Peter Lamb

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Faculty Spotlight

Featured: 12/2011

Director of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), Dr. Peter Lamb, recently announced that NOAA has selected OU to continue a federal/academic research partnership that focuses on weather radar research, improving forecasts for severe storms, and improving our understanding of extreme weather and short-term regional climate. "We are especially delighted to continue our involvement with NOAA at such a crucial time for environmental stewardship," said Lamb. "Devastating tornado outbreaks last spring and continued drought across the south central United States are just two recent situations illustrating the need for the kind of research we do with NOAA and other agency funding."

Dr. Lamb received Bachelors (1969) and Masters (1971, with Honours) degrees in Geography from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), the Ph.D. in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin in 1976, and a D.Sc. for published research in Climate Science from the University of Canterbury in 2002. Dr. Lamb taught Atmospheric Science and Geography at the Universities of Canterbury (1971) and Adelaide (Australia, 1976-78), and was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Wisconsin (1976) and at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies of the University of Miami (1978-79).

In August 1991, Dr. Lamb joined the University of Oklahoma as a tenured full Professor in its School of Meteorology, and as Director of its Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) that largely is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). CIMMS now has a staff of 150 and an annual budget approaching $11 million. Dr. Lamb also served as Director of the International Center for Disaster Research (ICDR) at the University of Oklahoma from 1994-99, and was Associate Director of Oklahoma Weather Center Programs from 1996-2006. In 1996, Dr. Lamb received a University of Oklahoma Regents' Award for Superior Accomplishment in Research and Creative Activity. In April 2001, Dr. Lamb was honored with a George Lynn Cross Research Professorship, The University of Oklahoma's highest research honor that is awarded to only one or two faculty members each year out of the University's 1200-strong faculty. Additionally, in 2003, he held the W. John and Gail M. Hussey Commemorative Lectureship in Meteorology at The Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Lamb's research thrusts at the University of Oklahoma have involved 20 graduate students to date, three of whom have won American Meteorological Society Awards for their efforts. Dr. Lamb is a member of the American and Royal Meteorological Societies, the American Geophysical Union, and Sigma Xi. He was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in 1988, and was essentially the founding Chief Editor of the AMS Journal of Climate during 1989-95, after serving as an Associate Editor during the journal's initial year. Currently, Dr. Lamb is Editor of the AMS series of Meteorological Monographs for 2009-2011 and also serves as Editor of Oceanic and Ocean Science Letters published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was Chair of the AMS Committee on Climate Variations during 1996-98, served on the Earth and Sciences Advisory Council of the Universities Space Research Association from 1991-99, and was reappointed to that Council in 2009. Dr. Lamb gave the Margary Lecture to the Royal Meteorological Society (in London) in 1991. This annual lecture deals with climate and agriculture. Since 1985, Dr. Lamb has served as an occasional Advisor to the World Meteorological Organization, U.N. Environment Programme, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, and several other U.S. Federal Agencies. During 1991, he also served on the Scientific Advisory council for AGRHYMET, an international research center in Niamey, Niger, that focuses on the agricultural meteorology and hydrometeorology of Subsaharan West Africa. Since 2004, Dr. Lamb has served on the International Scientific Steering Committee and International Governing Board of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Program.

Dr. Lamb is the author or coauthor of five research monographs, four book chapters, one encyclopedia contribution, more than 85 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals, and numerous other publications including several articles in Oklahoma and New Zealand newspapers. His research has been published in the World's premier scientific journals (Nature, 2 sole- and 1 lead-authored papers; Science, 1 joint-authored paper), most of the leading journals of atmospheric and climate science, and in journals of many other disciplines (agricultural science, geography, economics, oceanography, hydrology, energy, environmental quality, water resources). Those publications have been cited more than 3,400 times in the scientific literature worldwide, with the citations for five publications exceeding 200 each and 31 publications being cited at least 31 times (h-index of 31). Dr. Lamb has received research grants totaling more than $23 million from NSF, NOAA, USEPA, USDOE, USAID, the MacArthur Foundation, the Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction (Boston), the Japan Science and Technology Agency, the Williams Companies, and the Insurance Australia Group. He was listed in Who's Who in the World for 1996, Who's Who in America for 1994-2005 and 2008-2010, and has been regularly listed in several other citation publications since 1994.