UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Yvette Richardson, associate dean for undergraduate education in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has been elected to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Board of Trustees for a 3-year term, effective February 2022.
The board is composed of 18 trustees, and she is one of four new institutional trustees elected at the fall 2021 UCAR Members’ Meeting.
The UCAR consortium includes more than 120 North American colleges and universities that offer research and education programs in Earth system science, ranging from meteorology to hydrology, oceanography, atmospheric chemistry, climate science and beyond. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a federally funded research and development center of the National Science Foundation, as well as a collection of services known as UCAR Community Programs.
The UCAR board has primary responsibility for setting UCAR's overall direction, and Richardson, who is also a professor of meteorology, will assist in determining the strategic direction of the corporation.
“I am most looking forward to helping keep UCAR strong, healthy and forward looking,” Richardson said. “I also want to help UCAR to continue to have mutually beneficial relationships with member colleges and universities.”
Richardson’s research focuses on theoretical severe storm dynamics, cloud and mesoscale modeling, radar observations of thunderstorms and tornadoes, and convection initiation. She has been involved with UCAR since nearly the beginning of her career.
“As a faculty member, I have been fortunate to use NCAR observational and computational facilities and to collaborate with NCAR scientists throughout my career,” Richardson said. “UCAR provides resources that no one university can afford to offer like access to cutting-edge numerical models, high-performance computing and highly technical instruments. It also builds a community of science where researchers can discuss and collaborate on projects. “
Serving on UCAR and NCAR boards and committees ensures a connection between universities and the organization, and Richardson has a long history of service.
Richardson currently serves on the NCAR Advisory Panel and the Science Advisory Board for the Developmental Testbed Center. She served for six years on the UCAR President’s Advisory Committee on University Relations, with three years as chair, and eight years on the UCAR Governance Task Group. She also served on search committees for both the NCAR director and the UCAR president,
“I am honored to bring the knowledge and insight from these experiences to service on the board,” Richardson said. “I appreciate both the complexity and the vast potential of the NCAR/UCAR partnership with universities and will work to keep the relationship strong as we tackle some of today’s most pressing and societally relevant scientific problems.”
Richardson joins several faculty members from Penn State who have previously served on the UCAR Board of Trustees including Penn State President Eric Barron and former deans of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences: John Dutton, Charles Hosler Jr. and Elburt Osborn. Barron, also a former dean of the college, and Hosler served as chairs of the board.
Sitting UCAR Trustee Raymond Ban, managing director at Ban & Associates and a Penn State meteorology alum, was re-elected to a three-year term as an at-large member.
Richardson earned her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, and her master’s degree and doctorate, both in meteorology, from the University of Oklahoma.