Richard Clark named Fellow of Meteorological Society

Dr. Richard D. Clark, earth sciences, was inducted as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) at the 92^nd Annual Meeting held in New Orleans in January 2012. To be eligible for election to become a Fellow, an individual “shall have made outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years.”

Of the 14,000 members of the Society, no more than 0.2 percent can become Fellows in any one year. There have been 623 members elected to Fellow over the Society’s 93-year history.

Clark’s contributions to the AMS include being elected to the Council (2008-11), serving as a member of the AMS Committees on Space Weather, Environmental Responsibility and Board of Higher Education. Contributions to the larger atmospheric sciences community include serving as a member of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Board of Trustees and liaison to the UCAR President’s Advisory Committee on University Relations, Millersville University representative to the UCAR Academic Affiliates Program (1997-2009) and a variety of other UCAR-related committees. He also served as member and then chair of the National Center for Atmospheric Research/National Science Foundation Observing Facilities Advisory Panel.

Clark’s research focused on the meteorology and chemistry of the atmospheric boundary layer, the region of the earth’s atmosphere that includes the activities of human, plant and animal existence. In support of his research, Clark has been the recipient of more than $2 million in extramural grants since joining the Millersville University faculty in 1987. More than 100 students have participated directly in field projects, and the Department of Earth Sciences has acquired a considerable inventory of instruments and equipment, all funded by these grants.