IEDRO Volunteers
IEDRO is run by volunteers. If you appreciate our work, please join us in our effort to rescue important environmental data before it’s too late.
Persons listed in bold type have been our most active volunteers for over a year through regular attendance on our conference calls or working behind the scenes on IEDRO tasks.
IEDRO Administration and Principal Volunteers
Dr. Elbert W. Friday, Jr., who joined our Board in April 2011, is a Professor Emeritus of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma and Commissioner of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Weather and Climate Enterprise Commission. Before joining our Board of Directors, Dr. Friday had worked on IEDRO's Advisory Council since fall 2008. He has been Director of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate at the National Academy of Sciences, Director of NOAA Research and Director and Deputy Director of the National Weather Service. He served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization for ten years. Dr. Friday is the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive. The Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association selected him as the 1993 Federal Executive of the Year. He received the 1997 Cleveland Abbe Award from the American Meteorological Society.
Dr. Sharon Kay Orndoff LeDuc, LeDuc joined our staff as Chief Scientist in April 2011. In this role, Dr. LeDuc will be a data rescue leader who helps to shape strategy, and guides the data rescue policies and practices of IEDRO. In collaboration with IEDRO's senior management staff, she will be responsible for raising annual financial support for current and expanding programs. After nearly 36 years of service, Dr. LeDuc retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Her final personnel assignment was with the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC, where she served as Deputy Director for nearly nine years. Her prior assignment was with NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory, where for 13 years she was on assignment to the Environmental Protection Agency. While there, she served as a physical scientist and as Chief of the Climate Branch. She also managed the technical transfer of third-generation air quality models, including model evaluation and graphic/visualization of model output. Dr LeDuc received her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Missouri in 1971. She has received awards for her outstanding work including a NOAA Administrator's Award, a Bronze and two Gold Medals from the Department of Commerce, and two Bronze Medals from the Environmental Protection Agency. She has also taught or advised as an adjunct professor at a number of colleges and universities including University of Oklahoma, University of Missouri, William and Mary University, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University.
Douglas Klotter , Doug is one of the original founders of IEDRO and has been rescuing data for over a decade now. He is one of the first to use the concept of photographing paper forms in the field into digital images, and reading the images for the digitized data records. Collecting data back as far as the late 1800's, his data has been added to the main African precipitation database of Dr. Sharon Nicholson. This database is a significant part of the Africa section of GHCN. Digital photography is a major interest of Mr. Klotter and he has written a manual on the photographic aspects of data recovery for IEDRO contributors. He also created the first IEDRO.com website and logo. He is currently on the board of director.
Janet Sansone, IEDRO Board Chair, recently retired from the Government Printing Office, where, as chief management officer, she oversaw GPO’s support operations, including human capital, finance and administration, information technology and systems, and acquisitions. She serves on the boards of directors of several organizations.
email Janet Sansone
After thirty-two years, IEDRO Executive Director Rick Crouthamel D.Sc, retired in 2005 from the National Weather Service, where he had been a manager in international activities. For the past ten years, he has concentrated on locating and rescuing historic weather observations worldwide and providing those data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s world database. Under his leadership, more than 300,000 upper-air observations from Africa and more than 700,000 surface observations from South and Central America have been rescued.
email Richard Crouthamel
Tom Ross is a meteorologist who recently retired from federal service. His last position was with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He managed NOAA's Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP) at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). He has expressed an interest in being our liaison with NCDC. He was senior forecaster at Accu-Weather Inc, for nearly 10 years before he began his Federal service.
Tom has been involved in educational and community outreach. He increased the center's visibility in educational as well as professional science related venues. He also was involved in climate monitoring for several years creating and updating a monthly popular “Climate Watch” series. He developed the “Billion Dollar U.S. Disaster” list in the mid 1990s which is still one of the best known climate products. He has done numerous local, national radio and TV media interviews.
Pennell “Penny” Paugh has been manager of public relations at IEDRO since June 2008. She is working with a team of volunteers who are redesigning the IEDRO website, writing grant and foundation proposals, and developing conference displays and marketing materials. She has been a writer for more than twenty years and a manager for more than nine years.
email Penny Paugh
Volunteer Memorials
For volunteer memorials, click here.