Citation

Sonia Kreidenweis made her mark on cloud physics early in her career with the definition of “kappa,” a single parameter that captures the process transforming dry particles into cloud droplets via action as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Her work reaches far beyond cloud microphysics to include aerosol optical properties, atmospheric chemistry, bioaerosols, visibility, and ice nucleation. Her research has spanned laboratory, field, and theoretical work, and remote sensing, each time bringing exceptional fresh ideas and new understanding.

Prof. Kreidenweis is dedicated to sharing her experience through teaching and mentoring. She demands the best, never cutting corners on rigor in research, but always approaches the students with a deeply humble attitude. This is not a lordly professor dictating a research agenda, but a fellow traveler seeking the truth.

While most of us consider a balance between research and teaching sufficient to define a career, Prof. Kreidenweis unselfishly gives her time to service. She is an active member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR), serving on many committees, associate editor of journals, and as secretary, vice president, and president of AAAR. She sits on numerous advisory committees for such organizations as the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. In addition, since 2015 she has served Colorado State University as an associate dean in various roles in the College of Engineering and been one of the five founding members of the interdisciplinary Partnership for Air Quality, Climate and Health. As with teaching, Prof. Kreidenweis approaches these leadership roles with humility. For her, the work is never about glory, only service, and an opportunity to create a better professional environment for all of us.

The humble qualities that empower her protégés and colleagues are especially significant given the era in which Prof. Kreidenweis came of age. When she was starting in science, being a woman in physical science was still a novelty. Prof. Kreidenweis has served as a role model for countless women entering the field. From her example we understood that yes, women can succeed as scientists, and yes, they can do so without braggadocio and swagger.

It is for all of the above that Sonia M. Kreidenweis is deserving of the Yoram J. Kaufman Outstanding and Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award.

—Lorraine Remer, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Catonsville

Response

I am humbled to receive the Yoram J. Kaufman Outstanding and Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award, and honored to be in the company of the distinguished scientists who are prior recipients. I am also deeply grateful to my nominators for considering me for this recognition, as this award in Yoram’s memory is especially meaningful to me. Yoram cosponsored (with Anne Thompson) my first sabbatical from Colorado State University. In addition to generating cherished memories and lifelong friendships, my visit to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, on the eve of the deployment of the first Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, had a profound influence on my scientific life. It provided a glimpse into the importance of Yoram’s dedication to international collaboration and unselfish cooperation in bringing such a complex mission to fruition. It is uniquely appropriate to honor Yoram’s legacy with particular attention to these attributes. I feel very fortunate to have started my career at a time when atmospheric chemistry was blossoming, and to have been a part of the growth of this wonderful community that embraces interdisciplinary science and collaboration. I sincerely thank the many colleagues who have shared this journey and have made it so fun and rewarding, especially Paul DeMott, who introduced me to new areas of research and whose achievements exemplify the power of cooperative research. Special thanks to the outstanding current and former graduate students, postdocs, and research scientists who have been the driving force of our research group; your success brings me joy. My deepest gratitude goes to my Ph.D. advisers, John Seinfeld and Rick Flagan; my postdoctoral mentor, Joyce Penner; and my colleagues at Colorado State University, for sharing their knowledge, for setting high standards, and for their encouragement throughout my career.

Finally, my heartfelt thanks to my husband and son for their love and support that bring meaning to everything else.

—Sonia Kreidenweis, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Citation

Dr. Lorraine A. Remer is a research professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and concurrently co-owner of AirPhoton LLC, which develops and applies innovative technology for Earth and space studies. Previously, she worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and led the development of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol retrieval algorithm and its multidecadal aerosol products. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Remer has made her mark within multiple communities. She is well recognized for her joint roles as science leader, collaborator, motivator, and cheerleader. With over 200 publications and a Google Scholar H-index = 89, Dr. Remer represents the aerosol, climate, and oceanography research communities. On the one hand, her first-authored MODIS aerosol algorithm paper has over 3,000 citations. On the other hand, her work spans remarkable breadth across multiple disciplines, institutions, and authors. Dr. Remer’s focus on synergistic activities means she must effectively “herd cats.” As deputy lead of NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Science and Applications Team, Lorraine elevated the community’s interests by proposing a unified aerosol retrieval algorithm that integrated three competing “heritage” algorithms while also including leads from those groups in the development. This is just one example of her scientific and interdisciplinary team-building efforts that advances aerosol science. Dr. Remer proactively advocates for next-generation scientists and promotes their work. Over the years, she has served on more than a dozen Ph.D. dissertation committees and has mentored numerous high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. Lorraine also developed, in collaboration with Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, the program and curriculum for their Earth Science Patch. Numerous scientists from around the world have benefited greatly from Dr. Remer’s mentoring, guidance, and/or unselfish cooperation. Her collaboration with different communities and multiple disciplines has included hundreds of colleagues from all six inhabited continents of the world. All have benefited from Lorraine’s easy way of volunteering to lead teams, turning complicated plots and figures into papers, and listening to and alleviating concerns and problems. Dr. Lorraine Remer uniquely exemplifies the attributes that the Yoram J. Kaufman Award seeks to recognize. She is the embodiment for excellence in interdisciplinary research, inspirational mentoring, and unselfish collaboration. Lorraine not only believes that it takes a village to advance science, but also actively builds and organizes that village. She finds creative ways to encourage unique contributions from diverse individuals and to inspire and bring out the best in others. —Robert Levy and Hongbin Yu, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Response

