Michelle Hawkins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michelle Hawkins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alma mater | Howard University |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | National Weather Service |
| Thesis | Investigation of ozone concentrations in the tropical Atlantic marine boundary layer during Saharan dust and biomass burning events (2007) |
Michelle Denise Hawkins is an American atmospheric scientist and chief of the severe, fire, public and winter weather services branch at the United States National Weather Service.[1]
Hawkins grew up in Chicago.[2] She earned her bachelors of sciences in chemistry and PhD in atmospheric science from Howard University.[2]
Career
In her role at the National Weather Service, Hawkins leads programs and policies related to severe, public, and winter weather services, as well as weather-support response services for wildland fires in support of National Weather Service land management partners.[2] In 2014 she worked with undergraduates at Howard University in a campaign designed to expand publicly-available information about summertime weather,[3] and in 2016 she talked with The Daily Beast about heat domes and increasing awareness of weather-related issues.[4] Her work includes issuing high heat warnings, and considerations of optimal timing for such warnings.[5][6]
In 2022, Hawkins was named a fellow of the White House Leadership Development Program, and she is assigned to the Council on Environmental Quality.[7]
Selected publications
- Weinberger, Kate R.; Zanobetti, Antonella; Schwartz, Joel; Wellenius, Gregory A. (2018-07-01). "Effectiveness of National Weather Service heat alerts in preventing mortality in 20 US cities". Environment International. 116: 30–38. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2018.03.028. ISSN 0160-4120. PMC 5970988. PMID 29649774.
- Hawkins, Michelle D.; Brown, Vankita; Ferrell, Jannie (2017-01-01). "Assessment of NOAA National Weather Service Methods to Warn for Extreme Heat Events". Weather, Climate, and Society. 9 (1): 5–13. Bibcode:2017WCS.....9....5H. doi:10.1175/WCAS-D-15-0037.1. ISSN 1948-8327. S2CID 157117268.
- Vaidyanathan, Ambarish; Saha, Shubhayu; Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana M.; Gasparrini, Antonio; Abdurehman, Nabill; Jordan, Richard; Hawkins, Michelle; Hess, Jeremy; Elixhauser, Anne (2019-03-19). "Assessment of extreme heat and hospitalizations to inform early warning systems". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (12): 5420–5427. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.5420V. doi:10.1073/pnas.1806393116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6431221. PMID 30833395.
Awards and honors
In 2019 Hawkins was named a "Modern Day Technology Leader" at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards.[8]