2024 News & Events

Dr. Amy Butler deservingly receives the American Meteorological Society (AMS) STAC Outstanding Service Award for "exemplary dedication to advancing middle atmosphere science through public engagement, mentorship, and long-standing service in numerous scientific organizations."

The AMS Scientific and Technological Activities Commission (STAC) awards recognize individuals whose outstanding contributions further the goals of the STAC. STAC helps to advance science and technology by promoting the open exchange of ideas, strengthening disciplinary communities, enhancing collaboration and dialog among these communities, embracing diversity, celebrating and fostering excellence, and cultivating the next generation of scientists and leaders. This Outstanding Service Award recognizes significant contributions to the STAC Middle Atmosphere Committee, and service to the larger Middle Atmosphere community discipline.

Amy's active engagement with early career scientists and the public (i.e. answering many requests from mass media outlets on the polar vortex and its connection to surface weather) has had far reaching impact, making Middle Atmosphere science accessible to a broader audience. Her leadership and participation in numerous US-based (i.e. AMS) and international scientific organizations (i.e., her role in WCRP/SPARC's Stratospheric Network for the Assessment of Predictability (SNAP) and Sub-seasonal to Seasonal Prediction Project (S2S) projects, as well as the Dynamical Variability (DynVar) committee) have also advanced the discipline by enabling effective collaborations and partnerships amongst middle atmosphere scientists.

Amy demonstrates her commitment to public service through her science communication and public outreach efforts. She is also an ardent supporter of students and early career scientists with an interest in middle atmosphere science, having already advised four early career scientists and postdocs on their research at NOAA as a mid-career scientist. Plus, the Middle Atmosphere community owes many of its successes to Amy's contributions as both member and Chair of the AMS Committee on Middle Atmosphere from 2016 to 2021.

The current chair of the AMS Committee on Middle Atmosphere, Dr. Rei Ueyama (NASA Earth Science Division), presented Amy with the STAC Outstanding Service Award on 25 June 2024, during the AMS Middle Atmosphere Conference held in Burlington, Vermont.