Stephen Lord – 50th Reunion Essay
Editor’s Note: Steven sent in his 50th reunion essay on time, but we inadvertently didn’t get it to the publisher on time. Sorry, Steven!
Btw, you should know that all 50th reunion essays are published here online. Just use the search bar in the masthead or go to someone’s Profile page and look for it in the section called “Classbooks.”
15808 Plainview Lane
Bowie, MD 20716
sjlord12345@gmail.com
301-249-7713
College: Berkeley
It’s not a Job, it’s a Hobby
When I graduated from Yale with a BS in Physics, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do after that. Period. Grad school in physics? Not likely, wasn’t smart enough, didn’t want to teach, not a good job market, etc. So, I got a job as an engineer programming a computer to design acoustic lenses using ray tracing. It was not a bad job: congenial co-workers, definite applications to oceanography, and I could easily make use of computer programming experience gathered in my Yale Senior Physics Project. The bad news: not something I really cared about at the time. Nevertheless, I applied to grad school in oceanography and was accepted. Oceanography gave me a chance to apply my physics training and so it looked good from that view.
What did I care about? I enjoyed most of my course work at Yale and I had taken the minimum physics and math courses and a broad selection of humanities, including English literature, and practical things like management and psychology. Outside of school and work, I enjoyed sailing and basketball, but a career path in that direction looked very murky. So, I taught sailing for a summer and happened to read a couple of books on meteorology since weather was relevant to sailing. Turned out, I could actually understand the meteorology and I could get excited about its application to sailing!
How to grow meteorology into a career path? Unclear, but meteorology looked better than oceanography to me for a couple of reasons, so I applied to grad school in Meteorology at UCLA. They, too, accepted me and I think it was primarily due to my computer programming experience since they immediately gave me the job of programming a computer model of the weather. I found I really liked computer programming and I really liked meteorology: career path possible! Got through grad school and I was fortunate to get a research job in Miami, FL doing computer modeling of hurricanes. I flew in hurricane reconnaissance aircraft through some storms and was invited to work at the National Weather Service (NWS) to enhance hurricane forecasting with their computer models.
I was able to grow a hobby (sailing) into a life’s work. Not only did I enjoy meteorology, computer programming and sailing, I also found scientific management to be rewarding. I had taken a strong interest in my Yale business management course and was able to eventually become Director of the NWS Environmental Modeling Center (EMC), where world-class scientists (not me) developed improvements to weather prediction models on which routine daily weather forecasts are based. Over a 13 year period of my Directorship (1997-2010), the ability to forecast the weather improved immensely. Whenever EMC improved the weather models, society benefited due to better forecasts every day. My hobby and career path were intertwined and the enhanced public service outcomes made me very proud. Thanks, Yale.
Hi, Steve. Jon Hoffman here. I remember we played squash at the Paine Whitney Gym during our freshman year, and didn’t we go to the Garden–the old one, I think–to see a Holiday basketball tournament?
Great to hear from you. My wife Donna and I live in Wilmington, DE, where I keep my brain from atrophying too fast by tutoring kids. Keep in touch; my digits are in the Reunion book.
Warmest regards,
Jon
It is so good to read your story, Steve. Those first steps into your career may have seemed tentative at the time, but they led to a lifetime of accomplishment. Well done!