NOAA, Air Resources Laboratory Scientists Receive EPA 2009 STAA Award

Congratulations to Daewon Byun and Ken Schere for receiving the EPA 2009 Level 1 Scientific and Technological Achievement Award (STAA) for their work “Developing a Model Serving as the Primary Tool for EPA and Others to Use for Air Quality Management and Forecasting.” Their work is published in the paper: Review of the Governing Equations, Computational Algorithms, and Other Components of the Models-3 Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Modeling System, in Applied Mechanics Reviews (Daewon Byun and Kenneth L. Schere, March 2006).

Background: Daewon Byun and Ken Schere were working for the Air Resources Laboratory on assignment to EPA at the time of the development, testing, and refinement of the CMAQ modeling system. Ken Schere moved to EPA in 2008, and Daewon Byun returned to ARL in 2009, after working in academia, to lead the air quality forecasting modeling group. EPA Level I awards are for those who have accomplished an exceptionally high-quality research or technological effort. The awards recognize the creation or general revision of scientific or technological principle or procedure, or a highly significant improvement in the value of a device, activity, program, or service to the public. Awarded research is of national significance or has high impact on a broad area of science/technology. The research has far reaching consequences and is recognizable as a major scientific/technological achievement within its discipline or field of study.

Significance: Air pollution has significant health, economic and ecological consequences. Poor air quality contributes to tens of thousands of premature deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases across the Nation annually. The U.S. spends tens of billions of dollars each year to reduce air pollution in order to protect public health and the environment. The CMAQ model is a one-atmosphere modeling system used by EPA and the states for air quality regulatory analyses and by NOAA for its ground-level ozone forecasting.

For More Information, contact: Steven Fine