Oklahoma tornado aficionados capture national honors

NORMAN — Two meteorologists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory received Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama last week.

Pamela Heinselman and Michael Coniglio study new weather radar systems and improvements in tornado forecasting for the laboratory, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government to professionals in the early stages of their research careers.

The 100 nationwide recipients were announced in July and received their awards at the White House last week.

"These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country,” Obama said in a news release.

Heinselman has led NOAA’s National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar Demonstration Project for several years with a focus on using radar data to improve tornado warning lead times.

She also mentors numerous undergraduate and graduate meteorology students at the University of Oklahoma.

Coniglio works in the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed, where he evaluates experimental weather models and then brings the research to forecasters.

He helped set up the VORTEX2 Operations Center and joined scientists in the field for the largest field experiment in history to explore tornadoes, according to the federal weather research agency’s Web site.