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.

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

For pioneering a global view of aerosols in our atmosphere and sustained leadership in quantifying aerosol interactions with clouds, climate, and our ecosystem.