Words cannot express the honor I feel accepting this award created in Yoram Kaufman’s name. I had the ultimate privilege of working for and closely with Yoram during the final 15 years of his life. Those years were filled with the joy of scientific discovery, the excitement of producing an operational product for NASA, and the wonder of building an international web of collaborators who became friends. I learned so much from Yoram. We all did. We learned to take risks, to pursue excellence, to appreciate diversity, and to have fun. I have been so blessed throughout my career. I had an excellent education with great mentors, an unusual first job as a wind energy consultant with another wonderful mentor, 15 extraordinary years with Yoram, and outstanding research teams, partners, and collaborators. All of these people and experiences allowed me to grow and learn in ways that I never expected when I chose to pursue science as a teenage girl. Thank you, Robert Levy and Hongbin Yu, for your kind words, your nomination, your scientific collaboration, but mostly for our long-standing friendship. Thank you to Shana Mattoo and the Dark Target Group at Goddard; to J. Vanderlei Martins and the ESI/GESTAR (Earth and Space Institute/Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research) II team at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; to Shobha Kondragunta and Istvan Laszlo and their team at NOAA/STAR (Center for Satellite Applications and Research); and to Didier Tanré, Ilan Koren, Mian Chin, Oleg Dubovik, and Richard Kleidman, for all of the outstanding work we have done together illuminating the aerosol/cloud system in ways that I could never have dreamed possible as that teenage girl. Yoram was firm in declaring that nobody suffers for science and when science stops being fun, you should stop doing science. For me, the fun never ceases. —Lorraine A. Remer, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore

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Allen H. Goldstein received the Yoram J. Kaufman Outstanding Research and Unselfish Cooperation Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards the 2019 Yoram J. Kaufman Outstanding Research and Unselfish Cooperation Award to Allen H. Goldstein for his broad influence in the field of atmospheric chemistry and for his role in advancing observations and understanding of the organic constituents in the atmosphere.

Allen has been a pioneer in designing, building, and deploying sophisticated instruments for analyzing organic gases and aerosols, enabling novel measurements of their temporal variability and complex speciation. His groups’ measurements and insights have helped redefine conventional wisdom regarding the complexity of atmospheric chemistry, including the sources, fate, and impacts of organic chemicals. He has provided unselfish cooperation in research through leadership for numerous field campaigns that revealed processes and chemical composition of primary emissions, unraveled chemical pathways that control their atmospheric transformation, and advanced understanding of interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions affecting ozone and aerosol formation. Another clear example of Allen’s unselfish cooperation in research is the AmeriFlux/FluxNet database for the Blodgett Forest Research Station site, which he began in the 1990s and ran for more than a decade. These data have been used extensively in publications focusing on ecosystem–atmosphere interactions related to carbon, water, and energy cycling for which Dr. Goldstein is not a coauthor but is often acknowledged.

Dr. Goldstein has mentored many current and emerging leaders in the field of atmospheric chemistry as students or postdocs in his research group. He has also been particularly passionate about developing, inspiring, and mentoring younger scientists from around the globe. For example, Allen provided years of leadership for the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) project, whose mission is to facilitate atmospheric chemistry research toward a sustainable world through fostering community and building scientific capacity. Allen has collaborated with a wide range of scientists in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America, in both research and community-building activities.

—Ann-Marie Carlton, University of California, Irvine

Response

I am deeply honored to receive the Yoram J. Kaufman Award. It is humbling to be recognized for cooperating with all the people who make doing the work I am passionate about so fulfilling.

Atmospheric science is a richly diverse and exciting field at the intersection of Earth system science, climate, natural biogeochemical processes, and human influences. While individual researchers certainly make important contributions, the major advances in our field today are achieved mainly through thoughtful and unselfish cooperation in research in the tradition of Yoram Kaufman. This is particularly true when it comes to major field campaigns that involve a large number of research teams from around the world, bringing together an amazing array of people, instrumentation, models, and expertise, to advance understanding. I sincerely thank all my wonderful colleagues in the global atmospheric science community who have supported and enabled my ability to contribute to these collaborative scientific efforts.

I am grateful to my undergraduate advisor at University of California, Santa Cruz, Ken Bruland, who led me toward environmental and analytical chemistry, and my Ph.D. advisor at Harvard, Steve Wofsy, who led me into the field of atmospheric chemistry. The opportunity to make my career at University of California, Berkeley doing scientific research and teaching has truly been a privilege, and I deeply appreciate all my colleagues there who have made it such a wondering and thought-provoking environment. I thank all the program managers and agencies who have supported my research program. I am particularly indebted to all the graduate students and postdocs who have been members of my research group and enabled us to make scientific advances. Helping you build successful careers and lives has been extremely gratifying and enriching.

Finally, I express gratitude to my wife and the rest of my family for all their support and encouragement. Without them, my life and career would be far less meaningful.

—Allen H. Goldstein, University of California, Berkeley

Daniel Rosenfeld will receive the 2018 Yoram J. Kaufman Outstanding Research and Unselfish Cooperation Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

Daniel Rosenfeld will receive the 2018 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award for his broad influence on atmospheric sciences and for describing the role of aerosol effects on convection and rainfall.

Danny was a pioneer in using theory and observations to explore aerosol and cloud interactions. His creativity is evidenced by a number of fundamental advances and paradigm shifts. He was the first to use field studies to show the suppression of warm rain by aerosols in smaller clouds, he proposed the theory of aerosol invigoration of clouds, and he discovered the strong impacts of aerosols on precipitation; he has made fundamental contributions to understanding cloud seeding by acquiring firsthand measurements of cloud physical quantities in severe convective clouds; he has proposed a novel geoengineering concept to weaken hurricane intensities through the addition of aerosols; and he initiated a joint International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme/World Climate Research Programme initiative to quantify our understanding of aerosol, clouds, precipitation, and climate. Danny demonstrated the dramatic differences in convection and rainfall for clouds ingesting relatively clean oceanic air with cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations near 100 per cubic centimeter and moderately polluted continental convection with CCN levels of the order of 1000 per cubic centimeter, versus pyrocumulus clouds involving orders of magnitude larger aerosol amounts. He has published provocative results outlining the effects of “weekend effects” of aerosols on summer rain and storm heights, as well as in lightning activity and tornadoes and hail.

