International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize

International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize

The 54th IMO Prize, WMO’s most prestigious prize, was awarded by the 61st session of the WMO Executive Council (3-12 June 2009) to Eugenia Kalnay (Argentina/USA). Professor Kalnay is a leader in the field of global numerical weather prediction and analysis, including data assimilation and ensemble forecasting. She has been involved in several international WMO activities, including the WMO/Thorpex Workshop on 4D-Var and Ensemble Kalman Filter Intercomparisons held in 2008.

Professor Kalnay received her undergraduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (1965), where her major professor was Rolando Garcia. She then received a research assistantship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Jule Charney was her adviser. She became the first woman to obtain a PhD in Meteorology from MIT (1971) and the first female professor in the Department of Meteorology there.

Professor Kalnay is the author of several publications and has received a number of awards, including the NASA gold medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1981), the American Meteorological Society Jule G. Charney Award (1995) and the First Eugenia Brin Professorship in Data Assimilation (2008). She is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

Professor Kalnay is currently “Distinguished University Professor” in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Maryland, USA.

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