Dr. Mark A. Lander (1954-2022) was a world-recognized tropical meteorologist and tropical cyclone expert. His cutting-edge research contributed significantly to world-wide understanding of western Pacific weather phenomena and their roles in global weather systems. His vast knowledge in these areas placed him in high demand at professional conferences and workshops around the world. As a member of the faculty of the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific, University of Guam, from 1999 to 2022, Dr. Lander was highly regarded for his firm commitment to free scientific inquiry and empirically-validated…

A Tribute by Dr. John Jenson, WERI Director All of us at WERI recognized Dr. Lander as a brilliant and gifted scientist…His contributions of more than two decades have been fundamental to the success of WERI and the University.  Dr. Lander grew up in Rhode Island, where he finished high school in 1972. He maintained that it was his early childhood fascination with New England weather that led him into meteorology,...and he liked to tell how his grade-school teachers had often scolded him for “daydreaming” during class when he was in fact…