President George W. Bush participates in a briefing attended by NWS forecaster Mike Umscheid at the Emergency Operations Center in Greensburg, Kansas, during his visit to the tornado-ravaged area.

Queen Elizabeth II (in yellow dress) and Prince Philip (seated to her left) gaze at what used to be a part of the British Empire as depicted on NOAA’s Science on a Sphere, at NASA’s Goddard Space Center in Maryland earlier this month.

Team Member of the Month


Kris McElwee
NOAA Ocean and Coasts Service

NOAA’s Employee and Team Member of the Month for May are Jim Donovan from the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and Kris McElwee from NOAA Ocean and Coasts Service.

Jim Donovan is boatswain group leader aboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana. His work ethic, determination, and drive have inspired the crew and enhanced morale in the ship's deck department. Jim has dedicated himself to enabling Ka’imimoana to successfully complete her missions while balancing work to obtain his third mate license with maintaining an excellent level of performance. He served as acting boatswain of Ka’imimoana during the last three months of 2006 while the ship was conducting buoy operations in support of the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). Jim fostered a true team spirit among the deck crew, which enabled them to complete all their assigned maintenance tasks with great success. The direct result of his leadership was a high level of customer satisfaction from NDBC. This has fostered a greater unity between the ship's complement, NDBC, and contractor staff during the transition of the TAO buoy program to NDBC.

Kris McElwee, the Pacific Islands coordinator for the NOS Office of Response and Restoration, wears many hats for NOAA. She represents OR&R on multiple Pacific projects, works for the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, serves as the Pacific region coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, and is an integral part of the Pacific Services Center. When President Bush signed the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act last year, there was an urgent need for NOAA to develop an implementation plan. On very short notice, Kris relocated from Hawaii to NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring to help develop the plan. The result of Kris's hard work and dedication is a cohesive plan that meets the legislative requirements and supports NOAA’s missions to keep our oceans clean of marine debris.

Team Member of the Month


Tim Mavor
NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service

NOAA’s Employee and Team Member of the Month for April are Mike Walker from the Office of the Under Secretary and Tim Mavor from NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.

Mike Walker is responsible for graphical oversight of all NOAA leadership Powerpoint presentations, helping to deliver NOAA's mission, vision, and operational priorities and successes to thousands of people around the world. In all cases, when NOAA leadership is conveying a message visually to the public or an external agency partner, Mike has had final clearance on the presentation. In addition, Mike produces all NOAA town hall and NOAA 101 presentations provided by the NOAA Under Secretary to NOAA employees throughout the country. Although located within the Office of the Under Secretary, leadership from nearly all of NOAA's line and staff offices have at some point relied on Mike's talents and skills to convey their message visually. Mike has led all graphical support efforts at every NOAA Senior Executive Service Summit, providing rapid fire support. Mike's talents and skills raise the bar of effectiveness in these high level NOAA meetings.

A physical scientist, Tim Mavor has made significant contributions to NOAA's mission through his work in successfully developing and implementing the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) sea surface temperature daily frontal product. This product, which covers the entire GOES domain, was distributed by NOAA experimentally in October 2005 and became fully operational in December. Of particular interest for the coastal regions of California, Oregon, and Washington is the Oceanic Front Probability Index. This important component of the frontal product is now widely utilized by a range of users from scientists to fishers, and describes the probability density of sea surface temperature front formation occurring off the West Coast. The spatial and temporal variability of oceanic fronts are an important part of the West Coast current system and are vital to understanding and managing fisheries within this system.

NOAA Research staff in Silver Spring greeted a group of 4- to 6-year olds. Atia Moore of the OAR communications office and Karen Williams of the, Office of Labs and Cooperative Institutes helped them make igloos, amulets, and snowy owls.

More than 35 children of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center staff participated in dozens of hand-on interactive science activities to help promote environmental literacy, an understanding of NWFSC's research, and careers in fisheries science. Kids learned how to dissect fish, viewed zebrafish and microorganisms using state-of-the-art equipment, attended a shark tagging and dive gear demonstration, and toured a hatchery.

In Asheville, N.C., the National Climatic Data Center hosted 28 students who were treated to a tour of the facility and began preparations for the Annual Balloon Launch. The student with the balloon that travels to the farthest location will receive a mini-weather station.