Roger M. Wakimoto (born December 11, 1953) is an atmospheric scientist specializing in research on

mesoscale meteorology Mesoscale meteorology is the study of weather systems and processes at horizontal scales of approximately to several hundred kilometres. It is smaller than synoptic scale meteorology, synoptic-scale systems (1,000 km or larger) but larger than Mi ...

, particularly severe convective storms and

radar meteorology A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...

. A former director of the

National Center for Atmospheric Research The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundat ...

(NCAR), Wakimoto in November 2012 was appointed as assistant director of the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) of the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF).

Career

Wakimoto studied

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

(SJSU), earning a B.S. as a Graduate with Honors and Great Distinction in 1976. He then earned a Ph.D. in geophysical science at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1981 with the dissertation ''Investigations of Thunderstorm Gust Fronts from

Project NIMROD Project NIMROD (Northern Illinois Meteorological Research On Downburst) was a meteorological field study of severe thunderstorms and their damaging winds conducted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). It took place in the Greater ...

Data'' under advisor

Ted Fujita was a Japanese and American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each. Although ...

. He was a research associate in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences from 1981-1983. In 1983, Wakimoto became an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) where he remained for 22 years, eventually was promoted to professor in 1993 and served as department chairperson from 1996-2000. Wakimoto arrived at the NCAR in 2005 as associate director of the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) and was appointed director of

NCAR The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundat ...

in 2010. Dr. Wakimoto remained director of

until February 2013 when he was offered a post by the

NSF as assistant director for the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO). Wakimoto was a principal investigator of

VORTEX2 The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (or VORTEX) are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentat ...

, the field project phase of which occurred in 2009-2010. He has participated in a dozen major field experiments including NIMROD (1978), JAWS (1982), ERICA (1988/89)
VORTEX
(1994/95)
FASTEX
(1997)
IHOP
(2002)
BAMEX
(2003), an
VORTEX2
(2009/10). When Wakimoto took the position of National Science Foundation assistant director for the geosciences, he oversaw a budget of nearly $1 billion for research on atmospheric, ocean, polar, and Earth sciences. His predecessor from July 2008 - June 2012, Tim Killeen, was also NCAR director prior to heading NSF GEO. Wakimoto was elected a Fellow of the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...

(AMS) in 1996, was a Councilor from 1997-2000, and received its Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award for "significant contributions to the understanding of mesoscale phenomena through insightful and detailed analysis of observations" in 1992. He served on the AMS Committee on Severe Local Storms from 1987-1991 (chair, 1988-1991), the UCAR/AMS Committee on the Study on Observational Systems from 1988-1990, and the AMS Committee on Radar Meteorology from 2000-2004 (chair, 2001-2004). He has published over 100 journal articles and was associate editor of ''

Monthly Weather Review The ''Monthly Weather Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Meteorological Society. It covers research related to analysis and prediction of observed and modeled circulations of the atmosphere, including technique ...

'', as well as co-editor of AMS Meteorological Monograph:
Radar and Atmospheric Science: A Collection of Essays in Honor of David Atlas
'. From 2003-2006, he served on the

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ins ...

Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC).

References

External links

About Roger Wakimoto, NCAR Director
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakimoto, Roger M. 1953 births Living people American meteorologists San Jose State University alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago staff University of California, Los Angeles faculty Storm chasers Fellows of the American Meteorological Society

Career

See also

References

External links