The Desert Research Institute has awarded the 2000 Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in the Atmospheric Sciences to Teresa M. Bals-Elsholz, a Ph.D. student in earth and atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany, State University of New York.
The $1,000 annual award was established in 1998 by former Nevada Lt. Gov. Sue Wagner in memory of her husband, Peter, a DRI scientist who died in the 1980 crash of a DRI research aircraft. The purpose of the national award is to encourage women graduate students in the atmospheric sciences. The recipient is determined competitively based on submission of scientific papers.
"The Peter B. Wagner award provided a unique opportunity to compete with other women in atmospheric science and it gave me an enormous amount of pride to receive this award," said Bals-Elsholz. "This paper competition was a welcome boost of encouragement and a professional nod of affirmation to continue in my pursuit of a PhD in atmospheric science."
Ms. Bals-Elsholz's paper was an analysis of conditions affecting the level of critical winter rainfall during cold weather surges into Central America from the continental U.S. Her study of climate and weather records indicated that greater precipitation occurred when moist air from the Pacific was able to penetrate a "seam" through tropical high pressure into the western Carribean-eastern Mexico region and mix with the cold air surges from the north.
Applicants for the Wagner Award must be pursuing a Masters or Ph.D. in a program of atmospheric sciences or a related field and must submit a paper based on original research directly related to the identification, clarification, and/or resolution of an atmospheric or climatic problem. For further information, visit the DRI web site page for the award at http://www.dri.edu/Admin/wagner.html or contact Dr. Claudia Miner, executive director of DRI's Institutional Advancement, (775) 674-7551 or cminer@dri.edu