AGU Atmospheric Science Section

Atmospheric Sciences section members are concerned with climate change, atmospheric chemistry, dynamics, radiative transfer and other processes that affect the atmosphere. More than 12,000 of the AGU's 50,000 members are affiliated with Atmospheric Sciences and more than 6,500 identify Atmospheric Sciences as their primary section.

Christine Lavin

Christine Lavin to perform at Atmospheric Sciences Chinese Banquet

The Third Annual Atmospheric Sciences Chinese Banquet will be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, during the 2008 AGU Fall Meeting. The pre-registration deadline for the Fall Meeting is November 14. Please sign up for our banquet when you register. As always, we will offer a discount for students and will have entertainment, as well as the presentation of the Holton Award. This year, we are delighted to announce that folk singer Christine Lavin will perform at the banquet. For those of you who don’t know her, she is the most charismatic, funny, entertaining singer I have ever heard. She has recorded 17 individual albums, many of them featuring songs related to science. Her latest album includes “Here Comes Hurricane Season,” and she has recorded songs about climate (“Winter In Manhattan”), astronomy (“Planet X”), gravity (“Doris and Edwin: The Movie”), and biology (“Amoeba Hop”). In fact she published a children’s book based on this last song, Amoeba Hob, which received the stamp of approval of The International Society of Protistologists, and won a “Best Book Award” from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

This year the banquet will be better than ever, with wonderful companionship, great food, and world-class entertainment. Don’t miss it.

Congratulations to Courtenay Strong, University of California Irvine!
2008 winner of the James R. Holton Junior Scientist Award
Please join us on December 16 for the award presentation
at the Atmospheric Sciences Banquet.

The Atmospheric Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union is pleased to announce the establishment of a new Section Award for atmospheric scientists, the Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award. This award is named in honor of Yoram J. Kaufman, an outstanding atmospheric scientist, mentor, and creator of international collaborations who worked on atmospheric aerosols and their influence on the Earth's climate for his entire 30-year career. Yoram was tragically killed in a bicycle accident just at the peak of his career at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He grew in the 1990s to be a leading light in aerosol research, both as an author of many new theoretical ideas and as a leader of field campaigns like SCAR-B. He also captained the first NASA Earth Observing System platform, Terra, as its Project Scientist. He advised and mentored a large number of students and junior scientists, and was known for his quick insight, great heart, deep wisdom, and outreach to national and international collaborators.

The AS Section will make the first annual Kaufman Award at the Meeting of the Americas (Joint Assembly) in Toronto in May 2009. The citation will read: "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." The Kaufman Award will consist of a certificate and a $1,000 credit toward AGU services. The credit may be used for journal subscriptions, book purchases, and AGU meeting registration fees, to be spent over a period of not more than three years from receiving the award. When the award is presented outside the recipient's home country, it will consist in addition of a travel grant of $1000 specifically to attend the AGU meeting at which it is presented.

Now is the time to submit nominations for the Kaufman Award. The deadline is December 1, 2008. To be eligible, the candidate must be a member of the AGU, and be at least ten years past the award of the Ph.D. (or equivalent). The nomination package must consist of:

· a nomination letter,
· the candidate's curriculum vitae, and
· three letters of recommendation, at least one from a collaborator of the nominee from a different nation.

The nomination and supporting letters should clearly state how the nominated individual has exhibited the qualities noted in the citation. Nominations must be submitted by December 1, 2008 (as one combined pdf file) to the Atmospheric Sciences Section President-Elect, Professor Anne M. Thompson, anne@met.psu.edu. If you are unable to access Adobe to create a single pdf file, inform Dr. Thompson by e-mail and send the nomination package by Express Mail to: Anne M. Thompson, Penn State University, Meteorology Department, 503 Walker Building, University Park, PA, 16802-5013, USA.