AMOS Fellows 2024
Congratulations to Dr Peter May, Professor Moninya Roughan, and Associate Professor Ailie Gallant who have been elected as AMOS Fellows in 2024 based on their outstanding achievements. Brief summaries of their careers and contributions are given below.
Dr Peter May
Peter May is a research associate at Monash University School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment and an internationally recognised expert on radar remote sensing and tropical meteorology. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Peter has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of tropical thunderstorms and their vertical circulation and impact on the environment. He made the first ever dual polarisation radar analyses of tropical cyclone structure and rapid evolution, including seminal contributions to understanding the role of stratiform rainbands in tropical cyclone intensification. His work on statistical studies of cloud structure has been world leading.
Peter has played a key role in advancing dual-polarization radar capabilities in Australia, applying this technology to quantitative rainfall measurement and investigations of cloud microphysics. In the Bureau of Meteorology, he was instrumental in implementing radar nowcasting for thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, as well as advising on upgrades to its operational radar network. He was also a driving force behind the 2006 Tropical Warm Pool – International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE), the largest meteorological field campaign in Australia’s history. This project deepened our understanding of tropical cloud processes and led to improvements in climate modelling. Peter contributed to other national and international initiatives, including the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment (1993) and the Sydney 2000 World Weather Research Program Forecast Demonstration Project.
From 2009 to 2020, Peter served as Head of Research at the Bureau of Meteorology, overseeing a multidisciplinary team of over 120 scientists in weather, ocean, and climate science. During his tenure, he supported critical national initiatives such as the development of the ACCESS National Research Instructure (ACCESS-NRI), the BARRA reanalysis, and the deployment of the first permanent ship-based polarimetric radar on the RV Investigator. He has served in many national and international advisory groups, including the AMS Committee for Radar Meteorology, the WMO Expert Team on Severe Monsoon Weather and the International Scientific Advisory Panel for Centre for Climate Science Singapore.
A member of AMOS since 1991, Peter is currently a co-editor of the Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth System Science. As an affiliate at Monash University, Peter remains actively engaged in research and mentorship, supervising PhD students and leading projects. His recent work focuses on the use of mobile weather radar for nowcasting around bushfires and the detection of dangerous fire behaviour.
Professor Moninya Roughan
Moninya Roughan is a Professor of Oceanography at UNSW and leader of the Coastal and Regional Oceanography Lab. She is an authority on the dynamics of the East Australian Current (EAC), ocean observing and prediction systems and their application to understanding western boundary currents and continental shelf processes.
Moninya’s program of research has significantly enhanced our dynamical understanding of the EAC (an ocean warming hotspot) and its role in complex cross-shelf exchange and productivity as it flows along the coast of southeastern Australia, including physical processes, climate change signals, and the associated biological impacts. In recent years, Moninya has become the authority on warming trends and marine extremes in the EAC system. Her comprehensive sustained observations and modelling approach has shed new light into coastal warming rates, exploring spatial variability in warming trends along the coast of eastern Australia. Moninya and her team were the first to explore the sub-surface structure of marine heatwaves, which has led to a whole new field of research. Her research has also contributed significantly to understanding bio-physical connectivity and transport of marine organisms.
Importantly, Moninya’s research has derived maximum benefit from the novel observations available to the research community through her leadership role in Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) since 2007. She has pioneered the use of advanced observing technologies including autonomous gliders, high frequency coastal radar, and long-term shelf mooring observations. She has pioneered the establishment of a fishing vessel observation network in Australia and New Zealand using innovative technological solutions. In parallel, Moninya has led the development of many cutting-edge ocean models for the EAC, culminating recently in the launch of the Southeast Australian (high resolution) Coastal Ocean Forecast System (SEA-COFS). This open access suite of ocean models is the leading coastal modelling system for the EAC, supporting a whole range of fundamental and applied research problems, as well as research into model development.
In recognition of her contribution to understanding the East Australian Current, in 2023 Moninya was awarded the prestigious Clarke Medal and Lectureship in Earth Sciences from the Royal Society of New South Wales, and in 2022 she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW. Since 2008, she has mentored 19 postdoctoral researchers and supervised 18 PhD students and two MSc students. In addition to leading a large and active coastal oceanographyresearch group, she chairs the AMOS Expert Working Group Physical Oceanography.
A/Professor Ailie Gallant
Ailie Gallant is an Associate Professor in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment in the Faculty of Science. Ailie is a leading expert in climate extremes, particularly droughts. Her research has included notable studies on flash droughts in Australia and the role of heavy rainfall in breaking drought cycles, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of these phenomena. Her work has advanced understanding of climate extremes and has helped bridge the gap between scientific research and public awareness of climate issues. Ailie has taken an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to her work, connecting communities and disciplines to seek solutions to real-world problems. She leads the Monash Node of the National Environmental Science Program Climate Systems Hub and is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centres of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Weather of the 21st Century. At Monash University she established an informal Climate Change Network, a cross-faculty initiative to create opportunities for interdisciplinary climate change research.
In addition to her research, Ailie has made significant contributions to science communication. She has written articles for The Conversation and local newspapers, appears monthly on ABC Radio Melbourne as “The Weather Detective,” and regularly contributes to 3RRR’s science show Einstein-A-Go-Go. During 2019 to 2023, Ailie was Deputy Director of the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, which was very active in providing accurate factual information and graphical summaries on climate change to TV weather presenters and newspaper reporters. In 2023, she received the AMOS Science Outreach Award for these efforts.
Ailie has supervised eight PhD students and 16 honours students and is known for integrating innovative approaches into her teaching. She has actively promoted diversity and inclusion in climate science, founding the Women of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment Network at Monash University, for which she received a Monash Faculty of Science Award for Exceptional Service in 2020. Her other awards include the Australian Academy of Science’s Dorothy Hill Medal in 2024 for her research on the origins of droughts, the Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in 2014 as part of the South-East Australian Recent Climate History (SEARCH) project, and the Victorian Tall Poppy Award for Excellence in Scientific Research and Communication in 2015.
Within AMOS, Ailie has been an active member since her time as a graduate student, including serving as National Secretary (2007–2010) and chairing the Scientific Organizing Committee for the 2016 AMOS Conference.
