Advanced Weather and Society Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) Workshop
PARTICIPANTS
Organizing Committee:
Eve Gruntfest- Kristin Kuhlman
- Kevin Manross
- Kevin Scharfenberg
Greg Stumpf
Inventing and developing the WAS*IS movement have been the work I’ve enjoyed most in my long career.
I was a Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, CO from 1980 until 2007. My career is originally based on what we can learn from the Big Thompson Flood in Colorado. That catastrophic flash flood occurred in July 1976 and 144 people were killed. I have published widely and I am an internationally recognized expert in the specialty areas of warning system development and flash flooding. In 2008 we are wrapping up a five- year National Science Foundation project evaluating warnings for short fuse weather events, particularly tornadoes and flash floods.
As a social scientist giving many presentations to the world of engineers and physical scientists, often early career folks would tell me that they wanted to do work that integrated social science and meteorology but they didn’t know how and they didn’t know other folks who were doing that kind of work. WAS*IS recognizes the need to bring social science methods into meteorology and to develop cadre of physical scientists who understand the benefits and tools of social science.
Beginning in May 2008 I will be directing a new initiative that build on the WAS*IS movement. SSWIM stands for Social Science Woven into Meteorology. With the expert assistance of WAS*ISers Heather Lazrus, Kim Klockow and Gina Eosco we will integrate social science into the multi-faceted National Weather Center in Norman, OK. Our project is funded jointly by University of Oklahoma and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We are thrilled that so many meteorology students recognize the importance of including societal impacts in their work. Stay tuned for exciting news of our projects.
I received my B. S. in Meteorology at the State University of New York at Oswego, and then my M. S. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University . Currently, I am a University of Oklahoma meteorologist contracted to work for the National Weather Service (NWS) to research and develop innovative severe weather warning decision making technology including Doppler radar algorithms. I am stationed at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma, and work with NSSL scientists to help transfer this new technology into NWS operations. Prior to this position, I served as an NSSL group manager responsible for warning application R&D. Throughout my 17 year career, I have had opportunities to participate in a number of special research projects, including several storm intercept programs (e.g., VORTEX), as well as real-time NWS warning decision proof-of-concept tests at about 12 forecast offices nationwide. I have traveled extensively in the United States for business and pleasure, and to the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Brazil, and Australia to lecture on warning and radar applications and theory. I also chase storms as a hobby in the Great Plains since 1987, and have witnessed uncountable severe storms and tornadoes. Throughout my work and hobby, I have been interested in finding ways to help improve the severe weather information delivered to our wide range of users from “end-to-end”, from new and innovative severe weather applications and decision assistance as well as improved delivery methods and products.
Participants
- Dave Andra
- Quyen Arana
- Kevin Barjenbruch
- Patrick Burke
- Greg Carbin
- Renee Curry
- Gina Eosco
- Somer Erickson
- John Feree
- Tanja Fransen
- Barry Goldsmith
- Amanda Graning
- Tracy Hansen
- Pam Heinselman
- Mark Hoekzema
- Kirk Holub
- Mike Hudson
- Rebecca Jennings
- Jeff Kimpel
- Kim Klockow
- Angelyn Kolodziej
- Daphne LaDue
- Jim LaDue
- Brent MacAloney
- Mike Magsig
- Chris Maier
- Dan Miller
- Christina Mueller
- Kodi Nemunaitis
- Kiel Ortega
- Brenda Philips
- Karen Pennesi
- Randy Peppler
- Liz Quoetone
- Isabelle Ruin
- Sarah Ruth
- Craig Schmidt
- Andrea Schumacher
- Travis Smith
- Alan Stewart
- Melissa Tuttle Carr
- Donna Woudenberg
When raised on a farm in Nebraska, weather quickly becomes an important player. Either we needed rain for the crops, or needed a break from baling hay, walking beans, or whatever. So upon completion of High School, I attended The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and eventually graduated in December of 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology.
