Elizabeth J. Austin, CCM

Elizabeth J. Austin, CCM

The atmospheric and related sciences are in the midst of a very exciting time. Our sciences’ popularity is growing by leaps and bounds in terms of the media coverage it receives. However, this brings with it the responsibility of the AMS and its members to continue to respond to the needs for expertise and accurate analysis of current events. In addition, societal needs are changing in the way the majority of the population receives their data and information, and the AMS must continue to grow and expand its ability for reaching out to society in regards to its providing timely information and responses.

Another challenging area where the AMS must continue to expand its arena is in private sector/govern­ment/academic partnerships. As the founder and president of a small, private weather company, I know that this is an arena that is critical to the continued growth and success of the AMS and our members. There must be not only more emphasis on connecting the larger weather/oceanic/hydrologic/environmental companies with the government and academic sectors, but also a focus on the small companies that make up the major­ity of the businesses in our field. This can be done through AMS sponsorship of more short courses and events catered to smaller com­panies with help from such groups as the AMS Certified Consult­ing Meteorologists and Certified Broadcast Meteorologists, and the National Council of Industrial Meteorologists. In fact, the Certi­fied Broadcast Meteorologists are a natural conduit between the AMS and the media.

Lastly, the AMS represents the atmospheric, space, hydrologic, oceanic, and many other related sciences. With the Earth–atmo­sphere system as a guide, the AMS must ensure that all of our respec­tive sciences work closely together at events, conferences, and—most importantly—in our collabora­tive research. I believe that our scientific community will benefit greatly by putting more emphasis on things such as joint conferences and creating pathways for more collaborations among our sciences.

 It will be an honor if I am elected Councilor of the AMS. If elected, I will work closely with the other members of the Council, the Executive Committee, and the membership to ensure that we ad­dress these important issues and develop lines of communication of to help take the AMS into the next era of scientific discoveries.

Austin, Elizabeth, J., President, WeatherExtreme Ltd., Incline Village, Nevada.  Born May 6, 1964, New York, New York.  B.S., Atmospheric Science, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, 1987; M.S., Atmospheric Physics, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada 1991; ,Ph.D., Atmospheric Physics, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada, 1994.

 Professional Experience: Plasma Physics Research Assistant, Carmel Research Center, Inc., Santa Monica, California, 1984-1985; Weather Forecaster, Daily Bruin, UCLA Newspaper (circulation 22,000), 1985; Student Research Program, UCLA, Advisor: Dr. G.L. Siscoe, 1985-1986; National Weather Service Assistantship, UCLA, Los Angeles Office, 1986; Graduate Research Assistant, Atmospheric Sciences Center, Desert Research Institute, Reno, University of Nevada, Reno, 1987-1994; Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, Physics and Meteorology, Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada, 1989-1995; Associate Scientist, Atmospheric Sciences Center, Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada, Reno, 1994-1995; Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Physics and Meteorology, Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada (part-time), 1995-1997; Associate Professor of Mathematics, Physics and Meteorology, Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada (part-time), 1997-2002; Professor, Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Nevada, Reno, 2009-2011; Affiliate Associate Research Professor, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute (joint research with WeatherExtreme Ltd.), 2009-2011; Member, Advisory Board, Smartplane, Inc., 2013 – Present; Member, Board of Directors, The Perlan Project, a 501(c)(3) Corporation, 2013 – Present; Professor, Atmospheric Science Department, University of Nevada, Reno, 2014 – Present; President, WeatherExtreme Ltd. (formerly Firnspiegel LLC), 1994-Present.

 Professional Activities: National Weather Association, Member; American Geophysical Union, Member; The Scientific Research Society, Elected Full Member; Research proposal and grant Peer Reviewer for the Australian Research Council; Sigma Xi; Regional Editor: Weather Watch Magazine (1996-1997); Research Article Peer Reviewer for: Journal of Applied Meteorology; National Council of Industrial Meteorologists, Elected Member; National Research Council & National Academies: Board on Atmospheric Sciences & Climate, Weather Research for Surface Transportation (elected member March 2003-March 2004); Member of Master’s thesis review committee for Ms. Shelby Carpenter, University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism. Successfully completed May 2014; Member of advisory committee for Ms. K.C. King, Ph.D. Candidate, Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Nevada, Reno, 2014 – 2016; WeatherExtreme Ltd. named aNOAA-Weather Ready Nation Ambassador, 2014 – Present;  President-Elect, National Council of Industrial Meteorologists (NCIM), June 2015 – June 2017; President of NCIM from June 2017 – June 2019.

 AMS Activities: American Meteorological Society, Elected Member; Chair, American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting Session ‘Urban High-Impact Weather Forecasting’, January 14, 2009; Mountain Meteorology Committee Member, Feb. 1, 2003-Jan. 31, 2006 (American Meteorological Soc.); Continuing Education Committee Member, Jan. 11, 2004-Jan. 31, 2007 (AMS); Chair & Organizer, American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting Short Course on Forensic Meteorology, AMS Annual Meeting, January 22, 2012; Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists (BCCM), American Meteorological Society, Jan. 11, 2009 – January 2013; Chair of the Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists (BCCM), American Meteorological Society, January 2012 – January 2013.

