Kelvin K. Droegemeier earned a B.S. with Special Distinction in Meteorology in 1980 from the University of Oklahoma, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in atmospheric science in 1982 and 1985, respectively, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the University of Oklahoma faculty in September, 1985 and in 1987 was named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Droegemeier's research interests lie in thunderstorm dynamics and predictability, variational data assimilation, mesoscale dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, massively parallel computing, and aviation weather. An expert in aviation forensic meteorology, he has served as a consultant to Honeywell Corporation, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, the National Transportation Safety Board, and Climatological Consulting Corp.

In 1989, Dr. Droegemeier co-founded the NSF Science and Technology Center (STC) for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS), serving as director from 1994 until 2006. As director of the CAPS model development project for 5 years, he managed the creation of a multi-scale numerical prediction system that has helped pioneer the science of storm-scale numerical forecasting. This computer model was a finalist for the 1993 National Gordon Bell Prize in High Performance Computing. In 1997, Dr. Droegemeier received theDiscover Magazine Award for Technology Innovation (computer software category), and also in 1997 CAPS was awarded the Computerworld Smithsonian Award (science category). Dr. Droegemeier also is a recipient of the NSF Pioneer Award and the Federal Aviation Administration's Excellence in Aviation Award. In 1999, Dr. Droegemeier incorporated Weather Decision Technologies, which now has offices both in the US and abroad. From 1999-2001, he wrote a daily weather science column for the Daily Oklahoman newspaper and in 2003, co-founded the NSF Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), serving for many years as its deputy director.

In 2004, Dr. Droegemeier was appointed by President George W. Bush to a 6-year term on the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation that also provides science policy guidance to the Congress and President. He chaired the Board's standing Committee on Programs and Plans and Task force on Cost Sharing, and co-chaired the Hurricane Research Task Force. In 2010, Dr. Droegemeier was nominated by President Barack Obama for a second term on the National Science Board and was confirmed by the Senate in 2011 for a term expiring in 2016.

In 2005, Dr. Droegemeier was appointed Associate Vice president for Research and in 2009, Vice President for Research at the University of Oklahoma. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, former Chairman of the Board of the University Corporation Atmospheric Research, former member of the Microsoft Research Corporation External Advisory Board, and current member of the Boards of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge Associated Universities Foundation, Council on Governmental Relations, National Weather Museum and Science Center, and Norman, Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. He also is a Trustee of Southeastern Universities Research Association.