Danny has worked with a wide range of scientists from the United States, Europe, China, India, and Brazil. He has cosupervised students from other countries and has worked with students visiting him at his institution, which demonstrate his unselfish collaboration in research.

As of July 2017, he has a record of almost 23,000 citations, which shows his vast influence in atmospheric sciences, particularly in the area of aerosol–cloud interactions. I am pleased to present the 2018 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award to Dr. Daniel Rosenfeld.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

I am honored to receive the 2018 Kaufman Award from AGU, and I am thankful to the colleagues who supported this nomination. It is humbling to join the highly respectable list of previous awardees. I had the privilege to work closely with Yoram Kaufman on satellite remote sensing of cloud–aerosol interactions and experience firsthand his spirit of outstanding research and unselfish cooperation. Yoram laid the foundations of satellite retrievals of aerosols from space. Terry Nakajima did the same for satellite retrievals of cloud composition, and he was the highly deserving previous recipient of the Kaufman Award. Standing on the shoulders of these two giants, I continued the research of cloud–aerosol interactions, which has become a major topic in understanding changes in Earth’s energy budget and hydrological cycle, both featuring prominently as major challenges in climate change. My home base has been always the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But I have been fortunate to be able to cooperate and mentor graduate students and early-career scientists also in Asia, Europe, and the Americas and to see ideas that initially seemed to be far-fetched become mainstream as a result of this cooperation. For this I am thankful to my colleagues who invited me to interact directly and co-mentor early-career scientists within their groups, including Zhanqing Li (a past recipient of the Kaufman Award) from the University of Maryland; Xing Yu from Xian Bureau of Meteorology in China; Andi Andreae and Ulrich Pöschl from Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany; Renyi Zhang from Texas A&M University; and Kim Prather from the University of California, San Diego. It is this new generation of presently early-career scientists who are likely to overcome the challenges that uncertainties in cloud–aerosol interactions pose to us in understanding and quantifying climate change.

—Daniel Rosenfeld, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Teruyuki Nakajima will receive the 2017 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, Louisiana. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

“For his seminal theoretical and experimental contributions to the remote sensing of cloud and aerosol properties”

Teruyuki (or Terry) has been a pioneer in developing cloud and aerosol remote sensing at visible and near-infrared wavelengths that is used today in satellites of the United States, Japan, and Europe, as well as airborne systems in several countries. He has been a powerful source of inspiration for many in the radiative transfer and remote sensing field. He is one of the founding members of AERONET, a worldwide network of Sun/sky radiometers for measuring aerosol optical and microphysical properties that is now distributed throughout the world (in more than 750 locations). He established the ground-based SKYNET observational network to measure and study aerosol trends in the East Asia corridor. He also led and directed numerous East Asian field campaigns to provide requisite data for validating and tuning aerosol chemistry transport models, and for documenting regional trends in aerosol variability, air pollution, and air quality. His forward and inversion radiation codes are widely used in the satellite, ground network, and modeling communities.
Terry has mentored a number of students and collaborated with a breadth of scientists in Europe, the United States, and Asia. He has published journal articles with 291 different scientists, which highlights his unselfish collaboration in research. As of April 2017, he has a citation record of 13,011 citations, which shows his vast influence in atmospheric sciences, particularly, radiation and remote sensing. I am pleased to present the 2017 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award to Dr. Teruyuki Nakajima.

—Joyce E. Penner, President, Atmospheric Sciences Section, AGU

Response

It is my great honor to receive the Yoram J. Kaufman award. I thank Prof. Masayuki Tanaka, my thesis advisor at Tohoku University, and Dr. Michael D. King, my host scientist when I visited NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 1987–1990. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all of the students, researchers, and supporting staff of my laboratory at the University of Tokyo and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), as well as my collaborators across the world. I am moved by this opportunity to remember the warm smile and exciting atmosphere of Yoram when he talked about his new ideas on science to young scientists and foreign visitors. Reflecting on these things, I feel I am a lucky guy to get such wonderful scenery in my adventure on the river of science; sometimes slow and sometimes dramatic. The coupled atmosphere–ocean matrix method, symmetric matrix representation of the discrete ordinate theory, TMS/IMS truncation formulae for radiance calculation, STAR-radiation library, sky radiometer technology for AERONET and SKYNET, two/four channel aerosol remote sensing algorithms, cloud microphysics remote sensing algorithms, global aerosol–cloud parameter comparison for the aerosol direct/indirect effect study, MSTRN radiation code and SPRINTARS aerosol module for climate models, and field experiments are beautiful stones in the treasure box of my adventure with such wonderful young scientists and old friends. I owe you—thanks! Last, I express my appreciation to AGU for its generosity in giving me this award among numerous excellent scientists.

—Teruyuki Nakajima, Earth Observation Research Center, JAXA, Tsukuba, Japan

Karen H. Rosenlof will receive the 2016 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

“For exceptional creativity in research and unselfish collaboration, advancing our understanding of stratospheric dynamics, stratospheric water vapor, and ozone”

Karen is well recognized as being among the world’s top leading experts in stratospheric dynamics, stratospheric water vapor, and ozone, and their relationships to climate change. A hallmark of her research is the way she conducts her research by incorporation of multiple data sources, including in situ observations from aircraft and balloon instruments as well as space-based observations from a wide variety of satellites, while exhibiting a remarkable level of creativity, inspiration, and unselfish collaboration.
Karen’s roles as lead scientist, flight planner, and forecaster in numerous aircraft field campaigns through the years has garnered her a reputation as a superb collaborator and leader who unselfishly works to incorporate the disparate objectives of multiple PIs into the flight plans, earning her wide respect from her peers. She has been a contributing author and expert reviewer for the IPCC, and both a contributing and lead author for the WMO Ozone Assessment Report. She developed three comprehensive and popular datasets for stratospheric water vapor and ozone, which she unselfishly shared with the scientific community.

