Dr. Berry offers FVCC his insight and expertise as a trustee to help FVCC achieve its maximum potential in the next decade. In high school, he scored a perfect 800 in the SAT quantitative exam, finishing with 30 minutes to spare. Later, he scored a perfect 100% on the Selective Service written exam while finishing in half the allotted time.
He has a BS in Engineering from Caltech, an MA in Physics from Dartmouth College, and a PhD in Physics from U. Nevada, Reno. At Caltech, he was in the Air Force ROTC pilots program for 4 years but before his graduation, Congress cut the budget allotment for pilots, so the Air Force allowed him to continue his studies. He scored 100% in the Air Force written exam for pilots.
At Dartmouth, he was mentored by John Kemeny (assistant to Einstein) and at Nevada he was mentored by Friedwart Winterberg (top student of Heisenberg). Dr. Berry’s PhD thesis is still recognized as a breakthrough in both cloud physics and numerical modeling and is summarized in cloud physics textbooks.
As Chief Scientist for Desert Research Institute’s airborne research facility, he lead research flights inside Alberta hailstorms and Sierra Nevada storms. He participated in airborne research experiments in Canada, South Africa, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix. He was the only invited civilian in DOD’s Top-Secret Operation Popeye that taught Air Force pilots how to produce rain to wash out the Ho Chi Min trail.
He was selected to be the National Science Foundation Program Manager for Weather Modification in the 1970s where he managed all NSF weather modification research in the USA including the METROMEX project on how urban areas modify weather.
He started and managed a private business in California, where he designed a method to detect wind shear and to reduce aircraft accidents, later used at major airports, performed a major wind-energy study for the California Energy Commission, identified Altamont Pass and Tehachapi Pass as high wind-energy areas. His meteorological team provided 24-hour weather forecasting for the US Customs along the southern US border.
He made courtroom history by developing and defending the first computer model to generate new evidence in a criminal trial. His software for this trial won the extremely challenging Microsoft Windows World Open, People’s Choice Award. The U of Nevada gave Dr. Berry its Professional Achievement Award. He is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist of the American Meteorological Society and has been an expert witness in many legal trials, including some in Montana.
In sports, Dr. Berry, with his wife as crew, are sailboat racing champions, having won a US National Championship, a North American championship, and a Gold Medal in Canadian Olympic-Training Regatta, Kingston, Ontario. He is a pilot with glider, power, and instrument ratings. He is a member of the Sigma Delta Psi National Athletic Honorary which is a rare honor bestowed only upon those who pass a wide range of difficult athletic tests in track, football, gymnastics and swimming. He can help bring this program to the FVCC.
He is now Director, Climate Physics LLC, Bigfork, Montana and a Senior Climate Expert for Stand Up America. Dr. Berry looks forward to helping FVCC grow in academic and research excellence that will significantly benefit Flathead Valley and Montana.
Dr. Berry believes one cannot help a person achieve a goal unless you have been most of the way there yourself. Innovation and culture build upon innovation and culture. All incumbent trustees are far behind today’s curve in innovation and culture. Dr. Berry has achieved far more than any FVCC trustee and his help is very much needed by FVCC, its community and its students, perhaps more than they realize.
To read more about Dr. Berry, click here.
