PSL Senior Scientist Roger Pulwarty receives DOC Silver Medal Award

Roger Pulwarty (left) with PSL Director Robert Webb
Roger Pulwarty (left) with PSL Director Robert Webb.

The Physical Sciences Laboratory congratulates Senior Scientist Roger Pulwarty, who is a member of a team that won a Department of Commerce Silver Medal “for delivering the 4th National Climate Assessment, an authoritative and comprehensive assessment of climatic changes and risks for the United States." The Silver Medal recognizes exceptional performance characterized by noteworthy or superlative contributions that have a direct and lasting impact within the Department.

Pulwarty has an impressive record linking the science of weather, water and climate extremes and their impacts to societal issues. He began working in PSL predecessor organization, the Climate Diagnostics Center, in 1994 as a CIRES research scientist before serving in positions as Deputy Director of CU's Western Water Assessment, Director of the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program, the National Integrated Drought Information System, and Senior Advisor for Climate Research at NOAA’s Climate Program Office. Pulwarty has been a Convening Lead Author on national and international assessments, including the IPCC Working Group II and the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Global Assessment Reports. He is the co-editor of "Hurricanes: Climate and Socio economic impacts" (Springer, reissued in paperback 2012) and "Drought and Water Crises" (CRC Press, 2017). Pulwarty was selected as PSL Senior Scientist in June 2017. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years. The 4th National Climate Assessment fulfills that mandate and was written to help inform decision-makers, utility and natural resource managers, public health officials, emergency planners, and other stakeholders by providing a thorough examination of the effects of climate change on the United States.