Most befitting the Yoram Kaufman Award, as stated in her nominating letter, “Karen has gone far beyond her normal job responsibilities as a federal government scientist to make mentoring of young scientists a cornerstone of her professional approach. She has mentored over 20 young scientists, including an undergraduate student, a STEM teacher, and numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. She has been an inspiration to many early-career women scientists by serving as a graduate or postdoctoral advisor.”

On behalf of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, I am pleased to present the 2016 Yoram Kaufman Award to Dr. Karen Rosenlof.

—William K. M. Lau, President, Atmospheric Sciences section, AGU

Response

I am humbled to receive the Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award from AGU. It is an honor to be included among the distinguished scientists who have received this award in the past, and, in particular, to be recognized for inspiring younger scientists.

I consider working with students, postdocs, and promising young scientists to be the most rewarding part of my job, and also serves as paying back for all the support I was fortunate to receive early in my career. I had the opportunity to be guided by some of the best, and here can only acknowledge a few. I’m extremely grateful for the guidance and support I received from my Ph.D. advisor, Jim Holton. Adrian Tuck introduced me to the world of stratospheric aircraft research and first encouraged my blending of theoretical studies with analysis of in situ and satellite data. George Reid took me under his wings when I started as a postdoc at NOAA, and Sam Oltmans patiently helped me navigate my first experience with an international scientific assessment. And, through the entire journey, I’ve had the love and support of my family.

Collaboration and teamwork are increasingly important to advance our knowledge of how climate is changing, given all the complex interactions involved. It’s been a delight to be involved with satellite, field mission, and assessment teams that are helping advance our understanding of climate processes and an honor to be recognized for those efforts.

—Karen H. Rosenlof, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colo.

Brent Holben and Christos Zerefos will receive the 2015 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research."

 

Citation

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Atmospheric Sciences section is pleased to present the 2015 Yoram Kaufman Unselfish Collaboration for Research Award to Brent Holben of the Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, for “his seminal theoretical and experimental contributions to the remote sensing of clouds and aerosol properties, particularly in the development of AERONET.”

Brent’s vision and pioneering work led to the creation of the AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) project in which a worldwide network of Sun/sky radiometers enabled observations of the aerosol optical thickness, size distribution, and refractive index at numerous sites around the world. AERONET is the first and continues to be the only global network of ground-based aerosol measurements, embraced and supported by countries and scientists throughout the world. Throughout his illustrious career, Brent has taken special pride in working with students and collaborating with a large number of scientists in Europe, the United States, South America, Africa, and Asia. He has published journal articles with over 700 different scientists, including scientists from more than 50 countries. As of March 2015, he has 27,970 article citations, with an h-index of 79, and his work has penetrated the communities of ground-based and satellite remote sensing of aerosol properties. Among his 372 publications to date, his singular AERONET overview paper of 1998 has garnered over 2420 citations alone—a rare record in the field of geosciences.

The following statements from one supporting letter succinctly summarize Brent’s spirit of unselfish collaboration: “Brent has always been exceedingly generous with his time, with his knowledge and with his resources. … I was a recipient of Brent’s mentoring and encouragement, even through some tough times.” Another supporting letter stated, “It is beyond my imagination what formidable tasks Brent has faced in establishing and operating all of these AERONET sites for the past two decades. The most challenging among all tasks is undoubtedly countless travels required to set up, inspect and trouble-shoot any problems that arise.”

We are extremely pleased to present the 2015 Kaufman Award to Brent Holben.

—William K. M. Lau, University of Maryland, College Park

Response

It is indeed a great honor for me to receive the Kaufman Award. I worked with Yoram, who shared his intellect, insight, and unbridled curiosity with all he touched. For me, this honor is an opportunity to recognize the very large and diverse community that shaped my oftentimes circuitous career through their generous cooperation. My work is most easily road-marked by the ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). Although I can’t possibly acknowledge all those who influenced my career, I would like to cite a few here, including my older brother, Rick, who blazed the path from farm to academia. My colleague Compton Tucker inspires science with art, humor, and friendship. Robert S. Fraser, a pioneer in the field of aerosol remote sensing, spent endless hours with me shaping my early understanding of remote sensing science at NASA. Yoram, from the Goddard Space Flight Center, and Didier Tanré, from Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphérique (LOA), were ever present in the formative years of AERONET, and indeed, LOA remains an integral part of the global AERONET program today. The AERONET folks at Goddard are brilliant and dedicated, led by Tom Eck and Ilya Slutsker, who have been with the program from the beginning. Michael King, from the Earth Observing System (EOS) Project Science Office, provided the resources, intellect, and autonomy to allow the project to grow to a global resource for the remote sensing community. Thus, my job was simple: use AERONET to understand aerosol properties for satellite validation. The project expanded, the collaborations grew, and research flourished. I have been extremely fortunate to be affiliated with NASA, researchers, educators, students, and movers of various types in over 80 countries. It is those people who have participated with me, the AERONET program, and like-minded researchers across the globe to foster aerosol research for the benefit of all. It is in recognition of those people that I humbly accept this honor inspired by Yoram and as a tribute to his legacy of selfless cooperation.

—Brent Holben, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Brent Holben and Christos Zerefos will receive the 2015 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research."

 

Citation

The AGU Atmospheric Sciences section is pleased to present the 2015 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award to Professor Christos Zerefos, Research Center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology, Academy of Athens, for “his outstanding contributions in advancing the sciences of ozone, aerosols and ultraviolet radiation through international collaborations.”

