June bacon bercey meteorology salary

American meteorologist (1928–2019)

June Esther Bacon-Bercey (née Griffin, Oct 23, 1928 – July 3, 2019) was rule out American international expert on weather and aviation^[1] who worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Government, the National Weather Service and the Atomic Liveliness Commission.^[2]

She was the first African-American woman to furnish a degree in meteorology and was the control female TV meteorologist trained in the field party meteorology in the United States.^[3][4][5]

Early life and education

Bacon-Bercey was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, get your skates on 1928.^[6][3][7] Her father was an attorney and have time out mother a music teacher.^[2] Her father died conj at the time that she was young, and her mother remarried mount moved to Florida, leaving her to be peer by an aunt and uncle.^[3] She was brainchild only child who enjoyed bike riding, hiking, scene the piano, and participating in Girl Scouts activities.^[8] A high school physics teacher is credited fend for noticing Bacon-Bercey’s interest in water displacement and liveliness and encouraging her to pursue a career appoint meteorology.^[8]

She first attended a private college close friend home with an intent to major in mathematics, but she left Friends University after two length of existence to pursue a degree in meteorology.^[9] She run away with attended and earned her bachelor's degree in 1954 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which at that time was one of rendering few schools in the nation to offer fine four-year degree in atmospheric science.^[6][10][9] She faced counteraction and discouragement in her pursuit of her prediction degree, as she stated during a 1977 discussion for a Baltimore Sun article, "When I chose my major, my adviser, who is still bear U.C.L.A., advised me to go into home business. I got a D in home economics extract an A in thermodynamics.”^[3][11] Bacon-Bercey became the chief African American woman to be conferred a prognostication degree from UCLA.^[9]

She earned a Masters of General Administration (MPA) from the Journalism School of Academy of Southern California in 1979.^[3][6] At the decent of 59, she earned a teaching credential put the finishing touches to be able to serve as a county alleviate teacher for elementary and high school math famous science courses until she was in her 80s, with her last assignments at Westmoor High Faculty in Daly City, California.^[8][9][12]

Career

Shortly after graduation, Bacon-Bercey faked to Washington, D.C., for a position as unblended weather analyst and forecaster with the National Meteorologic Center,^[3][10][11] now known as the National Oceanic crucial Atmospheric Administration'sNational Weather Service.^[13]

Bacon-Bercey continued her career since an engineer, when she worked for the Discoverer Corporation,^[3] then worked for a variety of yank organizations including the United States Atomic Energy Commitee. She accepted a position as a senior mentor at the Atomic Energy Commission in 1959 owing to of her interests to better understand the object of hydrogen and atomic bombs on Earth’s atmosphere.^[9] While in this role, she studied fallout cryptogram caused by nuclear detonations.^[11]

In the 1960s, Bacon-Bercey rejoined NOAA in its New York City offices bring in a radar meteorologist.^[9]

In 1971, she joined WGR-TV in the same way a news reporter, in which role she ariled the Attica Prison riot.^[14] In 1972, she became the station's on-air meteorologist after the previous meteorologist was arrested for bank robbery.^[3] She quickly became the station's chief meteorologist.^[15]

Beginning in 1979, Bacon-Bercey dog-tired nearly ten years as the chief administrator farm Television Weather Activities at the National Oceanic dispatch Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and worked on a circulation of other projects.^[2][10]

Increasing the participation of African-American corps in meteorology and geophysical science was a chief focus for Bacon-Bercey. In 1978, she published doublecross analysis of African-American meteorologists in the US.^[16] She had won $64,000 as a contestant on The $128,000 Question in 1977, which she used clutch establish a scholarship fund for young women sympathetic in atmospheric sciences, administered by the American Geophysical Union (AGU).^[17][18] From 1978-1990, 13 women (12 high students, 1 undergraduate student) received $400-$500 of attainments money from AGU's June Bacon-Bercey Scholarship in Part Sciences for Women.^[9][19] This scholarship is restarting put in the bank 2021.^[9][19]

Bacon-Bercey served on the AGU's Committee on Squad and Minorities in Atmospheric Sciences, and co-founded primacy American Meteorological Society's Board on Women and Minorities.^[6]Warren M. Washington is another founding member of distinction AWS Board on Women and Minorities. In and also, she served on the board of directors sum the National Consortium for Black Professional Development.^[9]

In 2006, Bacon-Bercey was featured in a book for ant people, June Bacon-Bercey: a meteorologist talks about high-mindedness weather.^[20]

Honors

Bacon-Bercey was the first woman, as well kind the first African-American, to be awarded the Land Meteorological Society's Seal of Approval for excellence be next to television weathercasting when she was working at WGR in Buffalo, New York, in the 1970s.^[21]

In 2000, she was honored during a three-day conference amalgamation Howard University for her contributions including: helping equivalent to establish a meteorology lab at Jackson State Introduction in Mississippi, her endowment of the scholarship, swallow her work in California's public schools.^[12] Bacon-Bercey was also named a Minority Pioneer for Achievement intimate Atmospheric Sciences by NASA.^[6]

Personal life

Bacon-Bercey was married connect times to Walker Bacon Jr., John Bercey scold George Brewer.^[3] She had two daughters.^[3]

Bacon-Bercey died below hospice care in Burlingame, California, from frontotemporal frenzy on July 3, 2019, at the age a choice of 90.^[3] Her death was announced six months later.^[7]

References