Steve Ackerman, CIMSS Director
Steve Ackerman has extensive experience in research, education and climate change communications. Along with being the Director of CIMSS, an institute consisting of approximately 140 individuals, Dr. Ackerman is a Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the UW-Madison and associate dean for the physical sciences in the UW-Madison Graduate School. He is a recipient of NASA’s 2010 Exceptional Public Service Medal, the 2009 American Meteorological Society’s Teaching Excellence Award, and, in 2007 was recognized for his contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Prize that same year. His IPCC experience will be invaluable to this project when the 2014 IPCC report is released. Dr. Ackerman is the PI on NOAA award number NA10SEC0080015, “Interpretation of Real-Time Weather and Climate Data for Spherical Displays” which provides succinct and visually intuitive datasets for Science on a Sphere (SOS) museum exhibits. CONTACT STEVE
Margaret Mooney, Education and Public Outreach Director
Margaret Mooney is the Education and Public Outreach lead at CIMSS. As a certified GLOBE trainer and former National Weather Service meteorologist, Mooney has decades of experience working with formal and informal audiences. Mooney served on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Roundtable on Communicating Climate Change Adaptation in 2010 and participated in the American Meteorological Society’s Climate Science on Capital Hill event in February 2013. In 2011 Mooney was Co-Investigator on NOAA award NA10OAR4170256, “Assessment and Evaluation of the NOAA Climate Services Portal” (www.climate.gov), which should benefit this effort greatly. Mooney is active in several climate education communities, including the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) where she serves as co-chair of the climate education working group and conducts a teacher workshop each summer that rotates around the country to reach a national audience of educators. CONTACT MARGARET
Patrick Rowley, Education and Outreach Specialist
Patrick Rowley is an Education and Outreach Specialist at CIMSS and author of the EarthNow blog. Earth Now allows NOAA Science On a Sphere (SOS) exhibit institutions to go beyond the scientific facts to create meaningful visitor experiences about weather and climate connections. Prior to working at CIMSS, Patrick served as SphereMaster at Nauticus, a maritime science and history museum in Norfolk, Virginia. As SphereMaster, he created and implemented earth science programming for the NOAA SOS exhibit. Having developed a passion for working with spherical displays at the museum, the EarthNow project at CIMSS was the perfect opportunity to provide timely weather and climate data visualizations and stories to the entire NOAA SOS Collaborative Network. Along with his EarthNow duties, Patrick assists with building tours and plans the CIMSS Student Workshop. CONTACT PATRICK
Maria Vasys, Education and Outreach Specialist
Maria Vasys is an Outreach Specialist at CIMSS/SSEC, providing important coordination and logistical support for education, training, and public outreach activities. Organization of international conferences and educational workshops includes creation and maintenance of websites, as well as production of promotional materials. Maria's efforts significantly contribute to collaborations and partnerships in the atmospheric science community. CONTACT MARIA
Carissa Bunge, Intern
Carissa Bunge is going to be a senior at UW double majoring in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, as well as Environmental Studies. She has had a lifelong passion for Meteorology and a love for sharing her knowledge to advocate climate literacy among the public! Carissa has recently worked with the NWS Romeoville WFO and with Tom Skilling at WGN - TV, as well as interned with WKOW-TV in Madison. At CIMSS, Carissa writes scripts and records voiceovers for the EarthNow project, as well as conducts building tours. Besides her work in weather and climate, she enjoys running, dancing, yoga, and Wisconsin Football game days. :-) Go Badgers!
Thomas Slattery, Intern