Professor Zerefos is known internationally for his research in stratospheric ozone depletion and his studies demonstrating the interconnections between ozone, tropospheric aerosols, and ultraviolet radiation. Over the past several decades, he has been a leading force in developing and promoting ozone and ultraviolet radiation measurements in Greece and around the world.

Professor Zerefos has over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals, about 25% of which are in AGU journals. These publications are only a small part of his contributions to the advancement of ozone science. Most important, throughout Professor Zerefos’s career, he has worked tirelessly to train and promote young scientists, including developing numerous research programs at traditionally nonresearch institutions. He has organized several large international ozone conferences, including the 1988 and 2004 Quadrennial Ozone Symposia and a symposium to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. In recognition of his leadership, he was elected as president of the International Ozone Commission in 2008.

Professor Zerefos’s record of research and service in ozone studies was recognized at the 10th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol with the award of the prestigious United Nations Environment Programme Global Ozone Award. In addition to his role as both scientist and mentor, Professor Zerefos has applied this scientific expertise in the service of the government of Greece and the European Union (EU). He served as an adviser at the ministerial level on ozone depletion and ultraviolet B threats and as the science-policy interface at the EU with similar responsibilities.

In the words of one of the supporting letters, “his knowledge and enthusiasm in promoting atmospheric science were an inspiration for all who came in contact with him, particularly the young generations of atmospheric scientists.”

We are extremely pleased to present the 2015 Kaufman Award to Professor Christos Zerefos.

—William K. M. Lau, University of Maryland, College Park

Response

It is a great honor for me, and I am humbled to receive the 2015 Yoram Kaufman Award from AGU. I was even more touched when one of several supporters of my candidacy congratulated me by saying that “I think that you really deserve this recognition on a great research carrier and service to our community. It is very rare that a non-American wins such an AGU prize, making it even more special.” Among other awards, I will particularly treasure this award because it will remind me of the decades of collaboration with both younger and elder colleagues in a period when man-made global changes have been on the front page in all international media. I would like to thank my colleagues who have offered me this honor, which also treasures the memory of an important scientist and colleague, who left us tragically in 2006, Yoram Kaufman. Not only tragedy but also the science of the atmosphere and the observations of our environment have been invented and thoroughly studied in Greece in the past 25 centuries. My base of activities has always been in this beautiful, but unfortunate in history, country. Working always with the international community on the complex processes in nature kept me and still keeps me involved in the fast-growing scientific cloud of global change. Today’s research can be successful only through team work, something that I have incorporated in all my life. This is why I feel great respect for all the excellent scientists with whom I have collaborated over the past 40 years. As Socrates said, “γηράσκω αεί διδασκόμενος” (“As I age, I always learn”).

—Christos S. Zerefos, Academy of Athens, Greece

Zhanqing Li received the 2014 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research."

 

Citation

Professor Zhanqing Li of the University of Maryland’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center is the 2014 recipient of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Atmospheric Sciences section’s Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award. The award was established in 2009 to honor the memory of NASA Goddard’s distinguished scientist, Yoram J. Kaufman, “for broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

Professor Li, a specialist in remote sensing of radiation budget, aerosol, cloud, land, and their applications for studying Earth’s climate, worked in China and Canada prior to joining the University of Maryland in 2001. As a scientist at the Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing, Professor Li led a team of scientists to convince the Canadian Space Agency to join the United States on the NASA satellite mission CloudSat to study impacts of clouds on weather and climate. He developed a satellite-based wildfire monitoring system for Canadian forest agencies that is the basis for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fire products today. At Maryland, over the past decade, Professor Li forged educational ties with China and spearheaded a very successful international field campaign called East Asian Study of Tropospheric Aerosols, a Regional International Experiment (EAST-AIRE), including deployment of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility to China. This was a singularly remarkable achievement; in the words of one letter writer, “Only a scientist with extraordinary diplomatic skills and scientific leadership could get these done over Mainland China.” These efforts led to many publications in three special issues in the Journal of Geophysical Research, with lasting contributions to pollution and climate science over East Asia. Possibly the most lasting impact of Professor Li’s scientific research through wide-ranging and unselfish collaboration will be his Nature Geoscience paper (2011) on observations that “verified theories that predicted pollution would inhibit gentle, warm rains that nurture crops while exacerbating severe storms.”

For these reasons, the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section is proud to present the 2014 Yoram Kaufman Award to Professor Zhanqing Li.

—Anne Thompson, Earth Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Response

I am humbled to receive the Yoram J. Kaufman Award, not so much because the award recognizes my personal achievement, which has already been honored by my election as an AGU Fellow this year, but more because it rewards the collective efforts made by a large number of collaborators with whom I have the privilege of working with in the United States, Canada, and China. Living in these great countries is the most valuable treasure of my life. The Chinese cultural tradition of making education a top priority motivated me to build a solid foundation that has been beneficial to my whole career. In Canada, teamwork led to the award-winning project on fire monitoring, mapping, and modeling. In the United States, the unparalleled freedom and ample resources in choosing and pursuing any research topic helped realize my American dreams. In the era of globalization, especially when we are facing such global challenges as climate and environmental changes, international cooperation is the key for the well-being of all mankind. In this regard, I feel particularly fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time to promote two major international cooperative initiatives with ample support by all three countries, namely, CloudSat between the United States and Canada and EAST-AIRE and AMF between China and the United States. These initiatives allowed my team to better understand the impact and interactions between atmospheric environment and climate change on global scales. This would not be possible without unselfish collaborations with scientists and engineers from many institutions, including the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, DOE laboratories, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, among others. I am most indebted to the tens of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows working with me in the past and present.

