Jim Purdom received his BA in Mathematics and Physics from Transylvania College (1965), his MS in Atmospheric Science from St. Louis University (1968) and PhD (1986) in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University.   His areas of interest include satellite-based remote sensing of the Earth/atmosphere system from a wide assortment of sensor technologies, focusing on multispectral and hyperspectral visible and infrared data. After serving in the USAF from 1964-1972, he went to work for the National Environmental Satellite Service (now called NESDIS) Applications Laboratory where early in his career he investigated the use of satellite imagery for thunderstorm nowcasting. During that period he showed how satellite imagery could be used to detect thunderstorm outflow boundaries and pointed out their role in the development and evolution of deep convection, being the first to publish about that phenomena and its importance in 1976, and authoring a sound movie with the Walter Bohan Company on that phenomena. It was during this early period that he played a major role in the development of what is now termed rapid scan geostationary satellite imaging. In 1980 he came to Colorado where he was the first Director of the NESDIS Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch in conjunction with the founding of CIRA. The Branch played a major role in training of NWS forecasters in the use of GOES imagery and was recognized with a silver medal for that activity. In 1998, he returned to NESDIS as the Director of the Office of Research and Applications where he worked until his retirement in 2001. In that position he was key to the establishment of the joint NOAA/NASA Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation. For his performance as the Director of ORA he was conferred the rank of Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service by President Bush. After retiring from the Federal Government, he became a Senior Scientist at CIRA. For over 30 years he has championed the use of satellite data in a number of forums. He has been either senior or co-author of over 100 scientific articles; this includes scientific journals, chapters in books, technical reports and a sound film. He has chaired and organized sessions at major national and international conferences. Invited presentations include seminars, lectures and colloquia at numerous universities, national laboratories, science conferences and foreign countries.   Internationally, he has participated in a variety of scientific forums in Australia, Austria, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Since 1998 he has served as the Chair of the WMO’s Open Program Area Group on Integrated Observing Systems, and within that capacity serves as a Member of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS). He is responsible for the establishment of the Virtual Laboratory for Satellite Data Utilization, which links together satellite operators and WMO centers of excellence to provide advanced satellite training to WMO Members. Dr. Purdom has served on a number of National Science Boards, and internationally Chaired the EURAINSAT Science Advisory Board.

Purdom, J.F.W., 1976: Some Uses of High Resolution GOES Imagery in the Mesoscale Forecasting of Convection and Its Behavior. Mon. Wea. Rev., 104, 1474-1483.