Remembering Berrien Moore III

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NORMAN, OKLA. – Berrien Moore III, Ph.D., dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and director of the National Weather Center, passed away on Dec. 17, 2024. He was 83.

“While his professional achievements were monumental, those who had the privilege of knowing Berrien will remember him for his brilliant wit, unmatched passion for learning, and unwavering dedication to his students and colleagues,” said University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz, Jr., in a letter to the community regarding Moore’s passing.

“He was a scientist who found equal beauty in an artist’s brushstrokes depicting nature’s fury and the elegance of a well-defined mathematical model, recognizing the profound interplay between art and science in shaping our humanity.”

Moore was born on Nov. 12, 1941, in Atlanta. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in 1963 and a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Virginia in 1969. He then served as faculty at the University of New Hampshire from 1969 to 2008 and was named the director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at UNH in 1987. While at UNH, he held several visiting scientist positions at locations such as the Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Marines at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and the International Institute of Meteorology at the University of Stockholm.

He was also a senior research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and a fellow at the Marine Policy and Ocean Management Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Though a mathematician in training, he published extensively on the global carbon cycle, biogeochemistry, remote sensing and environmental and space policy, cutting across disciplinary lines. He was a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and his contributions were part of the body of work garnering the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2008, he left UNH to become the founding executive director of Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization that reports on climate science. In 2010, only four years after its founding, he became the director of the National Weather Center, headquartered on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus, as well as the dean of OU’s College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and its Chesapeake Energy Corporation Chair in Climate Studies.

Moore was a man dedicated to tackling grand challenges. He was the principal investigator of NASA’s Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory mission. This satellite development program placed OU at the forefront of climate research. He was committed to tackling the world’s most pressing environmental issues through research, policy and collaboration.

During his tenure as dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, he was dedicated to growth and expansion. He promoted efforts to highlight an invested focus on environmental sustainability to the then Department of Geography. He was passionate about growing the department’s geographic information studies program and oversaw the launch of the online geospatial technologies program.

While leading the college out of the COVID-19 pandemic, he led an ambitious interdisciplinary faculty cluster hire for the college centered on expanding the School of Meteorology’s research portfolio beyond its trademark of severe weather. He welcomed the School of Aviation into the college’s ranks with open arms, thrilled at the school’s dedication to bolstering the country’s workforce and the future cross-disciplinary possibilities of aviation, meteorology, and geography and environmental sustainability.

Moore’s dedication to the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and the National Weather Center went beyond cutting-edge and life-saving science. Moore saw the National Weather Center not only as a one-of-a-kind hub for scientific collaboration but also as a home to the arts. Under his tenure as director, the building hosted several art exhibitions and became home to permanent installations, including Weathering Oklahoma by Leslie Anne Martin and Minimum Extents by Benjamin Murphy.

Beyond his publication record and administration, he believed in being a steward of science. He contributed actively to committees at the National Academy of Science. He was a committee member of NASA’s senior science advisory committee, the Space and Earth Science Advisory Committee, and was chair for four years.

He was also a member of the NASA Advisory Council and held numerous other positions at NASA. He chaired the NOAA Research Review Team from 2004–2005 and served on the Research and Development Portfolio Review Team for the NOAA Science Advisory Board. He served as the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research member representative for OU beginning in 2011. He was elected to the Universities Space Research Association in 2019 and re-elected in 2022.

For all this work and more, he received numerous honors, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the NOAA Administrator’s Recognition Award, and the 2007 Dryden Lectureship in Research Medal by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was an elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the International Academy of Astronautics.

Moore was driven by a deep desire to understand the planet and our place in it. He leaves behind a legacy that crosses disciplines, countries and lives. Those interested in viewing Moore’s celebration of life can visit https://link.ou.edu/4j2MYhP and those wishing to donate to the memorial fund in his name can do so at https://give.oufoundation.org/BerrienMooreMemorial.