Eloquent Science

Mary Grace Soccio. My writing could not please this kindhearted woman, no matter how hard I tried. Although Gifed and Talented seventh-grade math posed no problem for me, the same was not true for Mrs. Soccio's English class. I was frustrated that my frst assignment only netted me a C. I worked harder, making re- sion afer revision, a concept I had never really put much faith in before. At last, I produced an essay that seemed the apex of what I was capable of wr- ing. Although the topic of that essay is now lost to my memory, the grade I received was not: a B?. 'Te best I could do was a B??' Te realization sank in that maybe I was not such a good writer. In those days, my youthful hubris did not understand abouc t apacity bui- ing. In other words, being challenged would result in my intellectual growth- an academic restatement of Nietzsche's 'What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.' Consequently, I asked to be withdrawn from Gifed and Talented English in the eighth grade.

David M. Schultz is a professor of experimental meteorology in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysics, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki, Finland. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA, received his B.S. degree from M.I.T., his M.S. degree from the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. from the University at Albany, State University of New York. From 1996 to 2006, he worked for the NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory and the University of Oklahoma. In 2001, he won the American Meteorological Society Editor's Award for Monthly Weather Review. Presently, he is Chief Editor for Monthly Weather Review, cofounder and Assistant Editor for the Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology, Associate Editor for Atmospheric Science Letters, and on the Editorial Board of Geophysica. He has published over 75 articles on dozens of topics in synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, forecasting, and cloud and precipitation microphysics, as well as articles on scientific publishing and the cost of scientific conferences.