Edging Closer to Tornadoes

Mobile Doppler Radar Instruments Edge Closer to Swirling Funnel Clouds
Mobile Doppler radar instruments funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and deployed by scientists Howard Bluestein and Joshua Wurman of the University of Oklahoma and Andrew Pazmany of the University of Massachusetts are edging ever closer to the funnel clouds of tornadoes -- including the recent devastating storms in Oklahoma. One of these storms passed within a half-mile of the mobile units. NSF supports two complementary projects with the goal of understanding how tornadoes form and "decay," and the damage that might be expected from them. The first project supports the "Doppler on Wheels," which has been jointly developed by the University of Oklahoma and the NSF-sponsored National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The Doppler on Wheels team collected extensive data on the genesis of the tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma.    More...

Public Service Awards Go to Stephen Jay Gould and PBS' "Bill Nye, the Science Guy"
The National Science Board (NSB) has named noted paleontologist, author and science popularizer Stephen Jay Gould along with the producers of the Public Broadcasting System's (PBS) Bill Nye, the Science Guy, to receive the NSB's second annual Public Service Award. The award honors outstanding individual and organizational contributions to public understanding of science and engineering. Gould's investigations of evolution, together with those of his colleague Niles Eldredge, have resulted in the seminal concept of punctuated equilibrium, arguably the most significant insight into evolution's mechanisms since Darwin. The production team of the television series, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, the entertaining and innovative hands-on science program for young people, is receiving the NSB's organizational Public Service Award for 1999.    More...

President Clinton Names Outstanding Mathematics and Science Teachers
President Clinton has named 208 teachers to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the nation's highest honor for mathematics and science teaching in elementary and secondary schools. "In winning this award, these teachers have achieved the equivalent of a winning three-point shot in the final seconds of the NBA championship playoffs," said Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which administers the award. "Excellence in math and science teaching shapes our children's intellectual development, strengthens our educational system, and advances the national goal to vastly improve the education of our children. We owe it to the students to cherish and honor their best teachers."    More...

National Science Board Honors Maxine Frank Singer with Vannevar Bush Award
The National Science Board (NSB) has named Maxine Frank Singer, Ph.D., president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., to receive the 1999 Vannevar Bush Award for lifetime contributions to science and engineering. The NSB -- the governing body of the National Science Foundation (NSF) -- annually honors a senior scientist and statesperson as a distinguished leader in science, engineering or technology. The Bush Award recognizes years of pioneering discoveries, public service and contributions to the welfare of the nation. Singer's honor is a result of her many years of pioneering scientific achievements in molecular biology. She was also recognized for her activism and creativity in developing programs in math and science education for inner-city Washington, D.C., school children and their teachers.    More...

Astronomy Teams Find First Multi-Planet System, Other Than Our Own, Orbiting Star
The first believed multiple planet system orbiting around a sun-like star has been found by independent teams of astronomers, including National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers from San Francisco State University and from the Anglo-Australian Observatory. In 1996 San Francisco State's Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler of the Anglo-Australian Observatory detected a near Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star Upsilon Andromedae. Recently, the scientists, after analyzing 11 years of telescopic observations at Lick Observatory near San Jose, Calif., picked up signals of what appears to be two additional planets within the same system based on newly gathered data. The new data indicates there are at least a trio of planets orbiting this star, making the Upsilon Andromedae grouping the first solar system ever found that mimics our own.    More...