FSU faculty member elected fellow of American Meteorological Society

A Florida State University meteorological faculty member has been elected as a fellow of the most prestigious weather organization in the country for his research into the formation, structure, impacts and predictability of cyclones, atmospheric visualization and the history of meteorology.

Robert Hart, professor of meteorology who has also served as chair of the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science since 2022, is among 24 scientists from across the country elected as a 2025 American Meteorological Society fellow. The 2025 honorees will be recognized at the 105th AMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans in January. Hart, along with some of his graduate students, will also give four presentations at the meeting.

“This honor is truly rare, and I’m grateful for the recognition by the AMS council and those who nominated me,” said Hart, who first joined AMS as a member while he was a graduate student in the late 1990s. “This honor couldn’t have been possible without all the students who have chosen to work with me and their own remarkable accomplishments and careers. I’ve learned an incredible amount from my students.”

AMS fellows are elected by the AMS council based on outstanding contributions to atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences throughout their professional careers.

“One of our key priorities at AMS is to recognize the work of our global weather, water and climate enterprise for the impact they have on scientific advancement and public safety, as well as on economic growth for all communities,” said Brad Colman, awards oversight committee chair and AMS past president. “This year’s AMS honorees have done incredibly significant work.”

Growing up in rural coastal Connecticut, Hart was fascinated by both blizzards and hurricanes. Now, his work into understanding the development of cyclones, the role cyclones serve in climate systems and climatological risks provides both operational and forecasting benefits and helps meteorologists gather better weather data and communicate weather updates and risks to the public more quickly and more accurately.

More recently, Hart’s work has broached the history of meteorology and the connection between meteorology and earlier scientific fields to better understand how meteorological concepts and theories have formed, grown or become obsolete over time.

“I’ve also become quite interested in scientific visualization that distills highly complex scientific concepts into simple graphical representations,” Hart said. “Some of the real-time meteorological webpages, models and software tools I created for fun as a graduate student, such as monthly precipitation plots, cyclone forecasting models, atmospheric rarity meters and more, are still active and frequently used by my colleagues today after 30 years.”

With his work taking him around the world to locations including Japan, South Korea, Germany, Australia, the Greek Islands, La Reunion Island and more, the impact of Hart’s research is as far-reaching as the weather phenomena he studies. In March 2024, Hart was invited to give a six-hour distinguished lecture at Kyoto University on his career research. He has also earned honors or awards from organizations including the World Meteorological Organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service.

“I’m fortunate to have contributed, alongside my colleagues and students, to many profound beneficial impacts for forecasters and the public across the world,” Hart said. “Understanding the practical impact of my work gives me far more career satisfaction, and helps me sleep better, than simply a list of my publications.”

Hart earned his doctorate in meteorology in 2001 from Pennsylvania State University before working as a visiting scientist for the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. He joined FSU’s faculty in 2003 and has since supervised 12 doctoral students, 23 master’s thesis students and seven bachelor’s honors thesis students, and has guided many members of FSU’s Young Scholars Program and the Women in Math, Science and Engineering Program. He has also been awarded the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award and the Transformation Through Teaching Award. Hart holds the Sunkist Endowed Professorship, and he held the Werner A. and Shirley B. Baum Endowed Professorship from 2010-2015.

“In addition to producing groundbreaking research, Bob is an outstanding teacher at all levels and has fulfilled important administrative roles for his department — he is a top-shelf scientist who richly deserves this honor,” said Sam Huckaba, College of Arts and Sciences dean. “He also serves the campus community in important ways, including being an expert source to media and emergency managers during hurricane season. I am thrilled by his election as fellow and pleased to add my hearty congratulations.”

To learn more about Hart’s work and research conducted in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, visit eoas.fsu.edu.