Ray Booker Inducted to OSU Alumni Hall of Fame

Thursday, January 19, 2012

STILLWATER, Okla. (Jan. 19, 2012) – The Oklahoma State University Alumni Association will induct Ray Booker and two others into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame on February 17.

Ray Booker of Tulsa, Okla., graduated from Oklahoma A & M in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He is the founder of Aeromet, Inc. and Aviation Technologies in Tulsa, Okla. Booker is a certified Airline Transport Pilot and is now retired.

Booker will be inducted at a ceremony at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center in Stillwater along with Malinda Berry Fischer and Benjamin Harjo Jr.

Induction into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the OSU Alumni Association. It recognizes alumni and former students with outstanding lifetime achievements in society and professional life.

While at OSU, Booker was involved in the Air Force ROTC and the Baptist Student Union activities. After graduating, Booker was an engineer at Chance Vought Aircraft in Grand Prairie, Texas, before becoming a second lieutenant with the Air Force. He was sent to Pennsylvania State University for training, where he received a master’s degree in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965, both in meteorology. During his time at Penn State, Booker was a television meteorologist and developed and taught the first course in television weather casting. He wrote a severe storm paper based on his master’s thesis, which was selected as the most significant scientific contribution at the American Meteorological Society Severe Storms Conference held in Norman, Okla.

Booker invented a series of airborne instrument systems for studying the precipitation in clouds, which led to making detailed measurements of high altitude cloud particles for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. He also led a team that developed the Autonomous Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft, which was designed to make meteorological and optical measurements in hazardous environments. It was an early predecessor of unmanned aircraft, which are used in reconnaissance and combat roles today.

In 1964, he founded Weather Science, Inc., which modified more than 50 aircraft. He also became the founder and CEO of Metrodata Systems, Inc., which manufactured digital data and instrument systems for airborne data college. Booker sold both companies in 1974, before founding Aeromet, Inc.

Booker is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and served on numerous professional committees and board of the AMS, including Chairman of the Board on Certified Consulting Meteorologists and Chairman of the Board on Professional Ethics. He has published more than 60 professional papers and major reports on meteorological, engineering and aviation. He has also written and successfully lobbied the National Weather Modification Act in the U.S. Congress.

Booker is an active supporter of the OSU Foundation, serving as its Chairman of the Board of Directors during the Bringing Dreams to Life campaign. He has been an active board member and officer of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and the Tulsa Ballet. For several years, Booker served on the executive committee of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology Associates.

In 1995, Booker was awarded the CEAT Melvin R. Lohmann Medal, which is presented annually to an individual for engineering achievement. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus from Pennsylvania State University in 2000. In 2001, Booker was named an OSU Distinguished Alumnus by the OSU Alumni Association.

Booker is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association and had a residence hall at OSU named in his honor in 2005. Booker and his wife, Linda, have endowed two scholarship funds and a professorship at OSU. They enjoy music, theater, ballet and college sports.

Individual tickets to the ceremony and sponsorships may be purchased online at orangeconnection.org/hof2012 or by contacting Melissa Mourer at 405.744.3388. The deadline to purchase individual tickets is February 10.

For more information about the OSU Alumni Association's alumni awards program or to submit a nomination, visit orangeconnection.org/alumniawards.

The OSU Alumni Association serves as a lifelong connection between alumni and Oklahoma State University. As a member organization, the Association serves more than 200,000 alumni living worldwide, as well as OSU students, faculty, staff and friends. By supporting the extensive alumni network from OSU, the Association provides a connection back to the university through a number of outreach programs as well as a complete directory to connect alumni to each other. Get Connected – Stay Connected – orangeconnection.org!