As a student, he concentrated on topics related to tropical climate variability including El Nino/Southern Oscillation, monsoons, tropical cyclones and large-scale Atlantic climatology. The focus of his more recent studies, including his postdoctoral work, has been on observational aspects of hurricane structure and intensity variations and prediction. Much of that work has led to the development of forecast applications that have been transferred to operations at the NESDIS, the National Hurricane Center, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, and tropical cyclone warning centers worldwide. These efforts have led to many awards. In 2004, he received the NOAA David Johnson Award for basic research for improving the understanding of tropical phenomenon and predicting tropical cyclone intensity, accompanied by exemplary transfer of the results into operational products. He has also been awarded Department of Commerce Bronze Medals in 2007, 2010, and 2012 and was a member of a team that received the Colorado Governor's Award for High Impact Research in 2012.