The following is an excerpt from Dr. Carr's letter. Read the full letter on line for his comments on our Annual Meeting and our awards/fellows nomination process.

Dear AMS Members and Friends,

It is a great privilege and honor for me to send forth this letter as your President. I want to thank past presidents Marshall Shepherd, Bill Gail, and Sandy McDonald for all that they have taught me so far, and members of the AMS Council for their support and guidance. I especially congratulate Sandy and his program committee for a stimulating and record-setting Annual Meeting in New Orleans in January. The AMS Annual Meeting is the pinnacle of a full year of extremely hard work by hundreds of volunteers from the Society, supported by the amazing professional staff in Boston and Washington DC. I hope to utilize their talents again to help organize an equally stimulating and productive Annual Meeting in Seattle this coming January.

Our Society is healthy and poised to continue its role as a leading scientific and professional society in the atmospheric and related sciences. Increasingly, our field is relevant to a growing array of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and the public. Together we, as members of the academy, industry, federal sector, and the broadcast and stakeholder communities, must work to ensure a scientifically and technologically-rich, inclusive, and respected Society responsive to current and future challenges and opportunities. In addition, we are actively planning our Centennial Celebration for the year 2019, cumulating with the 2020 Annual Meeting in Boston. Bill Gail is leading this effort, and he will be in contact with you soon so that all members have the opportunity to become involved in the many events.                            (continued)

With Best Regards,
Frederick H. Carr
President, American Meteorological Society

On 15–17 April, visit the AMS Education Program in booth #3632 at the 4th USA Science & Engineering Festival. The Festival is a free, family-friendly expo with more than 3,000 hands-on exhibits, experiments, and live performances. The Festival aims to inspire the next generation of inventors and innovators. Members of the Education Program team will be on hand to help attendees make a cloud form inside a soda bottle, play a cloud-type matching game, and learn about advanced weather concepts in a fun, easy way. 

The AMS Policy Program is looking for volunteers with relevant expertise to participate in a Congressional Visits Day (CVD) focused on weather, water, and climate. A mandatory training session will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday, 17 May, and Hill visits will take place on Wednesday, 18 May. Applicants should submit their name, contact information, and a short biography (no more than 200 words) to Ya'el Seid-Green by 25 April 2016.

Hopefully, you've heard the good news that the conversion of our database to a new software platform is complete. In order to gain access to any new or existing Web applications, you will first need to change the temporary password that has been assigned to your account. Please check your email for account password reset information or contact AMS for assistance. Once your password is reset, it will be easier than ever to update your account information with AMS! Log into the AMS website, and click on the 'my account' link that appears.

AMS is excited to have an exhibit booth at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna from 17-22 April. We invite everyone attending the EGU conference to stop by to visit. We'll be promoting AMS Soundings, new memberships, AMS Journals and books, as well as other AMS benefits. If you're unable to attend, don’t worry—we will be posting highlights of the meeting, including one-on-one interviews of EGU attendees, on the AMS Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages.

The Louis J. Battan Author's Award is really two awards:
the Adult award is presented to the author(s) of an outstanding, newly published book on the atmospheric and related sciences of a technical or non-technical nature, with consideration to those books that foster public understanding of meteorology in adult audiences.
the K-12 award is presented to the author(s) of outstanding, newly published learning materials or books that foster the understanding of atmospheric and related sciences in K-12 audiences. And the list of past award winners makes a great shopping list for your upcoming graduation gifts!

The deadline to submit nominations for AMS Awards is quickly approaching. Online Nominations must be received by 1 May for consideration.