PAST AND PRESENT NOAA SCIENTISTS WIN PRESIDENTIAL EARLY CAREER AWARDS

June 14, 2005 — Researchers specializing in watershed restoration and the composition of atmospheric aerosols received presidential early career awards during a White House ceremony on Monday. Phil Roni, a fisheries research scientist at the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Wash., and Daniel Cziczo, who was with the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., were among 58 individuals who received the nation's highest honor for scientists early in their careers. (Click NOAA image for larger view of Phil Roni, a fisheries research scientist at the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Please credit “NOAA.”)

"It is gratifying to see scientists earn such a high recognition this early in their careers," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "NOAA and the nation are fortunate to have their service and will benefit from their work."

As a fisheries research scientist and program leader, Roni conducted research on salmon life history and the effects of hydropower operations on salmonids. His current research focuses on watershed restoration and evaluating various rehabilitation techniques such as nutrient additions, floodplain restoration and recovery of urban streams.

Prior to arriving at NOAA in 1995, he worked as a marine and fisheries biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and as a research biologist at an environmental consulting company. Roni holds three degrees from the University of Washington: a bachelor of arts in business (1987), a master of science in fisheries science (1992) and a doctorate in fisheries science (2000).

Now at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland, Czico was a research scientist at the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research on Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and worked at the Aeronomy Laboratory. Before coming to NOAA in 1999, he was on the Galileo Navigation Team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1993 to 1994. (Click NOAA image for larger view of Daniel Cziczo, who was with the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory. Please credit “NOAA.”)

In his work, Cziczo has applied novel instrumentation to determine the detailed chemical composition of aerosols. That pioneering work identified precisely which atmospheric fine particles initiate cloud formation, which is key to understanding the atmosphere's radiative budget and climate.

He holds a bachelor of science in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois (1992), a master of science in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago (1997) and a doctorate in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago (1999).

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Research

NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center

NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory

NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research on Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

Media Contact:
Jana Goldman, NOAA Research, (301) 713-2483 ext. 181