Alexei Smirnov, staff scientist, ICTP's High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics group, has been named a Humboldt Research Fellow, one of Germany's most prestigious awards in science. Smirnov was honoured for his lifetime achievements in physics. The award enables outstanding scientists and scholars from abroad to spend up to six months at the Humboldt Institute to carry out research on projects of their own choosing. Smirnov will begin his fellowship in 2005. Giuliano F. Panza, head of ICTP's Structure and Non-linear Dynamics of the Earth (SAND) group and professor of seismology at the University of Trieste, has been awarded the Central European Initiative (CEI) Medal of Honour for his "eminent services to the organization" as chairperson of the CEI Committee of Earth Sciences. The award's ceremony will be held on 17 December in Trieste. Jagadish Shukla, who was instrumental in the creation of ICTP's weather and climate research activities and then led the initiative from its inception in 1988 until 1997, has received the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) 2005 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal. Shukla is currently professor of physics at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, and head of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA) in Calverton, Maryland. The award, which represents the highest honour that AMS gives to atmospheric scientists, will be presented in January 2005 at the Society's 85th Annual Meeting, in San Diego, California, USA.