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Dr Beth Ebert honoured by Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
WMO applauds Dr Elizabeth Ebert who was awarded in October by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE) for innovation and excellence in the field of meteorology. Dr Ebert is a Senior Principal Research Scientist and Head, Forecast Quality Research, Australia Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), and member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) since 2015. Dr Ebert oversees the work of the WWRP Joint Forecast Verification Research Working Group, which she also Chaired from 2003 and 2008, and regularly provides scientific vision and knowledge to contribute to the work and success of the WWRP. To a great extent, she has helped to shape WWRP into what it is today.
WWRP promotes scientific research aimed at making advances in weather that will addresses the societal impacts of high-impact weather events. One of its first initiatives was the Sydney Forecast Demonstration Project (FDP), which supported the Sydney 2000 Olympics. As part of this initiative, Dr Ebert led an international verification team that developed improved verification methods for phenomena, such as heavy rainfall, for which prediction skill has been historically difficult to evaluate. This valuable contribution to verification methods was also applied during the Beijing Olympics Forecasting Demonstration Project in 2008 and at other events.
Dr Ebert also played a leading role in the development and application of new and improved verification methods to assess and enable the improvement of the quality of weather forecasts, and in the provision of nowcasting information and mesoscale predictions in The Observing system Research and Predictability Experiment – THORPEX.
Dr Ebert served on the Steering Group of the HI-Weather core project of the WWRP, also leading the verification package of that project. In addition, she initiated a new flagship activity in 2019, called the “Value chain” project, which reviews value chain approaches used to describe and understand weather, warning and climate services and provides a framework and guidance on how they can be best applied.
The award recognizes Dr Ebert’s achievements and expertise in many applications related to weather research. Each year the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE) recognizes outstanding senior and emerging innovators with national awards. Some of Australia’s leading engineers and inventors have been recognized for building a better Australia through technological innovation. Much of the work awarded in 2022 is already being successfully applied across a range of industries.
The WMO is proud to include Dr Ebert in the WWRP community and congratulates her on this prestigious award!
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Presidential Rank Award: Dr Roger S. Pulwarty receives Distinguished Award
United States President Joseph Biden has recognized Roger S. Pulwarty (PhD) with the Presidential Rank Award 2022. Dr Pulwarty is a Senior Scientist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) and long-serving WMO expert. The Distinguished Award is the highest level of the Presidential Rank Award, one of the most prestigious in the US federal career civil service. It highlights the important contributions of dedicated civil servants in the American federal workforce.
Dr Pulwarty has been closely involved in WMO activities for over a decade. Most recently, he has been leading the implementation and operationalization of the Climate Services Information System (CSIS), one of the key pillars of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). He was a member of WMO International Drought Management Programme Management Group and served on the Steering Committee of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Currently, Dr Pulwarty is a member of the Standing Committee of Climate Services (SC-CLI) and a co-chair the Expert Team on CSIS Operations under the Commission for Weather, Climate, Water and Related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM).
At NOAA, Dr Pulwarty has played a major role in developing and leading innovative research teams and interdisciplinary programmes and in conducting leading-edge interdisciplinary research to address complex environmental problems related to weather and natural hazards. He has also served as a convening lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment and Special Reports on Extremes and on Water, and on the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Global Assessments. He contributed to the UNDRR Special Report on Drought and helped design and lead the US National Integrated Drought Information System and the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment Program (now Climate Adaptation Partnerships). In his current role, Dr Pulwarty fosters and leads research innovations in weather, water and climate extremes across PSL. His major achievements span research, education, mentorship, leadership, service, public outreach and societal impacts. Throughout his career, Dr Pulwarty has been nationally and internationally recognized as a role model in bringing science to the table to inform decision-making through his outstanding contributions to climate science, disaster response, preparedness and risk reduction.
