Former Oregon state climatologist George Taylor will be honored with the American Agri-Women’s Veritas Award.

Taylor is expected to receive the award, which recognizes the pursuit of truth, at the association’s annual convention in Salem, Ore., on Nov. 13.

The association is recognizing Taylor’s decades of work in climatology and meteorology, as well as his willingness to stand up for opinions that go against prevailing beliefs, according to the group’s press release.

Taylor is a well-known skeptic of man-made global warming who argues that current changes in climate are cyclical and primarily driven by natural forces.

His title of “state climatologist” was controversial because his views did not square with those of Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who asked Oregon State University to strip him of the title in 2007.

After heading the Oregon Climate Service at OSU for 19 years, Taylor retired in May 2008 and now runs Applied Climate Services, a meteorological consulting firm.

— Mateusz Perkowski