DRI has announced that Catherine (Casey) Ivanovich from Columbia University is the recipient of the 26th annual Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences. The award ceremony took place at the DRI campus in Reno on September 23, 2024.
The Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences recognizes published works by women pursuing a master’s or Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences or related programs at U.S. universities. The award includes a $1,500 prize and has been presented annually since 1998, making it the only honor of its kind designated for graduate women in this field in the United States.
Ivanovich graduated from Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in July 2024. She received the award for her paper titled “Stickiness: A New Variable to Characterize the Temperature and Humidity Contributions toward Humid Heat.” She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Ivanovich earned her B.A. in Geosciences from Princeton University, where she received the Edward Sampson Prize in Environmental Geosciences for her senior thesis. At Columbia University, she completed an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. Her dissertation was titled “Characterizing the Local, Regional, and Global Drivers of Extreme Humid Heat.”
Ivanovich focuses on climate variability and change, investigating both physical and social drivers as well as communicating scientific concepts to the public. Her study introduces “stickiness,” a variable to identify primary drivers of extreme humid heat events that increase health risks by inhibiting sweat’s cooling effects.
“I am incredibly honored to be this year’s recipient of the Wagner Memorial Award,” Ivanovich said. “I believe that the complex, interdisciplinary research questions in climate science can be much more effectively addressed by uplifting diverse perspectives, including increasing gender diversity in our field.”
Vera Samburova, chair of the Wagner Award committee, emphasized Ivanovich’s significant contributions: “It was a very challenging task to select the best paper among all the excellent Wagner Award 2024 applications,” she said. “However, Catherine’s work stood out because of its significance in assessing global humidity and elevated temperatures.”
Finalists for this year’s award include Greta E.M. Shum from the University of Washington’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences for her paper “Ocean bays surrounded by desert land could support photosynthetic life on Snowball Earth.”
The Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award was established by Sue Wagner — former Nevada Gaming Commissioner and Nevada Lieutenant Governor — in memory of her husband Dr. Peter B. Wagner, who was an atmospheric scientist at DRI until his death in a plane crash during research in 1980.
DRI is Nevada’s non-profit research institute founded in 1959 focused on addressing pressing scientific questions with over 600 scientists working across its Reno and Las Vegas campuses.
