Dr. Gerald North, distinguished professor in the atmospheric sciences department of the College of Geosciences, was presented the Jule G. Charney Award at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting last week in New Orleans. Dr. North was cited for his "groundbreaking research on climate models, atmospheric statistics, and satellite mission development."

Former meteorology student Bill Read ’71 was recently named director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Tropical Prediction Center in Miami, which includes the National Hurricane Center and two other divisions. Read served as the center’s acting deputy director beginning August 2007.

Dr. Daniel Sui, professor of geography and holder of the Reta A. Haynes endowed chair in geosciences, will speak at a Global Dialogues on Emerging Science and Technology (GDEST) symposium March 16 to 19 in South Africa. Sui was invited by the U.S. State Department to participate in this symposium.

Chevron has started a new program this year called the Chevron University Partnership Program, and the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M is one of the first to benefit from it. The company has donated $30,000 to fund a Geology & Geophysics field trip to the Book Cliffs in Utah for 20 undergraduate and graduate students from Geology & Geophysics, Oceanography and Petroleum Engineering. The trip is a unique opportunity to view world-class exposures, study geology in the field and earn class credit at no additional cost to students, other than tuition.

Excitement is mounting in the College of Geosciences as its new, $1.9 million Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory takes shape. Construction of the facility in the Michel T. Halbouty Geosciences Building began in October, but the project has been in the planning phase for over four years.

Dr. Fuqing Zhang, an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and Chris Snyder, a senior scientist for the Earth and Sun Systems Laboratory (ESSL), received the 2007 Outstanding Publication Award from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for their collaborative study published in the Monthly Weather Review.