HU Professor Named Virginia's Outstanding Scientist 2007

Hampton, VA - Hampton University professor and co-director of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Dr. M. Patrick McCormick, has been named one of Virginia’s Outstanding Scientists for 2007 by Governor Timothy M. Kaine and the Science Museum of Virginia (SMV). McCormick has conducted research and taught at Hampton University for the past 11 years.

For the past 44 years, McCormick has performed research on the development and application of sensors for measurement in the Earth’s atmosphere, focusing primarily on lidar and satellite limb extinction techniques for the global characterization of aerosols, clouds, ozone and other atmospheric species.

He is principal investigator for NASA’s SAM II, SAGE I, II and III satellite experiments. These experiments produced global data that McCormick uses to study aerosols, gaseous species, and chemical and dynamical processes in the middle atmosphere.

Hampton University President Dr. William R. Harvey is proud of McCormick’s accomplishments.

“Dr. McCormick is very deserving of this honor. He is an outstanding researcher and professor and his work has given us a better understanding of the earth's atmosphere,” said Harvey.

Thanks to this research, and airborne lidar field campaigns, McCormick has named and characterized Polar Stratospheric Clouds critical to understanding the “ozone hole.” The satellite data are among the longest global data recorded and are being used to study long-term global change. He is also co-principal investigator for the satellite experiment CALIPSO. CALIPSO, Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation, was developed in part by Hampton University and launched by NASA in 2006. It will eventually help improve scientists' understanding of the global climate, hurricanes and temperature changes.

When McCormick is not advancing modern science, he enjoys exercising and amateur wrestling refereeing. He has been honored with countless awards and is a member of the American Geophysical Union and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

McCormick joined Hampton University in 1996, coming from NASA Langley Research Center where he helped build an atmospheric sciences program and led the science for several earth satellite missions. He has published more than 430 papers, journal articles, NASA publications and books, and refereed journal publications.

McCormick received his bachelor of arts degree in physics from Washington and Jefferson College and his master of arts degree and Ph.D. in physics from the College of William and Mary.

Dr. Steven Grant, associate director for translational research and co-leader of the Cancer Cell Biology program at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and Dr. George Milton Hornberger, Ernest H. Ern Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, were also named Virginia Outstanding Scientists.

According to the SMV website, the Outstanding Scientist Award honors those scientists whose contributions to scientific research extends the science boundaries. Former Governor Charles S. Robb presented the first awards on March 20, 1985 and Governor Timothy M. Kaine will present these awards at a banquet in April.