Winning this award reminds me of how much I miss my dear friend and a genius colleague, the late Yoram J. Kaufman, who helped change the trajectory of my research career. I vividly recall his visit to Canada at a time when my research interests had only a glancing connection with aerosols from the perspective of wild fires and Earth’s radiation budget. His enlightening talk about aerosol-cloud interactions inspired me to shift my research more toward the new frontier of broad aerosol-climate interactions. His spirit of unselfish collaboration during our interactions was infectious and instilled in me the desire to work with others in a similar way.

—Zhanqing Li, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park; and Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Samuel J. Oltmans received the Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

Samuel “Sam” Oltmans, an AGU Fellow since 2007, was head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Global Monitoring Division Ozone and Water Vapor group for more than 30 years. He is currently a senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

To quote from one of his nomination letters, “Sam’s long-term record of surface ozone measurements is the single most important measurement series in atmospheric chemistry and that field’s equivalent of the Mauna Loa carbon dioxide time series. Sam and colleagues have been the ‘Johnny Appleseeds’ of ozonesondes, providing vertical profiles for measurement campaigns around the world…Sam’s network of Dobson Spectrophotometers has been crucial to the WMO/UNEP Ozone Assessments for more than 25 years.”

Sam’s achievements go way beyond the monitoring activity that alone would merit the Yoram Kaufman award. All of his data, some dating back to the 1960s, are shared openly with the scientific community. Although Sam’s publications number in the hundreds (most appeared in AGU journals), in dozens of other papers and international assessments, Sam’s data are used without credit. As one of his letters states, “Without [Sam’s] records the world’s atmospheric science would be immeasurably diminished.”

Sam has built up a unique international legacy in two ways. First is the technical skill mix that underlies his data record. “It is hard to explain,” one nominator states, “how much persistence and patience, qualities Sam has in abundance, are required…Sam’s mastery of research and calm discourse lead the community to agree on solutions for ever higher-quality data.”

The second part of his legacy is mentoring scientists, both in his NOAA lab and at stations around the world, to become experts and full partners in monitoring the health of the ozone layer. When stations experience technical problems, he uses always-tight funds to send someone from his lab to make repairs. Sam pioneered working with collaborators in China and jointly publishing in the Journal of Geophysical Research years before this was easy or fashionable.

In summary, the Yoram Kaufman Award for “international collaborations and unselfish cooperation in research” is presented to Sam Oltmans for being the preeminent leader of in situ monitoring of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and water vapor while multiplying the impact of this work through unmatched national and international collaborations.

—ANNE THOMPSON, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Response

I am humbled to receive the Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award. To be included in the distinguished company of the previous award recipients is an honor that is deeply gratifying.

While the award notes the generosity, collaborations, and mentoring of the recipient, it has been my great privilege to have had these qualities exemplified in the many colleagues with whom I have had the delight of working over many years. During my many years with the NOAA laboratories in Boulder, the encouragement of those with whom I worked made it a pleasure to come to work each day. The vision of long-term measurements as an exciting and important area of atmospheric research was imparted to me by early and current leaders of our lab, including Lester Machta, Walt Komhyr, Dave Hofmann, and Jim Butler. Two colleagues and friends, Chip Levy and Anne Thompson, are the ones who broadened my horizons to participate in the kind of collaborations that have allowed me to continue to find atmospheric research a rich and rewarding experience.

I have [also] benefited greatly from the number of young researchers and students who have included me in their innovative and inspiring projects. The fact that a number of these younger colleagues are part of the international research community has enlivened all the aspects of my own research efforts. Two of the many of these international colleagues with whom I have maintained a lasting relationship are Hong­yu Liu and Holger Vömel, who continue to provide new and challenging ideas.

Those who nominated me for this award and provided letters of support were embarrassingly generous in their praise, and coming from such distinguished members of our community, these are highly valued by me. Finally, through this delightful journey, my wife, Kay, has been a loving and encouraging companion.

—SAMUEL J. OLTMANS, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colo.

Pawan K. Bhartia received the Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

Dr. Pawan K. Bhartia, the winner of the Kaufman award, is a senior research scientist in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

His accomplishments can best be described by quoting from his nomination letters. “How does one think about P. K. without thinking about Yoram? P. K. embodies Yoram’s spirit of pure joy of research and exuberance in sharing this joy with just about everybody. True, P. K. is quieter than Yoram and seemingly more reserved, but his enthusiasm for scientific inquiry and the mentoring of young scientists is equally unbounded. Bhartia[’s] unwavering goal is to advance the science that can be obtained from remote sensing data. In his pursuit of this goal, P. K. knows no barrier, no international boundary, no language impediment, no age divisions. There is only the advancement of the science. To advance this goal, he has inspired and cultivated the next generation of remote sensing scientists in the U.S., and was a leader in the negotiations to fly the Dutch Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the NASA Aura spacecraft. There is no one in the business less selfish, more cooperative and self-­effacing than P. K. His last first-­author paper was in 1996, preferring since then to let younger scientists have the opportunity to take the lead. He appears as coauthor on more than 90 papers, and you can be sure that he made substantial contribution[s] in each one, because P. K. turns down ‘ceremonial’ offers of coauthorship right and left.” [Quotation from a letter signed by 27 “scientists, young and old, who are proud to call P. K. Bhatia their mentor, guide and/or inspiration.”]

