Jerome Fast, a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) atmospheric scientist, received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Iowa State University’s Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at an honors and awards ceremony on Oct. 24 in Ames, Iowa.
Fast has three degrees from Iowa State University – a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and mathematics, a master’s degree in earth science and a doctorate in meteorology.
Fast joined PNNL in 1994, where he has served as principal investigator for research funded by the U.S. Departments of Energy, Agriculture and Defense, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 2019, he was named a PNNL Laboratory Fellow, a top rank awarded to researchers with sustained, high-quality work in science and engineering.
An expert in developing, using and interpreting atmospheric models to address questions critical to weather forecasting, air quality and climate, Fast has led a team of PNNL scientists in developing and implementing atmospheric physics and chemistry modules for the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) community model, used by thousands of scientists around the world.
Fast has published more than 129 papers in peer-reviewed journals, as well as contributed to book chapters, user’s guides and tutorials related to the chemistry version of the WRF model.
Fast is a member of the American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society and Sigma Xi, an international honor society for scientists and engineers.