Colorado State University Professor Richard Johnson to Receive the American Meteorological Society Verner E. Suomi Award

Note to Reporters: A photo of Richard Johnson is available with the news release at http://www.news.colostate.edu.

Richard Johnson, Colorado State University professor of Atmospheric Science, will receive the 2013 American Meteorological Society Verner E. Suomi Award at the society’s annual meeting, Jan. 6-10, in Austin, Texas. The award is named after the father of satellite meteorology, Verner E. Suomi.

Johnson is recognized for his design of rawinsonde networks in field campaigns, which use balloon-borne meteorological sensors to measure wind, temperature and moisture in the atmosphere. The AMS will honor him for his in-depth analysis of convective cloud interactions and large-scale atmospheric circulation.

“Dr. Johnson is highly deserving of this honor. He is a testament to the kind of faculty benefitting students in our internationally known Atmospheric Science department and across the college,” said Steve Abt, interim dean of the College of Engineering.

Johnson leads the Mesoscale Dynamics Research Group at CSU. The group investigates tropical and midlatitude weather phenomena with major emphasis on observational analysis of data from field programs. The group aims to improve understanding of atmospheric processes, particularly those that will improve short-term and long-term weather predictions.

The Verner E. Suomi Award recognizes significant technological achievement in the atmospheric or hydrologic and oceanic sciences. Nominations are considered by the AMS Atmospheric Research Awards Committee across a broad spectrum of individual contributions in observation, measurement, data transmission and data analysis and synthesis methodologies.

Past recipients of the Verner E. Suomi medallion include Anne M. Thompson, Pennsylvania State University professor of Meteorology; Frank D. Marks, director, Hurricane Research Division, NOAA/AOML; and W. Timothy Liu, senior research scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

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