“It is very rewarding to work with him, because of his excellent ideas, his inspiration and his unselfishness, the latter being a rare quality amongst sci-entists.” “…P. K. has been a prolific source of ideas for the development, improvement, and extension of the ozone retrieval algorithms used in the operational ozone satellite program. His guidance and vision in algorithm development, measurement calibration, and product validation are directly re-sponsible for the success of the NOAA Solar program’s operational near-real-time ozone products and ozone climate data records…. He is happiest when he has been able to provide useful direction to the research paths of his colleagues. His modest assessment of his own ideas and openness to novel ideas makes it easier for others to explore new areas as well as allowing them to admit the inefficiencies of their current approaches. He is an excellent sounding board with a strong ability to find the key underlying questions or assumptions that must be addressed to move research forward. A proper accounting, usually hidden in an acknowledgment of the contributions of the NASA Ozone Processing Team (P. K. has been the guiding light of this team for the last 30 years), would show that the majority of my publications drew important content from his suggestions despite his less frequent appearance as a coauthor. His genuine desire to understand the methods and messages of every presentation he attends matched with his respect for good science and creative solutions create a level playing field where new and old team members’ contributions are nurtured and sifted to produce the best results.”

“I have always found P. K. to be an exceedingly likeable person, one who plays down his own manifold accomplishments. In personal interactions, he is always interested in what other people have to say, and encouraging of their ideas and goals. Dr. Bhartia has worked tirelessly and selflessly over the decades to ensure that new and valuable atmospheric observations be made available to the scientific community, and to ensure that a new generation of atmospheric scientists are well placed to exploit these observations for decades to come. Dr. Bhartia’s selfless dedication to the field, to nurturing his colleagues, and to collaboration with other scientists, make him truly deserving of this award.”

For these reasons, the AGU Atmospheric Sciences Section is proud to award the 2012 Kaufman Award to P. K. Bhartia.

—ALAN ROBOCK, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J.

Response

It was an honor and pleasure to receive the 2012 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award from the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union. Yoram and I joined NASA around the same time and were colleagues at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center until his tragic death in 2006 in a bicycle accident inside the GSFC campus. The award named after him not only honors Yoram’s life and work, but it is also one of the rare scientific awards given for collaboration and teamwork, in which Yoram excelled.

As the complexity of scientific research is increasing, scientific progress increasingly requires team building, mentoring, and cooperation. This is particularly true of the science we do at NASA. Though I have received many personal career achievement awards from NASA and other organizations, I cherish the team awards most.

Most of all, I cherish the citation and the nomination letters sent by some 27 of my colleagues for this award. I didn’t know that I had touched the lives of so many. My greatest reward has been the pleasure to work with them. I think the famous Chinese proverb doesn’t quite capture it. The pleasure one derives from teaching someone how to fish is at least as important as the skill one conveys.

—PAWAN K. BHARTIA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Alex B. Guenther received the Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, held 5–9 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards the 2011 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award to Alex B. Guenther of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). His qualifications for this award can best be expressed by quoting from those who know him best, as expressed in his nomination letters: “Despite his formidable research reputation—he is without question the world’s leading expert [on the subject of] emissions of volatile organic compounds from the biosphere to the atmosphere—Alex has always remained extremely approachable and friendly and encourages interactions with early career scientists.” “I can say without reservation that he is the most unselfish scientist I have ever had dealings with. Alex has always been incredibly generous with his time and has always gone out of his way to help students and others starting out.” “Alex Guenther has been the catalyst for much of the cohesiveness that has developed within the community of scientists and students conducting research on the topics of biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere and their effects on atmospheric chemistry.” “As you can see from the publications produced from the ­EXPRESSO campaigns, African colleagues were a central component of the study. More recently, Alex has organized studies in Brazil as part of the NASA LBA [Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia] effort. Once again, in that study, he has organized research teams around collaborations of both North American and South American scientists to conduct the research. Thus, in all of his recent research activities, Alex Guenther has applied the normal operating paradigm of bringing together scientists from around the globe to converge on common topics involving vegetation-atmosphere interactions.”

Alex B. Guenther clearly merits the Yoram J. Kaufman Award for broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.

—Alan Robock, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.

Response

I am honored by this award and the kind words from my colleagues. It is both rewarding and humbling to be recognized for “exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.” I have been incredibly blessed by opportunities to accomplish this while simply doing what I enjoy.

Although there are still examples of science being advanced by individuals working in solitude, the collaborative approach in the manner of Yoram Kaufman is increasingly necessary. I learned this as a graduate student with Brian Lamb and others in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research (LAR) at Washington State University, in Pullman. The LAR team is one of the best examples of unselfish and effective cooperation that I have experienced. My career at NCAR, with an institutional emphasis on serving the community, provided an exceptional opportunity to tackle scientific challenges associated with understanding the role of reactive trace gases in the coupling between the physical, chemical, and biological processes operating across the relevant scales of the Earth system. This undertaking requires collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary and global community of scientists sharing the reward of exciting discoveries and the steady advancement of knowledge. I am especially indebted to the teamwork and excellence of the NCAR Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions group members including students, postdoctoral scientists, and visitors with whom it has been my pleasure to work. My enjoyment of this research was greatly enhanced by the overwhelming hospitality of field study hosts in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and South and North America.

Above all, I am thankful for the support, guidance, and encouragement of my family. My parents and brothers provided my first and most important examples of unselfish cooperation and community building. My wife and children graciously endured my absences while I was traveling around the world. I could not have accomplished anything without them.

—Alex B. Guenther, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.

Douglas R. Worsnop received the 2010 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award at the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, held 13–17 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Citation

The AGU Atmospheric Sciences section awarded the 2010 Yoram J. Kaufman Award for Unselfish Cooperation in Research to Douglas R. Worsnop of Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Mass., and the Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, in Finland. Worsnop’s qualifications for this award can best be expressed by quoting from those who know him best, as expressed in his nomination letters:

“He is the father of the Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS), unquestionably the most influential instrumentation advance in the field of atmospheric aerosol chemistry, period!”

“Doug Worsnop stands for everything that the late Yoram Kaufman symbolized: altruism, enthusiasm, curiosity-driven science and the willingness to share it, and an unstoppable will to spend the time with young and established scientists in order to help them do real and exciting science.”

