LETTER FROM HEADQUARTERS CONTINUING TO IMPROVE COMMUNIcATION WITHIN THE SOcIETY n the June issue of BAMS, I wrote about how AMS cally pushed to the AMS Facebook page, making that President Peggy LeMone had chosen communica- an especially effective way to follow the blog posts I tion as the broad overarching theme of the 2011 in addition to other AMS news. You can also follow Annual Meeting, which will be held in Seattle this AMS news through Twitter (twitter.com/ametsoc). coming January. This meeting continues to be shap- The AMS home page has direct links to all of these ing into one that will be simply extraordinary, with new outlets. a great cluster of scientific conferences covering the While “The Front Page” and the AMS Facebook latest research results across many segments of our page allow comments on the stories and other pieces community, and with the communications theme posted there, they still represent more of a “push” of woven through the program in very innovative information than a true social site for the AMS com- ways. This month I want to address another aspect munity. We are indebted to Elise Schultz and Ben of communication. Schwedler for creating and maintaining the “Friends The AMS member survey conducted about a year of the American Meteorological Society” Facebook ago was one form of communication between AMS group—a site you can join to take full advantage of members and the Council. Recommendations were the social media platform (searching for “meteorologi- solicited from members about how the Society could cal” will allow you to quickly find the Friends of the better serve them (see the May BAMS, pages 657–673, AMS group). As I gain experience with Facebook, I for a summary of the results of the survey and the find myself becoming very excited about the pos- AMS Council response). In reviewing responses to the sibilities these new communications channels offer survey, it became clear that many AMS members are the Society. not as aware of the Society’s varied programs as many Let me close this column by reminding you that of us thought they were. We are not communicating the AMS is your Society. It will be as good as the well enough with the membership about the broad membership makes it, and those of us on the AMS array of really terrific activities underway through the staff look to you for continuing input on how to efforts of our members and the ways these programs make the Society better. I welcome your comments are impacting society at large. and questions and hope you will feel free to contact Closely related to the need for increased commu- me by phone (617-227-2426, ext. 220) or e-mail nication with the members, another strong message ([email protected]) about any issue. I would also that came through the survey responses was that the like to remind you to vote in the elections this fall for AMS needed to fully embrace social media and take our next president-elect and new Council members advantage of what it has to offer as a way to more so that the elected governance of the Society truly effectively communicate with the membership. We represents the membership. heard that message. The Society has launched an official AMS Facebook page—www.facebook.com/ ametsoc—and is now posting news and features about the Society and its programs there. The content created for the BAMS companion blog (“The Front KEITH L. SEITTER , CCM Page”), which launched about a year ago, is automati- EXE c UTIVE DIRE c TOR AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY AUGUST 2010 | 1101 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/30/21 12:35 PM UTC ABOUT OUR MEMBERS Bob Ryan will be joining the ABC7/WJLA-TV weather from refineries into the Mississippi River. In 2005, he team in the Washington, D.C., region. Ryan will forecast received the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious for the 11:00 pm broadcast as well as play an integral Service, recognizing his contributions to the Weather role in the station’s weather coverage on WJLA’s new Service’s weather forecast and warning mission. Web site, www.TBD.com, and part of the 24/7 weather Before becoming NWS director, Hayes was a senior service provided by ABC7 to all-news WTOP radio. executive at the World Meteorological Organization Ryan has been forecasting weather in the Wash- in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was responsible for ington, D.C., region for more than 30 years. During the cooperative production and exchange of weather his career, Ryan has received numerous awards, forecasts among 189 mem- including regional Emmys for weathercasting and ber nations. In addition, the Ted Yates Emmy for outstanding service to the as an executive for Litton community. His alma mater, the University of Albany, PRC, he was responsible presented him with a Distinguished Alumni Award, for the development and and the AMS gave him The Charles Franklin Brooks deployment of the Ad- Award for his outstanding service. vanced Weather Interac- He began his