I began my National Weather Service career in Fort Wayne, IN, logged a few years in Cleveland, then moved back to work at the Northern Indiana Office. In 2004, I was fortunate to become the Warning Coordination Meteorologist for Weather Forecast Office Salt Lake City. This signaled a move from 16 years as an operational forecaster to a position where education and outreach are the focus.
My research and papers to date have been geared toward the operational Meteorologist, but now find myself more intrigued by societal response. As I travel around the Salt Lake City County Warning and Forecast Area, at times it is a struggle to generate enough interest to garner an audience. If I get the audience, it is still challenging to effectively educate individuals to the level that they will take the proper response when a weather event threatens. Being a part of the WAS*IS cadre is appealing because this workshop is aimed at addressing one of my core challenges, ensuring the public receives National Weather Service forecast and warning information, understands it, and responds appropriately.
My interest in meteorology stems from growing up on a family farm in South Dakota. I then made the move to Oklahoma to follow my dream of studying meteorology. For my undergraduate degree, I majored in meteorology with honors (cum laude) at the University of Oklahoma with minors in math and hydrologic science. I spent six months of my B.S. degree studying at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. My Master's research at the University of Oklahoma is a continuation of research that began during a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. This research is a dual-Doppler radar study of a landfalling hurricane (Isabel) that came ashore in North Carolina in 2003. Two mobile radars, the Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radars (SMART-Rs), were utilized to measure the three-dimensional wind. These radars collected data of the small-scale structures within hurricanes that can be used in models to improve flood forecasts.
I have also been involved in national and international field projects with these radars. I have worked on a couple of field projects involving the National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL) and will be involved in a large field program named VORTEX-2 in Summer 2009. In the summer of 2007, our radar group was involved in the NASA Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) project that was based in Costa Rica.
To combine my interests in radar meteorology and the social sciences, I will be teaching a radar workshop this summer (2008) to high school teachers in conjunction with EarthStorm of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Attending WAS *IS will help me further understand my career interest in learning how to be an effective liaison between the scientific community and those outside of it. Outside of meteorology, I love to sing, play golf, read, travel, and spend time with my amazing family and friends.
I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio but decided to venture out a little and attend the University of Miami, Florida where I received both my undergraduate degrees in Atmospheric Science and Mathematics. I am currently finishing up my Masters work in Meteorology and will start an Interdisciplinary PhD in the Fall. My current research focus is on the cost of false alarms in tornado warnings. I hope to continue this work in the future as well as work on hazard response and communication as well as be more involved with emergency management. My passion for Meteorology and especially societal impacts began when I was young. Being just south of Xenia, Ohio AKA one of the "hotspots" of the April 3rd and 4th 1974 "Super Outbreak", I grew up hearing the stories and seeing the photos. Since then I have made it my goal to be a part of the societal impact movement in order to serve the community and to help save lives. In my spare time, I like to enjoy the outdoors, listen to music and volunteer in various types of activities such as outreach services, red cross and FEMA.
After two years of undergraduate coursework (and a modest GPA) at Penn State, I got my first big break: The National Weather Service was recruiting students to train at national headquarters. There were only three openings, but, as luck would have it, only two of us applied, and having met the minimum GPA and coursework prerequisites, we were in!
The rest, one might say, is history. I began my career in January, 1986, with the Techniques Development Laboratory of the Office of Systems Development, where I assisted the staff with statistical guidance equations based on numerical weather prediction models. Evaluating these equations, used by NWS forecasters as guidance, was equivalent to holding the golden key to the kingdom of modern, routine weather forecasting; by noting the tendencies and biases in tests, I was able to gain invaluable knowledge about the forecast process that I continue to use today! After graduation, I remained at National Headquarters, but was hired as a Verification Specialist with the Services Evaluation Branch. This career moved meshed with my previous experience, as I was tasked with evaluating and comparing the actual forecasts produced by humans and computers! In 1993, I became a general forecaster at the local office in Sterling, VA, where I was able to apply my weather knowledge with the tools I acquired as an equation developer and verification specialist. Issuing forecasts and warnings for weather ranging from hurricanes to heat waves, for up to 120 counties, including four states and the District of Columbia, was certainly a challenge, but I was up to the task. By the end of 1998, I was promoted to senior forecaster at the local office serving Florida 's Suncoast, where I continue today.