“In addition to the one-on-one relationships, Doug Worsnop and his colleagues at Aerodyne created a unique and unprecedented international community of people who work together to improve and push to the limit the AMS. The AMS was Doug’s dream, which came into reality and changed dramatically the way we think about aerosol measurements. The AMS community is an amazing collection of people who work in Doug’s spirit: Together they improve the instrument, develop the science, share ideas, work openly, and support each other. Doug Worsnop was able to spread his personality to a global scientific community—obviously an amazing achievement.”

“As impressive as Doug’s scientific achievements are, his accomplishments in building a community of researchers are unique and an outstanding model of what selfless dedication can accomplish. As the Aerodyne AMS instruments became commercially available, Doug worked tirelessly to ensure that users are trained to use the instrument to its best advantage, both for simple operation and for research application. He traveled repeatedly across the continent and overseas from one AMS location to another, making certain that the instruments were operating properly, that they were constantly upgraded with the newest improvements, and that the users were satisfied. He brought users in contact with one another to share ideas, results, and also problems that needed intervention. In this way trust was built and a community was established.”

Douglas Worsnop clearly merits the Yoram J. Kaufman Award for broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.

Response

Thank you very much.

I knew Yoram Kaufman from discussions at meetings. Actually, he was someone I very much looked forward to getting to know better. As the global context of our aerosol chemistry measurements has grown, from my perspective it would have been inevitable for us to work together. His unfortunate accident was a tragic loss to our community. I also feel honored to follow Ross Salawitch and Ralph Kahn, the first winners of this award, both of whom are in the audience.

This is truly an amazing moment for me. I should first thank my wife, Regina, who has officially been anointed a saint by a member of our community. And I would also like to mention our son, Alec, who could not be here—he is in the midst of an applied statistics final that might do some of us a lot of good (I’ve learned a lot of statistics this semester). And I thank my sister, Pamela, and her husband, Patrick, and our two nephews, Andy an Brandon, who are here. This genuinely is a big deal in our family.

There are a whole bunch of people here I could thank, but I’ll limit myself to two: John Jayne (Aerodyne Research) and Jose Jimenez (University of Colorado). We were all together, now over 10 years ago, when we thought this aerosol mass spectrometer might really work. Its success caught us completely off guard. As I’m prone to saying, we don’t sell instruments, we share research; we share everything we know about experimental physical chemistry—with anyone who cares about aerosol chemistry. It has always been about the science, and it still is about the data, especially sharing our experience while training young people to appreciate data.

Getting into atmospheric science, which happened for me almost exactly 25 years ago when I joined Aerodyne, was the luckiest thing to happen to me professionally, for sure. This atmospheric sciences community, for me, is a remarkable enterprise. It is inherently interdisciplinary and international. I truly believe we are all searching new truths, things out there that we will figure out and that will make a difference. Again, I am honored to be up here and be acknowledged by our research community. In reality, the community of AMS users (many of whom are here tonight) is responsible for me being up here accepting an award for “unselfish cooperation in research.” (A friend lauded me for the cooperation, but he wasn’t sure about the unselfish part.) Some in the community have even made me a professor, in physics no less, at the University of Helsinki, in Finland, which happens to be a worldwide center of aerosol research.

I’ll end by saying that atmospheric aerosol research is not going away, climate change is not going away, and geoengineering may be coming. Not necessarily coming for real, but it will be talked about and analyzed more and more. As long as geoengineering schemes keep appearing, particularly schemes that utilize aerosols, we are going to be the group responsible for determining and advising whether it is a good idea or not, a role Alan Robock, our chairperson, already fulfills.

—DOUGLAS R. WORSNOP, Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Mass.

Ralph A. Kahn and Ross J. Salawitch received the 2009 Yoram J. Kaufman Award for Unselfish Cooperation in Research at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is for “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Response

I am grateful to the committee for this honor. It is an award for mentoring and for collaboration. Mentoring and collaboration are not things that one does alone. There are many students, colleagues, and former students who are now colleagues, who I have to thank for this. I am fortunate to know, and to have worked with, so many good-hearted and multitalented colleagues, of which Yoram Kaufman was certainly one.

On the subject of collaboration, I also want to mention the intensive field campaigns that have become a key part of my research program. They represent cultural as well as scientific events, bringing satellite and suborbital experimentalists together with each other, with modelers, and with some enlightened and forward thinking managers, for intense, collaborative efforts. For an important segment of the atmospheric research community, these campaigns have actually created the kind of multidisciplinary environment that was spoken about in the abstract for years, and that is essential for making real progress on the immensely challenging and critically important climate change issues we face. I look forward to many more years of good collaborating and mentoring.

Thank you again for this honor.

—Ralph A. Kahn, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Ralph A. Kahn and Ross J. Salawitch received the 2009 Yoram J. Kaufman Award for Unselfish Cooperation in Research at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is for “broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research.”

 

Response

I am grateful to the committee for this honor. It is an award for mentoring and for collaboration. Mentoring and collaboration are not things that one does alone. There are many students, colleagues, and former students who are now colleagues, who I have to thank for this. I am fortunate to know, and to have worked with, so many good-hearted and multitalented colleagues, of which Yoram Kaufman was certainly one.

On the subject of collaboration, I also want to mention the intensive field campaigns that have become a key part of my research program. They represent cultural as well as scientific events, bringing satellite and suborbital experimentalists together with each other, with modelers, and with some enlightened and forward thinking managers, for intense, collaborative efforts. For an important segment of the atmospheric research community, these campaigns have actually created the kind of multidisciplinary environment that was spoken about in the abstract for years, and that is essential for making real progress on the immensely challenging and critically important climate change issues we face. I look forward to many more years of good collaborating and mentoring.

Thank you again for this honor.

—Ralph A. Kahn, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland