2016 Gold Medal Award Winners - Tom Smith and Ken Pryor
2016 DOC Gold Medal Award Winners Thomas M. Smith (CoRP / SCSB) and Ken Pryor (SMCD / OPDB)
(click to enlarge)
27 September 2016 - STAR's Tom Smith (CoRP / SCSB)
and Ken Pryor (SMCD / OPDB) were honored today with Dept. of Commerce Gold Medal awards for
Scientific and Engineering Achievement. The highest honor award of the DOC, the Gold Medal has
been presented since 1949 by the Secretary of Commerce for distinguished performance.
Gold Medal Award for Scientific / Engineering Achievement:
Kenneth L. Pryor
Ken Pryor was honored for significant scientific advances made to the Microburst Windspeed Potential
product that enable more accurate and higher confidence levels in severe thunderstorm downburst predictions.
His work to employ a comprehensive validation process involving a multi-sensor direct comparison approach
resulted in the implementation of coefficients that improve the Microburst Windspeed Potential algorithm,
which will help save lives and property. He also ensured our stakeholders will access new resulting data
by his training and outreach efforts, and by developing a new phone app.
Laurie Pryor, Ken Pryor, Tom Smith, and Brigitte Kwinze Smith
(click to enlarge)
Gold Medal Award for Scientific / Engineering Achievement:
Jay Lawrimore
Anthony Arguez
Boyin Huang
Matthew Menne
Russell Vose
Huai-Min Zhang
Byron Gleason
Thomas Smith
Claude Williams, Jr.
The group is honored for its work incorporating new data sources and
developing an algorithm for NOAA's world-leading global surface
temperature dataset. This resulted in ground-breaking research that
reassessed global temperature trends. The results, published in Science,
found that the rate of global warming during the past 15 years has been
as fast as or faster than that seen during the latter half of the 20th
century. This refuted the notion that there has been a "hiatus" in the
rate of global warming.
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