Hugh Schratwieser, Melanie Caesar, Ann Murphy, and Scott Jordan were joined by Vice Admiral Lautenbacher and William Broglie, the Chief Administrative Officer, as they were honored “for developing and implementing NOAA’s deemed export compliance program, designed to prevent the unauthorized release of controlled technology to foreign nationals.”

Kimberly Amendola, Connie Barclay, Laura Engleby, Amy Holman, Blair Mase, Keith Mullin, J. Jason Rolfe, Patricia Rosel, Teresa Rowles, Trevor Spradlin were joined by Vice Admiral Lautenbache; NOS Chief, Jack Dunnigan; NOAA Fisheries Deputy Chief, John Oliver and NOAA Communications director, Anson Franklin, as they were honored “for successful rescues of captive and wild marine mammals displaced and injured during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.”

Mase Akapo, a warning preparedness meteorologist from the Pago Pago weather service office and a member of the House of Representatives in the American Samoan Fono, presented Vice Admiral Lautenbacher with a ceremonial `awa bowl.

NOAA Fisheries’ Stephanie Hunt helped to release 8,000 shad into Delaware’s Brandywine Creek for Earth Day.

Team Member of the Month


Kevin Higaki
NOAA Fisheries Service

NOAA’s Employee and Team Member of the Month for June are Mike Umsheid, NOAA’s National Weather Service, and Kevin Higaki, NOAA Fisheries Service.

On May 4, 2007, a series of violent tornadoes moved through southwest and central Kansas, especially along a 22-mile track through the town of Greensburg. Mike Umscheid was part of the Dodge City weather forecast team. Mike accurately identified that the meteorological environment was favorable for the production of long-lived, strong tornadoes and issued strongly worded warnings well in advance of and throughout the lifetime of the cyclic supercell responsible for the strong and violent tornadoes. A tornado warning specifically mentioning the town of Greensburg was issued 26 minutes before the violent F-5 tornado. Mike also issued a “Tornado Emergency” severe weather statement emphasizing that “a large and extremely dangerous tornado” was on a direct path for Greensburg. Mike’s outstanding performance reflected very favorably on NOAA and the National Weather Service.

Kevin Higaki, an assistant program/administrative manager with JIMAR, serves as a key contact between the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) and JIMAR. The PIFSC and the University of Hawaii have a long standing cooperative agreement to conduct collaborative research on projects of mutual interest. Kevin’s outstanding administrative expertise enables the PIFSC to efficiently host more than 110 JIMAR staff and students to work on these projects. With these JIMAR staff representing more than half of the personnel at the PIFSC, Kevin’s support is instrumental in the Center’s ability to administer scientific research and monitoring programs that promote domestic and international conservation and management of living marine resources in the Pacific Region and the overall NOAA Fisheries Service mission.

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.

The SAWS workshop planning/organization committee included (from left to right) Matt Lorentson, Center Weather Service Unit (CWSU), Albuquerque; Leslie Wanek, Phoenix WFO; Valerie Scheele, Phoenix WFO; and David Craft, Albuquerque WFO.