INTRODUCTION
Ms. Sue Wagner—Nevada Gaming Commissioner, former Nevada Lieutenant Governor, DRI employee, and widow of Dr. Peter B. Wagner—created the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences in 1998.
Dr. Peter B. Wagner, an atmospheric scientist who had been a faculty member at the Desert Research Institute since 1968, was killed while conducting research in a 1980 plane crash that also claimed the lives of three other Institute employees.
In 1981, Dr. Wagner’s family and friends established a memorial scholarship to provide promising graduate students in the Desert Research Institute’s Atmospheric Sciences Program a cash award to further their professional careers. Ms. Wagner later extended that opportunity nationally and specifically for women, through the creation of the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award in 1998.
THE PETER B. WAGNER AWARD
The Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences will be based on a paper competition and awarded to a woman pursuing a Masters or Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences or a related program at a university in the United States. The amount of the award is $1,500.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible, applicants must be pursuing a Masters or Ph.D. in a program of atmospheric sciences or a related field as of the application deadline date. Applicants must submit a paper based on original research directly related to the identification, clarification, or resolution of an atmospheric or climatic problem.
SELECTION CRITERIA
The Selection Committee is composed of faculty from the Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Program. Papers will be evaluated based on the following content areas:
- Originality of ideas expressed and presentation of concept;
- How well the subject matter relates to real-world atmospheric or climatic problems or their resolution; and
- How well the research is defined by the introduction, methods, results, and conclusions of the manuscript.
An entry into this competition can be based on a manuscript that has been either submitted, accepted for publication, or appeared in press within the past 12 month before the application deadline. Authors are encouraged to address broader impacts of their work for the field of atmospheric sciences. Manuscripts submitted for consideration for this award should be a report of work done primarily by the applicant. The applicant should be the first author but not necessarily the single author. The submitted manuscript should be in a form acceptable for publication in a scientific journal. Length should be no more than 15 pages of double-spaced text, exclusive of figures, title page, and references using minimum 12-point font. Reprints of published papers will no longer be accepted. Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the Award Selection Committee.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
An applicant should submit a PDF file of a full manuscript (less than 8 Mbyte in size) by email and one hard copy of her paper with a cover letter describing her graduate program of study by regular mail (postmarked by the deadline date) to:
Dr. Vanda Grubišić Chair of the Selection Committee Wagner Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences Desert Research Institute 2215 Raggio Parkway Reno, NV 89512 (775) 674-7031 Vanda.Grubisic@dri.edu
Announcement of the winning entry for the award will be made once a decision has been made by the Selection Committee.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2007: Ariane Verdy, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2006: Paula Agudelo, School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
2005: Heather Dawn Reeves, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University
2004: Sarah A. Tessendorf, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University
2003 : Jessica D. Lundquist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
2002: Roberta Quadrelli, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington
2001 : Ana Lia Quijano, Program in Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado-Boulder
2000 : Teresa M. Bals-Elsholz, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University at Albany/SUNY
1999 : Paquita Zuidema, Program in Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado-Boulder
1998 : Jennifer Barnett, Department of Meteorology, University of Utah
ABOUT DRI
Water resources and air quality, global climate change and the physics of the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, humanity’s historic struggle to adapt to harsh environments, and its urgent search today for the technology of the next century…these are the fundamental issues underlying the research program of Nevada’s Desert Research Institute.
A nonprofit, statewide division of the Nevada System of Higher Education, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. DRI’s 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects annually.