IMSC Achievement Awards

In 1992, the IMSC Steering Committee created the IMSC Achievement Awards to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the application of statistics in atmospheric and climate science. Allan Murphy explaned the rationale for the purpose of this award during the awards ceremony of 5IMSC in Toronto, 1992. A monetary prize ($1000US) has been included with the Award since 1998.

Excerpts from (Murphy and Zwiers 1993):

"Problems involving the application of statistical methods in climatology and meteorology have attracted the attention of a number of outstanding researchers over the last several decades. Some of these individuals have devoted most if not all of their careers to the application of statistical methods in atmospheric sciences. We all recognize and admire these individuals for their fundamental and original contributions. In the case of statistical meteorology and climatology, it is interesting to note that this group of individuals includes both researchers trained primarily as atmospheric scientists and individuals trained primarily as mathematicians or statisticians.

For some time the steering committee of the IMSC has been discussing various ways of recognizing the contri-butions of such individuals. Why? First and foremost because their accomplishments merit special recognition. Second, because we believe that accomplishments at the interface between climatology/meteorology and statistics have tended to be overlooked by existing disciplinary organizations and professional societies. Several months ago the steering committee decided to initiate a series of awards for fundamental and original contributions to the application of statistical methods in atmospheric sciences. I am delighted to announce tonight that the steering committee recently approved three outstanding achievement awards to be given on the occasion of the joint meetings known as 5IMSC/12PSAS.

The individuals that we honor here tonight have all made truly outstanding-and original-contributions to our field. In addition, and equally important in the steering committee's opinion, they have contributed materially to raising the general overall quality of applications of statistical methods in atmospheric sciences through the advice and guidance that they have given to others. In fact, these three individuals are well known for generously sharing their knowledge of and experience with-statistical methods in this way.

Although this award is new, the steering committee believes that its significance is underlined by the very high quality, both in a professional and personal sense, of its initial recipients.

In each case, I have asked a prominent individual who knows the awardee well, both professionally and personally, to speak briefly about his career, hopefully including a few personal remarks. This individual will also -assist in presenting the award. [Note: Each recipient's name was announced in turn and this announcement was followed by the speaker's remarks.]"

Reference

Murphy, A.H., and F.W. Zwiers, 1993: International Meetings on Statistical Climatology, meeting review. BAMS, 79, 1721-1727.