During my more than 21 years as a NWS meteorologist, I have never forgotten the lessons of one of my mentors, who always said that a good forecast should pass the public service test: If the public understood the message, and took appropriate action based on the message in a timely manner, your forecast was a success. Whether I'm forecasting, leading teams of my peers, or communicating with my staff or external partners, I never forget that my mission isn't complete when I hit the ÒsendÓ button on a forecast or have the last word in a meeting. Rather, satisfaction comes from the response elicited, from a neighbor taking cover in a safe shelter when the tornado warning is received, or my colleagues working trouble-free with programs that I created or adjusted. I am coming to WAS*IS to meet with like-minded professionals to help those in the weather enterprise to pass the public service test with flying colors!
I am a Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, which is located at the University of Oklahoma (OU). My current research interest is on the investigation of polarimetric-radar applications such as hail sizing and estimating the depth of the convective boundary layer. Past research interests are the North American Monsoon (PhD, 2004), storm longevity, and El Niño (MS, 1994). Although I was trained almost purely in meteorology, I enjoy interdisciplinary activities and research that combine aspects of meteorology and education. As time permits, I lead educational outreach activities for the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and OU. At NSSL I have mentored students in the NWC REU program and participated in public open houses. During the fall 2005 semester, I taught Weather and Climate for non-meteorology majors (and loved it!) at OU and co-mentored two OU senior Capstone students on a project that addressed graduate student misconceptions about the concept of relative humidity. This Capstone project represents one piece of an ongoing education research project entitled, "Relative Humidity: What do students know about it?"
Since I was a child, weather has been a fascination to me. I spent many mornings pouring over the weather page in the newspaper and posting the days forecast on the refrigerator before the rest of the family was out of bed. I had always known I was going to be a meteorologist. I went to the University of Maryland to study Meteorology and quickly began a quest to land a job working for my idol Bob Ryan at the local NBC station in Washington. When I was a junior I finally got the job at WRC-TV/NBC4. I worked through undergraduate school while obtaining my degree in Meteorology. I continued working full-time while I completed my graduated course work at Maryland as well.
From 1986-2000, I worked as a Meteorologist/Weather Producer producing weather graphics and forecasts for the on-air forecasters. In 1996 we became the first local TV station to debut a weather web site. It was called "WeatherNet4"and it quickly became the #1 TV weather web site in the country. This public/private partnership with NASA was used to promote space and science via the Internet and over the broadcast airwaves. From 1996 to 2000 I performed the duties of webmaster for this successful web site. From 1997-2000 I also performed on-air duties as a vacation fill-in meteorologist. In 2000, I moved to AWS (now WeatherBug) with whom NBC had been a client since the start of the company. I moved to become the technical product manager/meteorologist. I began by overseeing the debut of the new TV web offering WeatherNet Plus and also as a product manager for WeatherBug. As the company meteorologist I also oversaw the development of nearly every product developed by the company. In 2002 I became the Chief Meteorologist for WeatherBug and among my many duties I oversee the development and distribution of the weather content seen in the WeatherBug products. I lead a team of meteorologists that write editorial content and oversee the meteorology and content development for WeatherBug and all other products developed by the company. In the Spring of 2006 I lead a team to design and staff a multimedia studio which now handles all of the WeatherBug video and audio production for our web products. In the summer of 2006 I was made director of the yet to be formed Meteorological Operations Center at WeatherBug. Over the past year I have built the department staff to 15 meteorologists who perform a wide range of forecasting and content development tasks.
