E3SM Outstanding Contribution Awards at All-Hands Meeting
Every year, the E3SM project honors team members who made exceptional contributions to the critical but less visible aspects of E3SM model development. These contributions are essential to advancing the E3SM model’s capabilities and ensuring its success, even though they may not always result in publications or traditional laboratory recognition. At this year’s E3SM All-Hands meeting, the Executive Committee selected several awardees from nominations submitted by Council members, celebrating their remarkable efforts and achievements.
Outstanding Contribution Awards
Carolyn Begeman
“For her exceptional contributions across the OMEGA and Polar groups, including diagnosing critical biases, fully examining ocean-sea ice coupling, leading testing efforts under Polaris, and spearheading the v3 SORRM paper under BlueTip. Carolyn has demonstrated unparalleled initiative, technical expertise, and leadership, making her an indispensable member of the E3SM project.”
Alan Di Vittorio
“For his exceptional technical expertise and leadership in coupling E3SM with the GCAM human-systems model—overcoming immense challenges to harmonize input datasets, resolve complex issues, and advance simulations—Alan has made invaluable contributions that have elevated the project’s ‘Energy’ focus and its global recognition.”
Ben Hillman
“For his outstanding leadership in managing the highly challenging SCREAM decadal simulation, overcoming challenges with significant machine upgrades and failures, and providing invaluable insights into long exascale simulations critical to future goals, Ben Hillman has made a pivotal contribution to the success of a key FY26 BER metric for the E3SM project.”
Ziming Ke
Dr. Ziming Ke
(Dr. Ke, pictured to the right, received the award in absentia, so there is no photo of him receiving it)
“For his exceptional contributions to the development, evaluation, and integration of new aerosol/chemistry features in EAMv3, his critical support of single-forcing experiments for the Coupled group, and his leadership in authoring key E3SM publications, Ziming has been instrumental to the project’s success.”
Erin Thomas
“For her groundbreaking work in advancing E3SM‘s capabilities to simulate global ocean waves and their interaction with sea ice, her seamless collaboration across multiple groups and projects, and her recognition as an emerging authority in polar modeling. Erin has positioned E3SM at the forefront of Earth system modeling while mentoring the next generation of scientists and contributing to critical advancements in understanding polar and coastal processes.”
Tom Vo
“For his outstanding contributions to the E3SM Infrastructure team, including leading the development of xCDAT as a core data manipulation tool, refactoring E3SM Diags with a new backend, advancing data publication tools, and providing critical support for Python development and post-processing. Tom Vo has demonstrated exceptional technical expertise, leadership, and collaboration that have greatly advanced the E3SM project.”
Shixuan Zhang
“For his critical contributions to E3SMv3 coupled model development, including leading efforts to address weak AMOC, designing an innovative spin-up approach for v3.HR, and integrating the PCMDI Metric Package into E3SM diagnostics. Shixuan Zhang has exemplified technical excellence, initiative, and a collaborative, project-first mindset that has significantly advanced the E3SM project.”
Certificate of Recognition
Elizabeth Hunke
“In appreciation for her seminal contributions to, and longstanding leadership of, sea-ice modeling for E3SM and the global community.”
Through these awards, the E3SM project acknowledges the invaluable efforts of its team members and their dedication to advancing Earth system modeling. Their contributions continue to drive the project forward and ensure its success in addressing critical scientific challenges.
This article is a part of the E3SM “Floating Points” Newsletter, to read the full Newsletter check:
