James F. "Jeff" Kimpel (April 18, 1942 – February 22, 2020) was an American atmospheric scientist with expertise on severe storms who was a provost of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

(OU) and director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Kimpel was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

from

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...

in 1964. He served in the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

in the Vietnam War, where he was awarded a

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

. Kimpel went to the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

for graduate studies and was awarded a Ph.D. in meteorology in 1973. He joined the faculty of OU in 1973, was named director of the School of Meteorology in 1981, became dean of the College of Geosciences in 1987, and was a director of Weather Center Programs and a senior vice president of the university before an appointment as provost of the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

campus in 1992. Kimpel was the third director of NSSL, from 1997–2010. At NSSL, he was known for overseeing the development of a

weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...

Hazardous Testbed and

phased array In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving th ...

Doppler radar, as well as coalition building such as that which led to the formation of the

National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range ...

(NWC). Kimpel was elected as a Fellow of the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the Atmospheric sciences, atmospheric, Oceanography, oceanic, and Hydrology, hydr ...

(AMS) in 1989 and as president of the organization in 2000. He also was on the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(NSF)'s Advisory Committee for Atmospheric Sciences, and the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

NCEP Advisory Panel. Additionally, he was President of Applied Systems Institute, Inc from 1985-1988. Kimpel retired from NSSL in 2010. Kimpel died on February 22, 2020.

References

External links

Weather enterprise mourning loss of Jeff Kimpel

NOAA Weather Partners Spotlight: NSSL
(a video presentation by Kimpel; July 26, 2007)
The Kimpel Symposium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimpel, Jeff 1942 births 2020 deaths Educators from Cincinnati Military personnel from Cincinnati American meteorologists Denison University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Oklahoma faculty National Weather Service people Scientists from Ohio Fellows of the American Meteorological Society

See also

References

External links