Director, National Weather Service (NWS); Assistant Administrator, Weather Services, NOAA

As National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Assistant Administrator for Weather Services, and Director of the National Weather Service, Dr. Louis Uccellini is responsible for the day-to-day civilian weather operations for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas. Prior to this position, he was the Director of the NWS’ National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) for 14 years. He was responsible for directing and planning the science, technology, and operations related to NCEP’s Central Operations and Environmental Modeling, as well as seven national centers, including the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., and Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. His weather career began at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres, when he served as the section head for the Mesoscale Analysis and Modeling Section in 1978. In 1989, he joined the NWS as chief of the Meteorological Operations Division, and in 1994, became Director of the NWS’ Office of Meteorology.

Dr. Uccellini received his B.Sc., Master, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the co-author of a widely acclaimed two-volume American Meteorological Society (AMS) monograph Northeast Snowstorms, published in 2004. Among the many awards he has received in recognition of his research and operational achievements are the following: the Maryland Academy of Sciences Distinguished Young Scientist Award, the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, the AMS’s prestigious Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award, and the National Weather Association’s Research Achievement Awards for Significant Contributions to Operational Meteorology. In 2001, Dr. Uccellini received the U.S. Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award; in 2006, he received the U.S. Presidential Distinguished Rank Award. In 1987, he was became an AMS Fellow, and from 2012 – 2013, Dr. Uccellini served as the President of the AMS.