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March 2007
Denise Stephenson Hawk joins
SERE
Denise Stephenson Hawk. |
As the newest associate director of NCAR, Denise Stephenson
Hawk took the helm of the Societal-Environmental Research
and Education Laboratory in January. Her goal is to link
research, policy, and education.
“If I could define the ideal position for myself, then
this would be it,” says Denise, who has ample experience
working with both physical and social scientists. Before
coming to NCAR, she was the founding director of the interdisciplinary
Earth Systems Science Program at Clark Atlanta University,
which involved the natural and social sciences as well as
the humanities. A physical scientist herself, she also served
as professor and interim chair of Clark Atlanta’s physics
department.
Also on Denise’s résumé are leadership
posts in academia (she served as provost for Spelman College,
her alma mater) and industry (at AT&T Bell Laboratories),
as well as senior-level consulting on federal transportation
programs and extensive service on national advisory councils
and committees.
Denise’s first contact with NCAR came during her undergraduate
years at Spelman, when she attended a talk by NCAR scientist
Warren Washington. “Warren focused on the dynamics
of climate change and the ways that the traditional disciplines
of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology contributed
to our understanding of weather and climate,” she recalls.
The talk was a life-changing event for Denise, who decided
to shift from mathematics to environmental modeling. She
went on to become the first African American and the second
woman to earn a doctorate in geophysical fluid dynamics at
Princeton University.
Denise points to Hurricane Katrina as a classic example of
how interdisciplinary research on weather and climate can
serve the nation. “Regardless of the degree of accuracy
of the predictions of the storm’s track or its intensity,
Katrina was still a disaster of huge proportions,” she
says. “Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Floyd highlight
the need for SERE and the urgency of its research.”
SERE’s work on the Earth system includes the study
of human-environment interactions and the generation of policy-relevant
guidance on weather and climate topics. One of SERE’s
goals is to examine the ways in which social science can
help citizens, governments, and businesses grapple with the
challenges of weather and climate change.
In this issue...
International
Polar Year kicks off this month
Project
BudBurst to debut
GLOBE
at Night
Short
Takes
Denise
Stephenson Hawk joins SERE
An
interview with Katy Schmoll
Mesa
Lab a medieval castle?
Just One Look
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