Honors & Awards: Excellence in Teaching, Sierra Nevada College, Elected Member; First Place, Peter B. Wagner Memorial Scholarship, Atmospheric Sci. Center, Desert Research Institute; Certified Consulting Meteorologist (#572), American Meteorological Society; Distinguished Teaching Award, Sierra Nevada College (1996-97); United Nations Development Program Invited Speaker, International Skiing Industry Cooperation Forum, Harbin City, People’s Republic of China (December 2001); Fulbright Senior Specialist, Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère, CNRS, Universitè de La Rèunion, Rèunion Island, France (May 5-25, 2003).

Publications (Note, maiden name Elizabeth CARTER): Austin has authored 1 book, Treading on Thin Air (Pegasus Books); numerous articles published in: POWDER The Skier’s Magazine (Dr. Snow articles) and Weather Watch Magazine. Selected publications include: Carter (Austin), E. and G.L. Siscoe, 1987: A Study of Cumulus Clouds as Fractals. UCLA Undergrad. Science Journal; Hindman, E.E., E.J. Carter, R.D. Borys and D.L. Mitchell, 1992: Collecting Supercooled Droplets as a Function of Droplet Size. J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech9, no. 4, 337-353; Carter (Austin), E.J. and R.D. Borys, 1993: Aerosol-Cloud Chemical Fractionation: Analysis of Cloud Water. J Atmos. Chem.17, 277-292; Mitchell, D.M., D. Koracin and E.J. Carter, 1994: Improvements in Modeling the Microphysical and Radiative Properties of Cirrus Clouds using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). Annual Report to the DOE/ARM Project. Atmospheric Sciences Center, Desert Research Institute, Reno, 22 pp.; Carter (Austin), E.J. and A.B. Long, 1995: Australian Winter Storms Experiment II. Water Budget, Precipitation Efficiency and Modeling. Conference on Cloud Physics Preprint Volume, American Meteorological Society, 292-297; Carter (Austin), E.J., 1995:  Forensic Meteorology: Precipitation and its Variability. Nevada Lawyer, Vol. 3,  No. 4, April,  p. 28-29; Long, A.B. and E.J. Carter, 1996: Australian Winter Mountain Storm Clouds: Precipitation Augmentation Potential. J. Applied Meteor., Vol. 35, 1457-1464; Carter, E.J. and A.B. Long, 1999: The Water Budget and Precipitation Efficiency of Australian Winter Mountain Storm Clouds. 7th Conf. on Weath. Modification, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Vol. I, 105-108; Carter (Austin), E.J., The Sierra Weather & Avalanche Center, Preprint in 16th Conference on Hydrology, 82nd Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, 13-17 January 2002, Orlando, Florida, J230-J233; Carter (Austin), E.J. and E.H. Teets, Jr., 2001: Stratospheric Mountain Waves: Observations and Modeling for A Proposed Sailplane that will use these Waves to Reach 100,000 Feet.Preprint in 18th Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems (IIPS) for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, 82nd Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, 13-17 January 2002, Orlando, Florida, 279-281; Teets, Jr., E.H. and E.J. Carter (Austin), 2002: Atmospheric Conditions of Stratospheric Mountain Waves: Soaring the PERLAN Aircraft to 30 km. Preprint in 10th Conf. Aviation, Range & Aerospace Meteorology. American Meteor. Soc. Meeting, 13-16 May, Portland, Oregon, 195-198; Carter (Austin), E.J. and E.H. Teets, Jr., 2002: Meteorological Support and Modeling for the NASA X-43A Hypersonic Research Vehicle. Preprint in 10th Conf. Aviation, Range & Aerospace Meteorology. American Meteor. Soc. Meeting, 13-16 May, Portland, Oregon, 199-202; Carter (Austin), E.J., E.H. Teets, Jr., and S.N. Goates, 2003: The Perlan Project: New Zealand Flights, Meteorological Support & Modeling. Preprint in 19th Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems (IIPS) for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, 83rd Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, 9-13 February 2003, Long Beach, California; Carter (Austin), E.J., F.M. Ralph, A.B. White, T.S. Dye, and S.N. Goates, 2003: Wind-Profiler Derived Snow Level Monitoring: California Highway I-80 Donner Summit. Preprint in 19th Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems (IIPS) for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, 83rd Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, 9-13 February 2003, Long Beach, California; Carter (Austin), E.J., E.H. Teets, Jr., J. Robinson, and S.N. Goates, 2003: The International Perlan Project: Soaring Stratospheric Mountain Waves in New Zealand. Preprint in 7th Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography, Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, 24-28 March 2003, Wellington, New Zealand; National Research Council, National Academy of Science (Co-Author), 2004: Where the Weather Meets the Road: A Research Agenda for Improving Road Weather Services. The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.; Austin, E.J., P.B. Williams, S.N. Goates and A. Austin, 2011: “Severe Icing: Urgent PIREP!” Severe Icing Across the United States from 2002-2010: Relationship to Icing Type, Terrain, Altitude, Aircraft Type and Climate. 15th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, AMS Meeting 1-4 August 2011; Austin, E.J., 2012: The Perlan Project Phase II: Soaring Stratospheric Mountain Waves in Argentina to 90,000 feet. 28th Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems: International Applications, 92ndAMS Annual Meeting 21-26 January 2012, New Orleans, Louisiana; Austin, E., and P. Hildebrand, 2014: The Art and Science of Forensic Meteorology. Physics Today, June, vol. 67, no. 6,32-37.