From the Chair
Dear CCM Colleagues,
It is hard to believe that a year has gone by since I started my position as Chair. This has been a year like no other for the CCM program and for society in general. We have taken in a new record number of CCM candidates, with 27 applicants so far this year. The Board has taken on the enormous task of not only grading all of the written exams for these candidates but has seamlessly transitioned to a virtual oral exam process due to the ongoing pandemic. I estimate that the Board as a whole has put in well over 1,200 hours of service to the AMS and has done it faithfully and well.
As we near the close of 2020, I would like to review with you the activities of the CCM Board this past year:
1. In addition to myself, Louis Cantrell and Rick Shema will be rotating off the board in mid-January. I have enjoyed working with you these last four years, and thank you for your service to this Board. Time flies when you are having fun!
2. Three new board members will be beginning their terms in mid-January: Morgan Yarker, Adam Pasch, and T. C. Moore. We welcome you onto the board and thank you for being willing to serve.
3. Mark McGinnis will serve as Chair during the 2021 year, and Charlie Paxton will serve as chair-elect, moving into the Chair position in 2022. Thank you for being available and willing to take on these roles; I hope you will find the experience rewarding.
4. I also want to recognize David Moran, CCM #730, who is not only continuing to serve on the BCCM but will also be joining Jason Shafer, CCM #662, on the CBM Exam Review Committee in January. Thanks to both of you for your additional service to AMS!
5. The major updates we have done to the examination process include an update and expansion of the oral slide discussion set to include additional specialty topics (thanks to Kathryn Prociv for her help in shepherding the process), adding to our set of scenarios for the new consulting essay which replaced the old technical report (Rick Shema did a lot to organize this), and updating our grading method for the written exam. After discussion and study, we recommended that in addition to scoring a 70 or higher on the written exam and essay, the candidates should also pass at least 8 out of 15 individual questions on the written test. This was approved by the Executive Council at their fall meeting and will be applied to all candidates who started the application process after the change was made. Rick Shema also helped organize this process. All of these changes required a lot of deliberation and work by the Board and I cannot thank you all enough for the hours that have been spent on this task.
6. The CCM short course offering, “Becoming a Great CCM!” ran as scheduled at the AMS Annual Meeting in Boston in January. I was assisted by nine CCMs, who helped give presentations and lead numerous round-table discussions on a variety of topics on CCM work, including ethics, business practices, forensics, and other CCM specialties like air quality and applied climatology. It was very well received by the 27 participants, and several of them started the process of becoming a CCM after the meeting. We did not plan a short course in 2021, which is probably a good thing considering the loss of the in-person annual meeting, but we hope to offer another short course in a year or two. If you are interested in putting one together, I would be happy to tell you about my experiences and help you through the process.
I also want to take a minute to thank Kelly Savoie and Rex Horner for everything they did this year to keep me on track and to manage all of the candidates this year. The job of chair would be much harder without them!
It has been my honor and pleasure to serve on the CCM Board for the last four years, and as Chair for 2020. I have really enjoyed my time on the Board, although my husband will tell you that it has also given me periods of frustration as we dealt with all of the applicants and pivoted to a virtual oral exam process. The opportunity to meet and learn from so many colleagues whom I would not have met otherwise is something which I very much appreciate. I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season, and I wish each of you a joyous and prosperous 2021 and hope for a return to in-person meetings by 2022.
Pam Knox (CCM #587)
Chair, Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists
American Meteorological Society
