The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Award

Prof. Carl-Gustaf Rossby was the founder of the study of meteorology and physical oceanography at MIT, where he was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Aeronautics in 1928.

This group later developed into the first Department of Meteorology in an academic institution in the United States, and which was the direct ancestor of PAOC. Rossby is remembered as one of the major figures in the founding of the modern dynamical study of the atmosphere and ocean: His name is recalled ubiquitously in Rossby waves, the Rossby number, and the Rossby radius of deformation, all ideas fundamental to the understanding of all planetary scale fluids.

In honor of Rossby's many contributions both to science generally, and MIT in particular, PAOC each year awards the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Award for the best PhD thesis completed the preceding year within PAOC. The award includes a cash prize and a certificate. Nominations for the award are made by PAOC faculty, with a special committee makes the final choice.

Rossby Award Committee:

Glenn Flierl (chair), Ed Boyle, Stephanie Dutkiewicz
(Selects recipient of the Rossby Award for the best thesis of the current academic year.)

Previous Rossby Award Winners:

2021 Tristian Abbott & Madeleine Youngs
2020 Megan Lickley & Kevin Sutherland
2019 Brian Green & Tom Beucler
2018 Jimmy Gasore
2017 Nicholas Hawco
2016 Jörn Callies
2015 Jill McDermott
2013 Jessica Fitzsimmons & Chris Kempes
2012 Laura Meredith & Malte Jansen
2010 Brian Rose
2009 Daniel Enderton
2008 Elke Hodson
2006 Arnico Panday
2005 Takamitsu Ito
2004 Peter Huybers
2003 Pablo Zurita-Gotor
2002 Markus Jochum
2001 Veronique Bugnion
2000 Ann Pearson & Gary Kleiman
1999 Gerard Hugh Roe
1998 Youngsook Huh
1997 Igor Kamenkovich
1996 Marja Helena Bister & Francoise Romain Robe
1995 Sara Tragler Gille
1994 Roger John Atkinson
1993 Dana Hartley
1992 Stanley Heckman
1991 Chantal Rivest
1989 Arlindo Moraes Da Silva, Jr.
1988 John Alexander Barth
1987 Eli Tziperman
1985 Stephen Emil Zebiak
1984 William Joseph Gutowski, Jr.
1983 William Ray Young
1982 Randall Mathews Dole
1981 Lee Edward Branscome
1980 Robald Mark Errico
1979 Charles Augustin Lin
1978 Kerry Andrew Emanuel
1977 Ines Gau-Sheung Fung
1976 John Clark Willett
1975 Antonio Devine Moura
1974 Peter Colvin Smith
1973 Stephen Edward Mudrick
1972 Martin Steven Tracton
1971 Robert William Burpee
1970 John Ellsworth Hart
1969 Kenneth Warren Ruggles
1968 Isidoro Orlanski
1967 John Micheal Wallace
1966 Robert Earl Dickinson
1965 James Samuel Kennedy
1964 Godwin Olu Patrick Obasi