Marilyn Wolfson named 2012 fellow of the American Meteorological Society

Marilyn M. Wolfson SM '83, PhD '90, associate leader of the Weather Sensing Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, has been named a fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). She was recognized for “outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences, or their applications, during a substantial period of years.”

The AMS promotes the development and sharing of information on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences. The society also encourages the advancement of professional applications of these sciences. Annually, a maximum of only 0.2 percent of the AMS membership is elevated to the grade of fellow.

Wolfson, who joined Lincoln Laboratory in 1983, directs the laboratory’s aviation weather efforts. Currently, her group is focused on increasing the year-round accuracy of the short-term (zero to eight hours) forecast products, and transferring this technology to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for system acquisition. Important research problems also under investigation for the FAA’s Next Generation Air Traffic System include anticipating the impact of storms on air traffic capacity and demand, and coupling this information functionally to traffic flow management.

Wolfson holds a BS in atmospheric and oceanic science from the University of Michigan and both SM and PhD degrees from MIT, where she was named an Ida M. Green Fellow. She received the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Technical Excellence award in 2005 for “her work in the application of meteorology to the problem of improving air traffic control and for her national-level role in the application of advanced convection weather forecasts for use in the aviation community.” She has served on four National Academy of Sciences committees and has written numerous scientific papers and journal articles.