2022 NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Colleen Hickman
2021 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Harold E. Brooks, “for extraordinary scientific contributions to climatology and prediction of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, and their societal impacts in 30 years of service to NOAA.”
2021 NOAA Service Recognition: Richard Doviak, (posthumous) “in recognition of 50 years of Federal service in support of Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration missions.”
2020 NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Kurt Hondl
2019 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: John M. Lewis, “for exemplary service as a brilliant scientist with extraordinary contributions to theoretical and applied research in atmospheric data assimilation and numerical weather prediction.”
2019 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Lans Rothfusz, “for leadership in improving NOAA services through more than 20 years of outstanding contributions in management positions in OAR and NWS.”
2019 NOAA “Silver Sherman” Award: Sterling Butler
2018 NOAA Administrator's Award: Conrad Ziegler, John Gamache (OAR/AOML/HRD), and William Greene, Charles Lynch, and Bobby Peek (NOAA/OMAO), “for outstanding effort in the design, fabrication, and validation of the next-generation airborne dual-Doppler weather radar system.”
2018 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Allen Zahrai, “for weather radar designs that proved concepts and were prototypes to NOAA’s national network of WSR-88D Doppler weather radars and upgrades of these to dual polarization.”
2017 NOAA Administrator's Award: Doug Kennedy and Sherman Frederickson, “for the design, construction, testing and successful deployment of two remote sensing profiling systems for weather research and forecasting.”
2016 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Qin Xu, “for exemplary service as a research scientist with extraordinary contributions to theoretical understanding and fundamental applications of atmospheric dynamics, physics, and numerical prediction.”
2015 NOAA Employee of the Month (December): Linda McGuckin
2014 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: Richard J. Doviak, “for development of breakthrough radar methods that have greatly enhanced operational severe weather detection and advanced meteorological research.”
2014 NOAA Distinguished Career Award: David J. Stensrud, “for exemplary service as a brilliant scientist, inspiring mentor, and generous collaborator in 28 years with the National Severe Storms Laboratory.”
2013 NOAA Technology Transfer Award: Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Kiel Ortega (NSSL/CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (MDL), Kevin Manross (NCAR), Valliappa Lakshmanan (NSSL/CIMMS), Karen Cooper (INDUS), Madison Miller (NSSL/CIMMS), John Cintineo (University of Wisconsin-CIMSS) and David Jorgensen, were recognized “for leading the development of an on-demand, near real-time, web-based tool for tracking severe weather and hail swaths across the continental US.”
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 (NSSL/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 Distinguished Career Award: Sustained Career Excellence: Robert Davies-Jones, “for scientific achievements in the application of observations and theory to the understanding of the dynamics of severe convective storms and tornado genesis mechanisms.”
2010 NOAA Employee of the Month (September): Alan Zahrai
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 Distinguished Career Award: Carl Hane, “for scientific achievement in the application of Doppler weather radar to the understanding of the dynamics of convective storms.”
2008 NOAA Technology Transfer Award: Kurt Hondl, Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (MDL/CIMMS) 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 Team Member of the Month (February): Bob Staples
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 (NSSL/CIMMS) and Kevin Kelleher, “for interactive web access to historical weather data archives.”
2004 NOAA Bronze Medal: Kenneth Howard, Ami Arthur (NSSL/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/CIMMS), Valliappa Lakshmanan (NSSL/CIMMS), Karen Cooper, Travis Smith (NSSL/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 (NSSL/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 Pirtle 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 (NSSL/CIMMS), Phillip Spencer (NSSL/CIMMS), Arthur Witt, Greg Stumpf (NSSL/CIMMS), and Pam Heinselman (NSSL/CIMMS), “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

2023 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award for Personal and Professional Excellence: Daniel Wasielewski, “for outstanding leadership and management of the Radar Engineering and Development team overseeing the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD) to facilitate operation during severe weather season and supporting other radar engineering activities.”
2022 NOAA Research EEO Diversity Award: Jeremy Gibbs, Pam Heinselman, and Elizabeth Smith “for exemplary service to expand DEIA activities and awareness within the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.”
2021 NOAA Research EEO Diversity Award: Sean Waugh “for exemplary service to expand DEIA activities and awareness within the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.”
2020 OAR EEO/Diversity Award for Exemplary Service: Elizabeth Smith, “for consistent educational outreach and mentorship activities with women and minority communities.”
2018 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: PaTrina Gregory, for Administrative/Technical Support
2018 NOAA Research EEO/Diversity Laboratory of the Year: NSSL, for showcasing NSSL research and careers at the 2018 American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Conference held in Oklahoma City, OK.
2012 OAR Dr. Daniel L. Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator Award: Harold Brooks, “in recognition of outstanding achievement in communicating the meaning and value of NOAA-related science and research to non-scientific audiences. The award is named in honor of Dr. Daniel Albritton, a retired OAR scientist who proved to be one of the most effective communicators of NOAA research and related science.”
2011 NOAA Research Outstanding Scientific Paper: Matthew Kumjian (NSSL/CIMMS) and Alexander Ryzhkov (NSSL/CIMMS), for “Storm-Relative Helicity Revealed from Polarimetric Radar Measurements,” Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 2011.
2010 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award: Kurt Hondl
2009 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Pamela Heinselman, David Priegnitz (NSSL/CIMMS), Kevin Manross (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS) and Richard Adams (NSSL/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 (NSSL/CIMMS), Terry Schuur (NSSL/CIMMS), Don Burgess (NSSL/CIMMS), Pam Heinselman (NSSL/CIMMS), Scott Giangrande (NSSL/CIMMS), 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 (NSSL/CIMMS), Dusan Zrnic and Sebastian Torres (NSSL/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.
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.
2000 NOAA Research Outstanding Paper Award: Dave Stensrud, John Cortinas (NSSL/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.
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

2019 Atmospheric Science Librarians International's (ASLI's) Choice Award: Alexander Ryzhkov and Dusan Zrnic, for their book, Radar Polarimetry for Weather Observations, as best book in the field of atmospheric science.
2019 Society of American Indian Government Employees (SAIGE) Leadership Award: Bob Rabin, “for his efforts to support OAR American Indian outreach activities that are in line with the goals of SAIGE. His activities include giving science presentations and serving as a mentor at Tribal Colleges and Universities, AISES, Native Youth Community Adaptation Leadership Congress and activities with the USGS South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center in Oklahoma.”
2014 NASA Robert H. Goddard Award for Exceptional Achievement in Science: Pierre Kirstetter, Jonathan Gourley and Yang Hong, “for contributing to the success of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Algorithm Teams (Radar, Radiometer, Combined, and Merged).”
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
2002 FAA Adminstration Excellence in Aviation Award: John Krause (NSSL/CIMMS), Greg Stumpf (NSSL/CIMMS), Travis Smith (NSSL/CIMMS), Jian Zhang (NSSL/CIMMS), “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.”
1994 Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research: Dave Rust
1989 Honorary Fellow, NESDIS CIMSS, University of Wisconsin-Madision: Robert Rabin
1989 Computer Graphics Film Festival First Place Visualization Award: Lou Wicker, for “Study of a Numerically Modeled Severe Storm.”
1981 NASA Group Achievement Award: Dick Doviak, “for distinguished scientific contributions to the definition, planning and execution of the Doppler Lidar 1981 Flight Experiment.”
1977 Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research: Dave Rust