AWS Convergence Technologies President and CEO Bob Marshall has been named a 2001 Computerworld Smithsonian Laureate for co-founding and developing the school WeatherNet Program.

Each year, Computerworld Honors identifies information technology innovators whose work produces and promotes positive social, economic or educational change. Nominated by chairmen of the world's leading IT companies, Computerworld Smithsonian Laureates are considered to be true revolutionaries in their respective fields. The school WeatherNet was nominated by Ivan Seidenburg, President and CEO of Verizon Communications.

"It is an incredible honor for the school WeatherNet Program to be recognized among such an impressive group of inductees," said President and CEO Bob Marshall, who received a medal at the society's annual Medal Presentation Ceremony in San Francisco on April 8.

The school WeatherNet's unique business model couples education technology for schools with television stations and businesses across the country. Currently, 5,000 schools belong to the school WeatherNet Program, making it four times larger than the National Weather Service. Meteorologists at partner TV stations are able to tap into live school WeatherNet data for on air weathercasts. This popular, school-based network also fuels WeatherBug, the Internet's only source for real-time neighborhood weather conditions, forecasts and warnings.

The school WeatherNet Program comprises rooftop weather sensors, time-lapsed weather cameras, interactive software and award winning K-12 curriculum that meets National Standards in science, math, geography and technology. The nationally acclaimed program adds real world meaning to classroom lessons and improves students' critical thinking and problem solving skills, while boosting academic performance. The AWS school WeatherNet Program case study, submitted as part of Computerworld's Search for New Heroes project, is available to scholars and to the general public as part of the Program's Archives On-Line site at http://www.cwheroes.org/home.asp, via the Permanent Research Collections of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, and other public educational resources. AWS Convergence Technologies Inc., based in Gaithersburg, MD, unites the power of the Internet, 5,000 Weather Stations and 100 Broadcast Television Stations to create the Online Weather Network called Weatherbug.com.

WeatherBug serves more than 3.5 million users and can be downloaded for free. http://weatherbug.com