Sundararaman “Gopal” Gopalakrishnan, PhD, senior meteorologist in the Hurricane Research Division (HRD) at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Fellows are elected for their “outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years.” Gopal is the head of the HRD modeling group and is currently serving as the developmental manager for NOAA’s Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP). Gopal has over 60 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and has served as an Associate Editor for the Monthly Weather Review and Weather and Forecasting.
HRD scientists Ghassan J Alaka Jr and Frank D. Marks (retired) and CIMAS scientist Andrew Hazelton, with partners Xiaomin Chen and Chunxi Zhang, were presented with the Banner I. Miller Award at the 2026 AMS conference in Houston, Texas. The Banner I. Miller Award is given biannually for an outstanding contribution to the science of hurricane and tropical weather forecasting published in a journal with international circulation during the 48 months prior to the deadline for nominations. The team was awarded this honor for developing a high-wind boundary-layer parameterization scheme that advances the intensity, including rapid intensification, and forecast skill of NOAA’s operational Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) model.
These honors underscore the outstanding contributions of our scientists and the critical role of AOML in advancing hurricane research.