GML Employee Spotlight
February 2021
Gataivai "Vai" Talamoa rose to the task of single-handedly running station operations at the American Samoa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory when the station chief had to suddenly leave the island. Not missing a beat, Vai stepped in to keep GML's critical measurements going at the Observatory, in addition to his regular NOAA Fisheries tasking. Without his swift action and realignment of duties, data would have been lost at the Observatory. Vai embodies the "One NOAA" spirit and is an important member of the American Samoa Team. Thank you Vai!
November 2020
Andy Clarke traveled to BRW to assist moving the science from the old facility into the new observatory. Andy spent weeks preparing with GML’s science groups and jumped through multiple hoops to be allowed to travel into Alaska during COVID (testing and quarantine). Once on site, Andy worked tirelessly for 4 straight weeks to achieve the goal of transitioning GML science into the new building. Andy went above and beyond by working weekends and evening hours to accomplish the mission.
August 2020
James was a true cornerstone of eGMAC success. Without his dedication and support, none of this would be possible. He arranged multiple training sessions for participants. He was innovative at helping Kai-Lan to pre-record the presentation to mitigate Kai-Lan's speech impediment. He supported sessions even on his vacation time. I am super impressed with James' leadership skills and his willingness to go well beyond his duties.
GML staff member Jack Higgs receives the NOAA Silver Sherman award
The NOAA Silver Sherman Award was created in 2016 to recognize individuals who excel at their jobs and who have made an exceptional contribution to NOAA's mission above and beyond their normal responsibilities.
Global Monitoring Laboratory staff member Jack Higgs was awarded the NOAA Silver Sherman Award for his tireless energy and ingenuity helping NOAA build and improve atmospheric sampling systems for aircraft and balloon-based platforms. These systems have allowed GML more efficiency with higher levels of automation, flexibility and reliability. Congratulations, Jack!
February 2020
Ken Kehoe (left) and John Mund (center) received the GML Team of the Quarter Award in February 2020 for being the first GML staff members to step up and lead their GML peers as part of a new GML internal training program. They organized a Python training curriculum from scratch, sought resources, and prepared materials that led to the training of more than 20 GML staff in an introductory Python class followed by a slightly more advanced Python training using GML-relevant examples. John and Ken's positive attitude, exceptional skills and knowledge, and ability to communicate their ideas and lead a group to success makes them very worthy of this recognition.
November 2019
Dr. Ben Miller received the GMD Team Member of the Quarter Award in November 2019 for his pioneering work related to a short-term study on the “Colorado Front Range Air Toxics Study, 2018-2019”. He developed novel techniques for analyzing samples of trace gases with a wide dynamic range in concentration above ambient levels while ensuring that the samples do not contaminate our long-term mission of providing accurate measurements of these trace gases in the background atmosphere. Working with others, Dr. Miller provided a pathway to link our central ambient atmospheric real air, working standard from Niwot Ridge, CO to high concentration gravimetric standards and to a spiked high concentration standard of real air from Niwot Ridge (working standard). This accuracy will permit the calculation of highly precise emission factors of a VOC compared to methane to determine its source of the emission (landfills, cattle feedlots, fracking, biomass, etc.). This allows GMD to identify the source of enhanced methane and VOCs and to assist public policy makers who work on emission management and mitigation for the public good.
August 2019
Christy Schultz received the GMD Team Member of the Quarter Award in August 2019 for dedicating months of effort to lead GMD in the recent preparations for the July NECSAS safety inspection. Her hours of hard work, strong organizational skills, ability to work well with and inspire others, and positive,"can-do" attitude ensured the Division's compliance with safety standards and, thus, a successful audit. Christy's leadership in this and many efforts, and her ability to make things happen, demonstrates strong competence and professionalism. This is one example of many where Christy has made a positive difference in GMD. We are fortunate to have Christy on our GMD team!!
May 2019
Scott Stierle, GMD Radiation Scientist, was awarded the GMD Team Member of the Quarter Award in May 2019 in recognition for developing and effectively applying web-based plotting software so staff in the GMD Radiation Group can easily plot data from diverse input formats and more quickly quality control time series. His programming and computer skills are invaluable! Congratulations, Scott, and thank you for your outstanding contributions to GMD and in support of the scientific community.
Silver Sherman Award
The NOAA Silver Sherman Award was created in 2016 to recognize individuals who excel at their jobs and who have made an exceptional contribution to NOAA's mission above and beyond their normal responsibilities.
The 2019 Silver Sherman Award GMD recipient is Kirk Thoning "for a career touching nearly every fundamental aspect of carbon cycle and atmospheric monitoring work in GMD. Kirk has used his outstanding programming skills to support efforts as diverse and important as scientific analysis, data management strategies, analytical system development, greenhouse gas data visualization, and website enhancement. He excels at his job in an unassuming way, yet always with significant impact in support of the Division.”
February 2019
Bryan Thomas, Station Chief at the Barrow Observatory, Alaska, was awarded the GMD Team Member of the Quarter Award in February 2019 in recognition for his time and effort running the Barrow Observatory single-handedly this past quarter, keeping GMD’s critical measurements going, supporting new Observatory design efforts, getting the solar albedo rack communications upgraded from a phone line to WiFi, repairing the bobcat, moving snow and coordinating heavy equipment, and hosting outreach and media events, all the while maintaining a positive attitude in the cold and dark winter months and during the recent shutdown. Congratulations, Bryan, and thank you for your extensive contributions to the polar scientific community.
December 2018
The HATS flask analysis team of Debbie Mondeel, Carolina Siso, and David Nance have provided important analyses of the recent atmospheric growth increase of CFC-11, an important ozone depleting gas regulated by the Montreal Protocol. Their contributions were critical to a recent paper by Montzka et al. (2018) on possible illegal production of CFC-11, and to a recent meeting about the Montreal Protocol. Their jobs require meticulous work on calibration, analysis, data recording, flask repair, and interaction with station staff on issues of sampling. They have helped to continue the GMD flask record from 1977 to the present.