The American Meteorological Society announced the 2020 award and honor recipients. Among those named was Sebastian Torres, a senior research scientist at the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, whose work supports technology testing at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory.
Torres received an Editor’s Award for the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic TechnologyTorres was honored for, “providing thorough reviews that have helped the decision-making process in controversial situations.”
Rewarding work
Torres said he enjoys reviewing articles and helping his peers communicate their ideas more effectively. The process helps him become a better writer while learning about new discoveries in his field and contributing to AMS.
“Serving as a reviewer for publications like the AMS Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology can be time consuming, but I consider it an integral and rewarding part of my work as a scientist,” Torres said. “I take the opportunity to review the work of others as a way to pay it forward. Besides serving as a regular reviewer, I am an associate editor of JTECH. In this role, I often get to help the editor solve a controversial situation or reach a difficult decision, which can be extra challenging. All in all, serving as peer reviewer makes me feel part of my scientific community, so, being recognized with this award is a huge honor.”
Working with NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, his research involves creating and testing new radar capabilities with NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, in addition to helping improve current the current radar system to support the National Weather Service.
He is currently involved in testing the Advanced Technology Demonstrator radar. Torres recently returned from the 39th AMS International Conference on Radar Meteorology. He presented on the ATD and its progress.