One of my highlights here at WeatherBug was heading up a team to chase hurricanes in the WeatherBug StormTracker. In 2001, we had the opportunity to experience the landfall of Hurricane Gordon that came ashore in the Big Bend area of Florida. I also spent two week in both 2004 and 2005 on a tornado chasing trip supplying images and content to our web products.
As a Hurricane Program Specialist, Rebecca supports a variety of projects to help State and local agencies prepare for hurricane hazards. These include providing tools and technical assistance to State and local agencies in developing hurricane evacuation plans, conducting assessments, and increasing public awareness through training and outreach programs. She is also a member of the Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT), which consists of FEMA, National Weather Service, State, and local emergency management officials deployed to the National Hurricane center to ensure the rapid exchange and communication of information prior to the landfall of a hurricane. The HLT works directly with National Hurricane Center forecasters to monitor storm tracks and coordinate the latest advisories to Federal, State, and local emergency management agencies.
Prior to joining FEMA in December 2007, Rebecca worked for The Weather Channel in the Global Forecast Center before becoming a member of the local programming team. As the teamÕs emergency management liaison, she began working with emergency managers to provide information to local communities during land-falling hurricanes and other significant weather events. In addition, she was as a meteorology product manager for the Local on the 8s and Weatherscan.
Rebecca also has previous consulting experience with Sapient, participating in the launch of interactive projects for clients such as American Cancer Society, UPS, and Symbol Technologies.
Rebecca earned a Master of Science in Earth and Atmospheric Science from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University, Athens, OH. She is an active member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and a Weather and Society Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) fellow.
I graduated from Purdue University (Boiler Up!) in May 2006 with degrees in Economics and Synoptic Meteorology. I began the research process in 2004 in an REU program at NSSL (National Severe Storms Lab), working on a study of economic impacts of tornadoes in Oklahoma (changes in consumption). I built on this work in a senior thesis in 2006, looking at changes in financial distress in OK and TX. That fall, I came to grad school at the University of Oklahoma to begin my thesis work looking at economic and social impacts of the Oklahoma Mesonet enterprise. I have also been involved in two side projects while at OU: working with Randy Peppler to do a case study on OU meteorologists (theoretically a 'weather salient' group) who traveled to AMS 2007 through an ice storm: gauging their perceived risks/information used to assess risk/actions taken... and a project with the political science department gauging what people believe about climate change based on their political affiliation: matching perceptions with the climate reality of their local area. I am coming to WAS*IS because the nature of the work I want to do is very cross-disciplinary (perhaps an obvious statement!), and I would love to be connected to a community of people who are mixing social sciences into meteorology. It can be a strange an unbounded thing, and finding more people with understanding/expertise in both areas will just be exciting. There's a world of interesting/fun work to be done, and I look forward to seeing what everyone is up to!
I am a 1999 graduate of Lyndon State College (VT) with a B.S. in Meteorology. My first job out of college was at National Weather Service Headquarters as a programmer working on the verification of warnings for the Performance Branch. After 5 years on the job as a contractor, I accepted a government position within the Performance Branch as a meteorologist. Now instead of working on the programming end of verification, I am involved with the planning, specifications, and training processes. My area of expertise is still with the verification of NWS warnings, but I also oversee the national process of logging severe and unusual weather events process.
In attending WAS*IS, my goal is to learn more about the societal impacts of weather. Ultimately I would like to see if there are any ways in which the NWS can start measuring performance and public impact instead of just your standard verification scores.
I serve in NOAA National Weather Service's (NWS) Headquarters as our National Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM), and our StormReady and TsunamiReady Program Manager. Donna Franklin, our fantastic WCM Program Coordinator, and I, strive to do our best to provide support to all 130 of our Regional and Field WCMs. They are our organization's leads for education and outreach, as well as customer service. Here at NWS Headquarters we do work directly with our customers and partners at the national level. That mainly involves coordinating NOAA NWS services, national programs, and new initiatives.
