[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 213 (Thursday, December 9, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DR. LOUIS UCCELLINI

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and honor the 
upcoming retirement on January 1, 2022, of a true public servant and 
leader, Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director of National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service.
  Louis is the epitome of a dedicated civil servant, having spent the 
past 43 years of his career at both NOAA and NASA contributing to and 
leading the maturation and advancement of our Nation's weather 
prediction capabilities. Put simply, there is no aspect of today's 
weather forecast that Dr. Uccellini hasn't advanced during his storied 
career.
  But Louis' contributions span far beyond science. Perhaps most 
notably, and certainly most visible to the public, are the 
organizational changes Louis has made to National Weather Service since 
becoming Director in 2013. The establishment and development of the 
Weather-Ready Nation program, a paradigm shift that refocused the 
entire NWS staff and mission, now enables forecasters to use weather 
information to deliver Impact-based Decision Support Services to 
emergency managers, which is empowering local officials to help 
citizens be ready, responsive and resilient to weather events. This is 
the real purpose of the weather forecast and is allowing the National 
Weather Service to better perform its mission of saving lives and 
protecting property.
  Louis' mark on the National Weather Service will undoubtedly be felt 
for many years to come. On behalf of my constituents in Kansas and a 
grateful nation, I personally thank Dr. Louis Uccellini for his service 
to our Nation; wish him and his wife, Susan, well in retirement; and as 
Louis would say, ``I'll leave it at that.''

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