2025 Award and Honors Recipients

AMS is pleased to recognize outstanding individuals and organizations of the weather, water, and climate community through its Awards and Honors program. Join us in congratulating the 2025 recipients who will receive their award or honor at the 105th AMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

AMS would like to thank its members and friends for nominating colleagues and peers who are so deserving of these awards.

Jump to: Honorary Members | Award Recipients | Lecturers | Editor's Award Recipients | Fellows

Honorary Members

Robert A. Houze, Jr.

Anne Mee Thompson

Peter J. Webster

Award Recipients

THE CARL-GUSTAF ROSSBY RESEARCH MEDAL

Graeme L. Stephens

For breakthroughs in understanding how radiation, clouds, and precipitation shape climate system feedbacks by driving the design of innovative Earth observation platforms and their applications

THE HYDROLOGIC SCIENCES MEDAL

Gabriel G. Katul

For groundbreaking work expanding and advancing the theoretical foundations of the hydrologic cycle and incorporating aspects of atmospheric thermodynamics and plant physiology

THE HENRY STOMMEL RESEARCH MEDAL

Amy S. Bower

For forging enhanced understanding of the ocean’s circulation, dynamics of deep flow pathways, and the meridional overturning

THE VERNER E. SUOMI TECHNOLOGY MEDAL

Dennis Baldocchi

For pioneering work estimating surface-atmosphere exchanges, leadership in establishing global flux networks for terrestrial biomes, and exemplary collaboration with scientists around the world

THE SVERDRUP GOLD MEDAL

Wenju Cai

For exceptional and sustained contributions to understanding of ocean and atmosphere interactions in climate responses to global warming

THE JULE G. CHARNEY MEDAL

Renyi Zhang

For exceptional contributions and exemplary leadership in advancing understanding of atmospheric chemical and physical mechanisms influencing air pollution, weather extremes, climate, and public health

THE WARREN WASHINGTON RESEARCH AND LEADERSHIP MEDAL

Chidong Zhang

For elucidating critical phenomena of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system, especially the Madden-Julian Oscillation, through innovative research and exceptional leadership of international observational programs

THE JAGADISH SHUKLA EARTH SYSTEM PREDICTABILITY PRIZE

Xuguang Wang

For outstanding contributions to both theoretical development and operational implementation of novel data assimilation methods that have enhanced predictability of global, hurricane, and convective-scale models

THE CHARLES FRANKLIN BROOKS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE SOCIETY

Alice K. DuVivier

For exceptional organization and creative leadership for the Polar Meteorology and Oceanography community

THE CLEVELAND ABBE AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO THE ATMOSPHERIC AND RELATED SCIENCES

James Kinter

For scientific leadership in Earth system modeling, predictability and seasonal forecasting, and service to the operational forecasting and high performance computing communities

THE ROBERT H. AND JOANNE SIMPSON MENTORSHIP AWARD

Eve Gruntfest

For building a community of hundreds of social and physical scientists across the enterprise who continue to collaborate and mentor younger generations

THE EDWARD N. LORENZ TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD

Martin A. Baxter

For selfless dedication and persistence to teaching and mentoring, tireless advocacy and support for all students, and innovative strategies for preparing students for any career path

THE KENNETH C. SPENGLER AWARD

Steven A. Root, CCM

For outstanding leadership in creating understanding and partnership among the three sectors of the weather enterprise and for overall contributions to its growth

THE JOANNE SIMPSON TROPICAL METEOROLOGY RESEARCH AWARD

Matthew C. Wheeler

For groundbreaking contributions to observational and theoretical understanding of equatorial waves and the MJO, advancing research and operational applications

THE SYUKURO MANABE CLIMATE RESEARCH AWARD

Natalie M. Mahowald

For revealing biogeochemical feedbacks on climate using Earth System Models to interpret observations and predict global and regional impacts

THE HENRY T. HARRISON AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS BY A CONSULTING METEOROLOGIST

Lee E. Branscome, CCM

For brilliantly fulfilling the demand for weather and climate effects on business activities, and for distinguished contributions as researcher, professor, and volunteer in the field

THE CHARLES E. ANDERSON AWARD

Reginald Blake

For being a selfless champion of BIPoC students, an inspiring mentor, and a treasured colleague who enriches DEIJ efforts in the atmospheric sciences

THE HELMUT E. LANDSBERG AWARD

Jorge E. Gonzalez-Cruz

For using modeling and observations to create societally significant contributions to our understanding of urban climate and landuse impacts in coastal California

THE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOMETEOROLOGY

Tilden P. Meyers

For developing innovative methodologies to study surface-atmosphere exchanges of mass, energy and momentum

THE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOUNDARY-LAYER METEOROLOGY

