In October 2008, Thomas Di Liberto, a Master’s candidate at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) won the Mattice Sea Great Scholar Travel Award.

Di Liberto, a Cornell University graduate, is doing his graduate work under Dr. Brian Colle of the Stony Book Storm Surge Team (see page 5). For his Master’s thesis, Di Liberto focused on how accurately the new model predicts weather conditions during major storms such as Hurricane Gloria that struck Long Island in 1985. He will use these funds to travel to Phoenix, Arizona where he will present the verification of the Stony Brook Storm Surge Model at the 89th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in January 2009. — Barbara A. Branca

Photo Caption:
Dr. Jack Mattice, former Director of NYSG (left), presents the Mattice Sea Grant Scholar Travel Award to graduate student Thomas Di Liberto of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Photo by Barbara A. Branca