2014 Winner of the Outstanding Evangelical Climate Scientist Award
Dr. Roy Spencer was a senior scientist for climate studies at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where he and Dr. John Christy received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for their global temperature monitoring work with satellites. He is now a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Dr. Spencer’s work with NASA continues as the U.S. Science Team leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite. His diligent work on tracking the planet’s temperature provided a tamper-proof source of data with which to test predictions of man-made global warming.
Spencer received a B.S. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Michigan in 1978 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1980 and 1982.
After receiving his Ph.D. in 1982, Dr. Spencer worked for two years as a research scientist in the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He then joined NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center as a visiting scientist in 1984, where he later became Senior Scientist for Climate Studies. After leaving NASA in 2001, Spencer has been Principal Research Scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UHA).
In 2001, he designed an algorithm to detect tropical cyclones and estimate their maximum sustained wind speed using the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU).
Dr. Spencer has been a member of several science teams: the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Space Station Accommodations Analysis Study Team, Science Steering Group for TRMM, TOVS Pathfinder Working Group, NASA Headquarters Earth Science and Applications Advisory Subcommittee, and two National Research Council (NRC) study panels. His research work is funded by NASA, NOAA, DOE and the DOT.
Dr. Spencer is on the board of directors of the George C. Marshall Institute. He has been a senior advisor to The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation since its founding in 2005. He has made no secret of his evangelical faith, making him a model and inspiration for other scientists and evangelicals alike.
In 2014, Dr. Spencer received the Outstanding Evangelical Climate Scientist Award, with a cash stipend, from the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. The award was presented at the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change, which took place in Las Vegas.