A 1987 graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Meteorology, I began my NWS career shortly thereafter as an intern in Kalispell, MT. I then spent eight years in our Salt Lake City, UT Forecast Office, primarily supporting our land management agencies as Utah 's Fire Weather Program Manager. My next stop prior to last year's move to NWS Headquarters was to our Juneau, AK Forecast Office. I served there for four years as the WCM and learned a great deal about our marine customers and tsunami science. My most meaningful career experiences took place in the decade that I served as an Incident Meteorologist (IMET). NWS IMETs support Incident Management Teams with on-site forecast and warning services pertinent to their operations. Everything from wildfires to oil spills, working as an IMET is one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding positions in our organization.
By attending WAS*IS, I want to become more capable of leading the integration of social science into the global Ôhazards' enterprise. I hope to learn viable socio-economic methods and infuse them into our current NWS paradigm. I want to be able to better facilitate among the various folks that have a passion for, and contribute to the hazards enterprise. Call me crazy but I simply believe we need to partner together more effectively on implementation strategies for community resilience to natural hazards to become more viable in the U.S.
I work at Washington County Emergency Management as an emergency management specialist. My education background is a B.A. in history and M.S. in geography. My research interests are emergency management, natural disasters, weather, and China . During graduate school I organized and planned a functional and full scale exercises involving three counties’ emergency response agencies. At Washington County I daily work with the local public safety, public health, and volunteer agencies to prepare and respond to disasters in our county and the twin cities area. My work responsibilities involve the emergency notification system, Emergency Operation Center (EOC) checklists and training program, mass dispensing plans for vaccinations, and spatial analysis. Each day holds new challenges and fun adventures!
I am a Graduate Research Assistant for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey at the University of Oklahoma (OU), where I am studying the surface energy balance in urban and rural environments. After serving as a Teaching Assistant for introductory meteorology courses, I received my MS in Meteorology at OU in December 2003. Prior to moving to Oklahoma, I received my BS in Meteorology/Climatology at the University of Nebraska in 2001.
While my background is primarily in meteorology, my interests in policy and societal impacts have grown significantly since attending the AMS Summer Policy Colloquium. Since then, I have visited the offices of legislators at the Oklahoma State Capitol on behalf of the Oklahoma Mesonet and organized a brown bag lunch series with OU’s Department of Political Science to integrate meteorology, political science, and social science. I hope that WAS*IS will help me establish relationships with social scientists and integrate social science into my research in ways that benefit society.
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson . My current dissertation research explores aspects of language and culture that influence how climate predictions generated by traditional and scientific methods are interpreted in rural communities in the state of Ceará, Northeast Brazil . One goal of my project was to understand the criticisms aimed at meteorologists and at "rain prophets" (older farmers who use traditional environmental knowledge to make predictions). What I am finding is that each group has different objectives and different ways of communicating environmental knowledge. It is not simply a question of whose predictions are correct because both meteorologists and rain prophets can legitimately claim to be right when evaluated on their own terms.
Research for my Master's in Anthropology also focused on linguistic and cultural aspects of an environmental conflict. I looked at the various ways pollution of the St. Clair River in Southwestern Ontario, Canada was framed by government, the Walpole Island First Nation and a petrochemical company. What interests me in this work is how communication falters due to hidden cultural differences and how these can be revealed through analysis of language use.
At the WAS*IS workshop, I will be interested in learning how weather knowledge is produced, interpreted and evaluated differently by different social groups. The role of media in communicating forecasts and in forming public opinion of the forecasters is another topic I would like to explore. As I begin to write my dissertation, I look forward to discussing ideas related to the implications and applications of "weather products".
I have spent 20 years in the National Weather Service, working my way across the west as an operational meteorologist in Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon before settling in as a regional program manager for the NWS Western Region in Salt Lake City UT. My educational background includes a B.S. from the University of Missouri in Atmospheric Science, and some graduate work in Meteorology at the University of Utah during my intern days. I have also enjoyed numerous leadership and customer service courses both in and out of the NWS; I am a graduate of Western Region's Leadership and Innovation for Tomorrow program, will be returning as a facilitator for a new class this fall.
