(left to right) Roscoe R. Braham, Jr. and N.C. State Chancellor James L. Oblinger (photo: Roger Winstead)

Library Advocate Awarded Honorary Degree
By Jim Mulvey, Library Development

Roscoe R. Braham Jr., a pioneering meteorologist and visiting professor at NC State, received an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from Chancellor James L. Oblinger during NC State's fall commencement on December 20, 2006. Braham and his wife Mary Ann are life members of the Friends of the Library and established the Edith B. Braham Endowment, which supports the Libraries' meteorology collections in all formats and is named for Braham's mother. Their son, Richard R. Braham, is a professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State and chaired the University Library Committee in 1988-89.

Roscoe Braham is an educator and noted expert in cloud precipitation physics. During his fifty-year career, he served as a research meteorologist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and at the University of Chicago, as professor of physics and founding director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona, as professor of meteorology at the University of Chicago, and as visiting scientist at NC State.

As a scholar, Braham has made numerous seminal contributions to his field. He helped lead the 1940s Thunderstorm Project--the first large-scale meteorological study undertaken—and co-wrote The Thunderstorm, which is required reading for meteorologists. He is also credited with the discovery of cell organization of thunderstorms and the coalescence-freezing mechanism of precipitation formation in natural clouds. Braham has published more than eighty scientific reports, books, and monographs during his academic career. Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Susan Nutter said, "This is an honor that Roscoe so richly deserves, as his contributions to the university and to the field of meteorology are extensive. His numerous publications, scientific discoveries, and important meteorological research are so impressive and have brought NC State a great deal of national attention. We are fortunate to have him. I am pleased that he is such a faithful friend to the NCSU Libraries. His generosity and support exemplifies the faculty stewardship that has allowed us to excel among research libraries."

Source: NCSU Libraries Focus Online, Volume 27, No. 3 - Spring 2007

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