Meteorology alumnus recognized by Penn State Alumni
Association with a 2006 Alumni Achievement Award
George H. Bryan
George Bryan will return to campus on April 5-7 for award ceremonies and to present a lecture
in the Department of Meteorology.
His talk, titled "Roll circulations in the convective region
of squall lines." will take place on Friday, April 7 at 1:15 p.m. in 112 Walker
Building. [Abstract]
George H. Bryan ’96, ’98 MS, ’03 PhD EMS is a scientist
with the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology division of the National Center
for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Although he has been with
the center for only three years, he is among the tiny fraction of post-doctoral
researchers invited to move into the center's coveted scientist employment
track.
A highly sought expert in his field, Bryan has already made fundamental
contributions to the field of meteorology. Bryan designed and constructed
a cutting edge computer model of the atmosphere—an especially daunting
task since other models have taken hundreds of man-years to develop. Known
as the Bryan-Fritsch Model, and developed primarily with Professor J. Michael
Fritsch, Distinguished Professor Emeritus with the Penn State Department of Meteorology, Bryan’s model helps scientists
understand how thunderstorms form and why some thunderstorm systems are
composed of tornado-bearing storms while others produce less destructive
thunderstorms. This research has been a catalyst for several new fields
of investigation, and his ideas are already being taught at major universities.
Bryan is a member of the American Meteorological Society’s Committee
on Mesoscale Processes and acts as a research mentor, teacher, and consultant
for several universities and government organizations. At Colorado State
University, he teaches cloud dynamics and mesoscale dynamics. He has been
a contributor to the Weather Research and Forecasting model, has published
numerous papers, serves as a reviewer for the Journal of the Atmospheric
Sciences, and is an associate editor for Monthly Weather Review.
As a student at Penn State, Bryan was a University Scholar and a recipient
of numerous awards from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the National
Weather Service, the Department of Meteorology, and the American Meteorological
Society. Bryan also held leadership roles in the Meteorology Honor Society,
the Graduate Academic Committee, and the University chapter of the American
Meteorological Society. Bryan lives in Longmont, Colorado.
The Alumni Achievement Award recognizes alumni 35 years of age and younger
for their extraordinary professional accomplishments. These prominent young
alumni are nominated by an academic college and invited by the President
of the University to return to campus to share their expertise with students,
faculty, and administrators. They demonstrate to students that Penn State
alumni succeed in exceptional fashion at an early age. The award is a cast
bronze medallion and framed certificate.
Home