Katherine Leitzell, leadership and initiative at NSIDC

Katherine Leitzell demonstrates strong leadership and initiative at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, bringing creativity and innovation to her numerous roles. She serves as science writer and editor for NSIDC's hugely visible Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis (ASINA) product, which provides a monthly scientific sea ice analysis that is picked up by news media worldwide. Katherine brought new energy and ideas and implemented a workflow and schedule that keeps the analyses flowing and getting published with minimum distraction to the scientists, solving a long-standing problem. She arranged for updates via Twitter, which has been enormously successful in communicating not only ASINA updates, but also other NSIDC science news. When a technical writer was required for the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC) project, Katherine stepped in to fill the gap. Her outstanding writing support, detailed investigation into each data set, and her organizational skills all contribute to the success of the AGDC. Her work clearly advanced this project's service to its science community and helped secure ongoing funding for the project. Katherine has exceeded all expectations for her position and has supported her projects in ways that have visibly increased their success. She handles a very large, chaotic workload, produces incredibly tight turnarounds, and still finds time to help her peers and implement new ideas. Her scientific education and knowledge add quality to her products and make it easy for her to understand and work with her teams. She is a great organizer, making projects run more smoothly for everyone. On top of it all, she has a calm, friendly, and professional demeanor, which enhances the ability of NISDC to fulfill its mission.