College of Engineering and Computing faculty named journal editor-in-chief

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Viviana Maggioni, associate professor and director of undergraduate affairs in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, was recently named editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hydrometeorology (JHM) of the American Meteorological Society. The appointment is for two years and can be renewed indefinitely.

In addition to being Maggioni’s primary journal for publishing her own work, she feels a particular connection to the JHM, where she began as a reviewer in 2013. “I published my very first article as first author in this journal and my first PhD student published his first article as first author in this journal,” she said. “It has meaning to me.”

After serving for three years as a reviewer she became an associate editor in 2016 and an editor in 2019 before being appointed to her new role.

The society offers fantastic support to the editors, she said. “We have a support system that is quite unbelievable and the number of staff behind the scenes is amazing, which means that my job is easier. I have an assistant that tells me, for example, this manuscript needs a reviewer or this manuscript has been sitting with an editor for two months.” 

The journal receives roughly 200 manuscripts per year with a 60 percent acceptance rate.

“My main goal is to move along the manuscripts of the highest quality and push early career scientists that submit their work as first authors,” said Maggioni. “I go through reviewer comments and ensure they are constructive; comments may come across as aggressive and if you’re early career and get a rejection, that can change an author’s approach. I want us to provide comments that will improve the science and improve the way the science is communicated.”