Contact:

Cynthia M. O'Carroll
NASA Goddard Spc Flt Ctr
Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301-614-5563)

July 23, 2003 - RELEASE: 03-75

NASA RESEARCHERS RECEIVE HONOR AWARDS

Six NASA research scientists received honor awards for exceptional achievement and dedication to their work. The awards were presented to Earth science researchers today during an awards ceremony at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

One of the awardees, Dr. William Barnes, has helped build Goddard into a center of excellence in Earth science during his 31year career. He has contributed his expertise to the development of many Earth-observing imaging radiometers including the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer onboard the NOAA polar orbiting environmental satellites, the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor onboard the OrbView-2 satellite and the Visible Infrared Scanner onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. He is currently the Sensor Scientist for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) that flies onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, and a member of the MODIS Science Team. Barnes is also a member of the research faculty of the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and an emeritus research scientist with the Earth Sciences Directorate of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He was also NASA’s member on the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System’s Joint Agency Requirements Group for more than five years. Barnes currently resides in Edgewater, Md., with his wife, Gayle.

Dr. Wei-Kuo Tao has been a research meteorologist at Goddard for almost 15 years and has 25 years of experience in cloud physics and modeling mesoscale convective systems. He is the primary developer of the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble model and was the group leader of Goddard Mesoscale Modeling and Dynamic Group from 1996-2001. Tao has authored or co-authored more than 110 scientific papers (including 9 chapters in books) in referred literature and 100 conference presentations, on tropical cloud systems and modeling, applications of cloud resolving model to understand air-sea interaction, convective-stratiform interaction, cloud-radiation interaction, cloud-chemistry interaction, and cloud-large-scale environment interaction. He has also contributed to the development of latent heating and surface rain retrieval using satellite data. Tao has been the Editor of the Journal Atmospheric Science since 2001and he served as the Guest Editor of the American Meteorological Society's Meteorological Monographs - Cloud Systems, Hurricanes and TRMM (2001-2002). He is the Chair of the American Geophysical Union's Committee on Precipitation and Clouds. He has been a member of NASA TRMM Science Team since 1991and is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. Tao received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1992 and 2003. He currently resides in Prince Georges County in Md., with his wife and 2 children.

Mr. Andrew J. Negri is a research meteorologist in the Laboratory for Atmospheres and has been at Goddard since 1979. Negri is responsible for planning, initiating and performing research to improve our knowledge of the estimation of regional and global precipitation using satellite observations. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop an improved understanding of mesoscale precipitation processes, their impact on the global hydrologic cycle, and the development of future remote sensing systems. He is the author of 30 scientific publications on the remote sensing of rainfall and related topics. In 2002 his peers recognized him for "his important and well-crafted scientific paper discussing the sampling of the diurnal cycle of precipitation using the TRMM sensor. Negri currently resides in Laurel, Md., with his wife, Gayle.

Currently, Dr. David Starr is the head of Goddard's Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch and has held various positions at Goddard for the past 16 years. Highlights of his career include serving as the co-Mission Scientist for the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers -Florida Area Cirrus Experiment. Starr is a member of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 articles in refereed literature and received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1993 for his work to increase the understanding of cirrus clouds and their effects in the climate system. Dr. Starr has served as Validation Scientist for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Project Science Office since 1995. He has organized various workshops and developed and manages the NASA EOS Validation Program. Starr currently resides in Bowie, Md., with his wife, Ann.

Dr. Paul D. Lowman Jr. is a geophysicist with Goddard's Geodynamics Branch and
his 45 years of federal service include two years in the U.S. Army. As the first geologist hired by NASA in 1969, he has a unique perspective in how the study of space has contributed to improved characterization and understanding of the Earth. During his career he pioneered work on interpreting the earliest Landsat images in terms of the newly discovered structural details of the fault-prone portions of California, conducted "comparative planetary early crustal evolution" studies as part of the Apollo and Mariner 9 mission to the Moon and Mars, and conducted field work in some of the earliest terrains on Earth.

Lowman's recent achievements include his authorship of "Exploring Space, Exploring Earth: New Understanding of the Earth from Space Research," published in 2002. This book summarizes NASA's achievements in space geodesy, satellite studies of crustal magnetism, remote sensing, and impact cratering and presents a new theory of biogenic crustal evolution. He is presently focused on the compilation and application of a Digital Tectonic Activity Map of the Earth, showing the main tectonic and volcanic features of the last one million years. Lowman is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and of the Geological Association of Canada. Lowman currently resides in Bowie, Md., with his wife, Karen.

Mr. Charles Cote began his service to Goddard in 1962, and he distinguished himself early in his career with a highly recognized invention involving binary characters and for his contributions to spaceborne data collection and communications systems. As his career advanced, he assumed many leadership responsibilities such his role as the Project Manager of the first joint NASA project with the then Soviet Union and the resulting launch of the scientifically important U.S-Russian Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) onboard the Meteror-3 spacecraft . During its 4 years of operations the TOMS Instrument performed flawlessly, returning 99 percent of the data captured. Cote has served in management roles for the past 2 decades, with a great deal of integrity and technical expertise that enhanced the reputation of these organizations and the Earth sciences at Goddard as a whole. He is currently the Associate Chief of the Laboratory for Atmospheres in the Earth Sciences Directorate. Cote currently resides in Frederick, Md., with his wife, Ruth.

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