My most rewarding professional experience was being part of the weather forecast team for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Our team of 15 meteorologists from the NWS, Canada, and Australia used experimental technology to create detailed weather information for dozens of event venues, while providing information to security interests and international media. We took great pride in knowing that no event suffered a weather delay or major health issue, even though we had plenty of thunderstorm and extreme heat activity during the Games.
I am currently working on a number of projects aimed at improving the service provided by our organization, especially for high-impact events, and look forward to bouncing ideas off the WAS*IS group. I am especially interested in finding better ways to provide services to our partners and customers, and to find effective methods to measure the impact of those services.
I am currently a Research Associate at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) in Fort Collins, CO specializing in tropical cyclone formation. I earned an M.S. in Atmospheric Science in May 2004, and my graduate research focused on idealized modeling of tropical cyclone genesis. After spending 2 years pursuing a career in small business ownership, I decided to return to my true passion of hurricane research.
I have been working at CIRA since July 2007 under the direction of Dr. Mark DeMaria. My current project entails extending a tropical cyclone formation probability product originally developed for the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basin to the Central and Western Pacific basins. This product will provide real-time, objective guidance to forecasters who are responsible for predicting tropical cyclone formation in those regions.
I was drawn to hurricane research because it gives me the opportunity to use my scientific background to solve problems and help people. Although the science I do is interesting in itself, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of why my work is so important. Professionally, I am attending the WAS*IS workshop because it is crucial for scientists like me to understand the potential societal impacts our work has so that we can better prioritize our projects and appropriately tailor them to the end user. Personally, I am attending WAS*IS to build a better foundation for why I do what I do and to connect with others who share in my desire to bridge the gap between weather research and societal needs.
I have recently accepted the Manager of Weather Information Distribution position at The Weather Channel in Atlanta, GA. In this role, I will be managing cross-departmental projects, writing technical requirements, and providing customer support for both internal and external customers of TWC distribution systems. I will also be managing certain data sets, while searching for new data that would add breadth to TWC products. Prior to this, I was a Local Product Developer, working on Weatherscan (our 24-hour, all-local network) as well as the TWC network’s ‘Local on the 8s’. During that time I provided meteorological consultation, quality assurance, database maintenance, and product configuration, as well as operational support during landfalling hurricanes. I am very excited to be attending WAS*IS. My product developer role revolved around providing relevant and understandable weather products to the public, and my new position will be focusing on the data used to create products for consumers across all TWC platforms. A Wisconsin native, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997 with a BS in Atmospheric Sciences. I enjoy spending time with my husband and pursuing an ever-evolving list of activities, including volunteer work, music, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, yoga, playing softball and ice hockey, and cheering on my Wisconsin sports teams.
I am a Doctoral Candidate in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources (SNR), within the Human Dimensions specialization. I received my B.S. in Natural Resources in 2000, majoring in Environmental Studies and my M.S. in Natural Resources in 2002, with a focus in Climatology.
I’m most interested in how humans relate to the natural environment, and how they are affected by – and affect – the natural environment. During my Master’s project, I worked with water management planners and decision-makers in Nebraska to determine how the High Plains Regional Climate Center could better serve that community. Based on the project’s surveys and interviews, I developed a web-based Climate and Weather Clearinghouse to assist users of climate data. I currently have a research assistantship through SNR with the National Drought Mitigation Center . My dissertation project is related to drought perception and the sociological impacts of drought on the Great Plains . Following graduation, I would like to continue to work within the university system.
I am very excited about coming to WAS*IS! I have no doubt that networking and participating in the program will be extremely beneficial 1) to me, on a personal level; 2) to me, on a professional level; and 3) to successful completion of my dissertation project. I also hope that my “human dimensions” interests – which I see as a normal, natural melding of science and sociology – will be interesting and/or beneficial to other WAS*IS participants or to furthering WAS*IS program goals.
