ACADEMIA

Margaret "Peggy" LeMone, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), today begins a one-year term as president of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Elected by AMS members, she will assume the post at the annual meeting of the society in Atlanta.

"As someone who has been fascinated by weather since childhood, I've devoted my professional life to meteorology," LeMone says. "I'm looking forward to playing a role as we try to better understand the weather that affects us all."

As president, LeMone will help guide planning for the 2011 annual meeting in Seattle, which will have the theme, "Communicating Weather and Climate." She and other leaders of the organization will focus on the role of communication, not just among scientists of different disciplines but also between scientists and other audiences, such as students, the public, and policy makers. LeMone stresses that good communication includes listening and it should ultimately lead to delivering vital information that is useful and understandable to the target audience.

LeMone is a renowned atmospheric scientist and a pioneering woman in the field of meteorology. She joined NCAR in 1973, shortly after getting her Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington. She has participated in numerous field campaigns and computer modeling studies to better understand the atmospheric boundary layer, the formation and development of clouds, the structure of storms, and the interaction between land surfaces and the atmosphere. She is the author or co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed papers on meteorological topics.

LeMone has had a lifelong interest in educating the public about meteorology and promoting diversity in the atmospheric sciences. She began her outreach work with slide shows on clouds and then began reviewing textbooks and popular books, writing for the public, and working with teachers. She developed materials through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Project LEARN in the late 1990s and then served as chief scientist for GLOBE, an international science education program for K-12 students. She is the author of a non-technical guide to clouds, "The Stories Clouds Tell," published by AMS.

LeMone's outreach efforts earned her the NCAR Education Award in 1995 and the AMS Charles Anderson Award in 2004. She was the first head of the AMS Board on Woman and Minorities (1975-78), and has served the society as a councilor as well as a member of the executive committee and the planning commission. She also was editor of the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

LeMone is a fellow of the AMS and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.