Peter P. Sullivan

For pioneering work in developing highly reliable large eddy simulations for innovative applications to the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers and air-sea interactions

SPECIAL AWARD

Cameron J. Nixon and Tim Supinie

For significant contributions to improving forecasts of severe storms through improved visualization and utilization of web-based hodographs

THE LOUIS J. BATTAN AUTHOR’S AWARD—K-12

Jilanne F. Hoffmann and Eugenia Mello

"For A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon", which illuminates the interconnected influence of Saharan dust on weather, climate, and diverse cultures in the Americas and Africa, brought to life by vibrant illustrations

THE AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SCIENCE JOURNALISM IN THE ATMOSPHERIC AND RELATED SCIENCES

Sarah Kaplan, Bonnie Jo Mount, Simon Ducroquet, Frank Hulley-Jones and Emily Wright

For in-depth, innovative reporting that explores global impacts of climate change and highlights how paleoclimate research helps humanity prepare for a warmer future

THE JUNE BACON-BERCEY AWARD FOR BROADCAST METEOROLOGY
Veronica Johnson

For significant contributions through her 37-year career, including accurate and reliable forecasting, activities to promote equity and inclusion, and ongoing community engagement and mentoring

THE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE REPORTING BY A BROADCAST METEOROLOGIST

Deborah J. Martorell

For visually compelling stories spanning diverse subjects from local environmental impacts to astronomy,with extensive research and sourcing to produce consequential content on multiple platforms

THE CLARENCE LEROY MEISINGER AWARD

Hannah M. Christensen

For fundamental research and leadership in understanding and quantifying forecast uncertainty in weather and climate models

THE AWARD FOR EARLY-CAREER PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Annareli Morales

For advancing knowledge in mountain meteorology and highlighting the participation of Hispanic and Latinx communities in science and service throughout the Society

THE NICHOLAS P. FOFONOFF AWARD

Dhruv Balwada

For fundamental work characterizing tracer transport and energy transfers between mesoscale and submesoscale ocean flows

THE HENRY G. HOUGHTON AWARD

Nadir Jeevanjee

For providing robust and comprehensive theoretical frameworks to illuminate complex phenomena in climate physics

THE AWARD FOR AN EXCEPTIONAL SPECIFIC PREDICTION

Thomas T. Lindley and NWS Amarillo, TX, NWS Norman, OK, Oklahoma Forestry Services, and Texas A&M Forest Service;

For collaborative issuance of life-saving fire warnings and wind shift forecasts during the disastrous Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma fires in February 2024

THE MAX A. EATON STUDENT PRIZE

Kuan-Yu Lu

For their paper, “The Structure of a Tropical Cyclone Seed Vortex Affects Its Persistence and Genesis Potential”

LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Blue Ridge Chapter of the AMS

For an unwavering pursuit in the professional development of members and a dedication to communities in Virginia through service, education and awareness for meteorology and climatology

LOCAL STUDENT CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Texas A&M Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (TAMSCAMS)

For serving their members, the community, and the AMS at large through diversifying professional development, dedication to outreach, and community building opportunities

Lecturers

THE WALTER ORR ROBERTS LECTURER

Ning Lin

For pioneering physics-based weather risk analysis by integrating state-of-the-art weather and risk modeling to understand hurricane hazards under climate change

THE BERNHARD HAURWITZ MEMORIAL LECTURER

Simona Bordoni

For groundbreaking work and numerous contributions to understanding the dynamics of monsoons in the present and changing climates

THE ROBERT E. HORTON LECTURER IN HYDROLOGY

Jessica D. Lundquist

For outstanding contributions to mountain hydrology, by significantly closing the gap between basic and applied research to enhance resilience in mountainous regions

Editor's Award Winners

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Patrick M. Alexander

For a series of outstanding and insightful reviews with exceptional attention to detail

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Stephen M. Strader

For consistently providing thoughtful, critical, and constructive reviews

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

William Y.Y. Cheng

For providing timely and rigorous evaluations over a wide range of subjects and insightful recommendations that helped improve the final outcomes

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Young-Ha Kim

For providing timely, thoughtful, and thorough reviews

Journal of Climate

Nathan Lenssen

For a large number of high-quality and thorough reviews

Journal of Climate

Ingo Richter

For insightful and constructive reviews on rapid timelines

Journal of Climate

Gan Zhang

For a large number of rapid and thoughtful reviews

Journal of Hydrometeorology

Noah Brauer

For providing high-quality, objective, and timely reviews

Journal of Physical Oceanography

Christopher L. Pitt Wolfe

For many thoughtful, helpful, and concise reviews, including of some particularly difficult manuscripts

Journal of Physical Oceanography

Varvara E. Zemskova

For providing insightful reviews on a wide variety of topics ranging from global ocean circulation to interactions of internal waves with topography

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology

Eric Firing