Ralph Ferraro received a B.S degree in Meteorology from Rutgers University in 1980 and a M.S. degree in Meteorology from the University of Maryland in 1982. He spent the next 9 years working for private industry before joining NOAA/NESDIS in 1991. His primary research interests are the retrieval of geophysical parameters from satellite-based passive microwave measurements. This has included work with the Nimbus-7 SMMR and most recently with the DMSP SSM/I instrument and the future NOAA-K,L,M AMSU instrument. Several of the algorithms he has been involved with have been implemented for operational use by FNMOC.
Ralph is also involved with the development of algorithms for future microwave sensors, and is a member of the EOS-PM AMSR science team, and has recently been selected as a member of the DMPS SSMIS calibration/validation team.
Ralph is an active member of the AMS committee on Satellite Meteorology, and has organized and taught at two short courses sponsored by the committee over the past 5 years. He was also the chairman of the 10th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography (Long Beach, January 2000).
For a list of Ralph's recent publications, please see his profile.