Congratulations to Meteorology alumnus and 2006 Penn State Alumni Achievement Awardee, George Bryan ('96, '98, '03), who has won the American Meteorological Society's Banner I. Miller Award along with Rich Rotunno, Assistant Director, Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology at NCAR.  George Bryan is a Scientist II n the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division at NCAR. 

Below is a brief description of the award and details about the paper written by George Bryan and Rich Rotunno courtesy of Roger Wakimoto.

BANNER I. MILLER AWARD

The Banner I. Miller Award is presented for an outstanding contribution to the science of hurricane and tropical weather forecasting published in a journal with international circulation during the 48 months prior to the deadline for nominations (November 1). The award is to be presented at each Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, and is based on the recommendation of the Committee on Tropical Meteorology and Tropical Cyclones and the STAC Commissioner.

The Committee has selected as the winners of the Banner Miller Award:

George Bryan and Richard Rotunno for their 2009 paper:

"The maximum intensity of tropical cyclones in Axisymmetric Numerical Model Simulations", Mon. Wea. Rev., 137, 1770-1789.

The paper was selected for the following reason: "In this paper, the authors demonstrate that the intensity of numerically simulated tropical cyclones is highly sensitive to the formulation and magnitude of radial diffusion, a process that has been neglected in theoretical treatments of maximum intensity and overlooked in diagnosing previous numerical simulations. This paper explains a great many earlier findings, such as the observation that numerically simulated storm intensity often exceeds that given by extant maximum intensity theory. It is proving useful to forecasters in their interpretation of the maximum intensity that tropical cyclone could achieve, and has alerted modelers to that fact that modeled storms may be exquisitely sensitive to how turbulence is formulated."