career in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A tive Processing System, a side job as a broadcast meteorologist turned into a full- billion-dollar information time job as principal meteorologist for Boston’s WCVB- processing system used for TV. In 1978, Ryan became the first meteorologist to all NWS weather forecast regularly appear on NBC’s Today show. He started his and warning operations for career in the Washington, D.C., region in 1980. the United States. John L. Hayes Ryan is also actively involved professionally in his He began his profes- science. In 1996, he was elected president of AMS— sional career in the U.S. Air Force, advancing from the only broadcaster to have held this position. Ryan a weather forecast officer to senior air force weather has also served as the chair of the AMS Committee of leadership positions, including command of the Broadcast Meteorology, the commissioner of Profes- Air Force Weather Agency, which is responsible sional Affairs, and a member of the AMS Council. for weather forecast services for air force and army operations worldwide. In 1998, he was inducted into Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has named the Air Force Order of the Sword by the Air Force John L. Hayes as one of its “100 Most Prominent Weather enlisted corps, one of only 230 officers so Alumni.” Hayes, a 1970 BGSU alumnus, has been recognized. director of the NWS since 2007. He oversees the more than 4,500 employees responsible for weather Walter Munk, oceanographer and pioneer of marine forecasts and warnings for the country. He has also science as well as a longtime contributor to the Office served NOAA in several executive positions, and of Naval Research (ONR), received the prestigious 2010 played a key role in orchestrating the National Ocean Crafoord Prize in Geosciences from the Royal Swedish Service’s response to Hurricane Katrina, overseeing Academy of Sciences on 11 May in Stockholm. operations that supported opening the sea lanes into The ceremony, attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf the Port of New Orleans and the cleanup of oil spilled and Queen Silvia of Sweden, paid tribute to the career of Munk as a global leader through his work with ocean circulation, tides, and waves, and their role in CERTIfIED CONSUlTING the Earth’s dynamics. METEOROlOGISTS (CCM) “The research and experimental programs that Dr. Munk has been involved in for over half a cen- 658 William Davis 2010 tury have paved the way for scientists wishing to 659 John Huhn 2010 understand the science of sound in the sea,” noted 660 Anthony Lupo 2010 661 Thomas Piazza 2010 Nevin Carr, ONR chief of naval research. “He truly 662 Jason Shafer 2010 is a pioneer.” 663 E. DeWayne Mitchell 2010 Since 1940, Munk has been with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of 1102 | AUGUST 2010 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/30/21 12:35 PM UTC California, San Diego, where he received a doctor- For the Crafoord Prize, which is on par with ate degree in oceanography. He has worked with the Nobel achievement, Munk received about $560,000 ONR’s Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department for for his contributions in the pioneering of ocean- more than 50 years on a number of projects related ography research and understanding. The Cra- to long-range ocean acoustics, acoustic propagation, foord Prize fund was established in 1980 by a and wave studies. donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sci- To mark his accomplished career, ONR, in con- ences from Holder Crafoord. It recognizes achieve- junction with the Oceanography Society and the ment in astronomy, mathematics, biosciences, and Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy, founded geosciences. the Walter Munk Award, which is granted each year Munk’s other awards include the National Medal to scientists and researchers in the oceanography of Science, the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the field. Recipients are selected based on their signifi- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and cant original contributions to the understanding of the Prince Albert I Medal in the physical sciences of physical ocean processes related to sound in the sea; the oceans. significant original contributions to the application Munk is currently promoting a program that of acoustic methods to that understanding; and studies acoustic tomography underneath glaciers. outstanding service that fosters research in ocean Basically, he envisions being able to map the under- science and instrumentation. Munk received the side of glacier structures, a science that has yet to be first award in 1993. fully explored. OBITUARIES orihiko “Nori” Fukuta, 78, passed away 3 May and demonstrated the important effect of electric- 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah, from renal failure ity on the coalescence and orientation of plate and N caused by a rare disease known as Goodpasture’s column crystals.