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TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS:
• Tropical Meteorology
• Numerical Weather Prediction
• Atmospheric Dynamics
• Probabilistic Forecasting
DEGREES:
Ph.D. (2002) Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University
B.S. (1992) Applied Mathematics, The Evergreen State College
PROFILE:
As long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in predicting
the weather. I started out predicting if my high school baseball
game would be rained out or not, now I focus on the more serious
problem of tropical cyclone forecasting. The range of courses that
I teach incorporates forecasting from the perspective of how to
build computer weather models to predict the weather. Courses like
dynamic meteorology help define the equations that govern the atmosphere,
courses like numerical weather prediction focus on putting those
equations to work. As an instructor, I like classes that are interesting,
interactive, not classes where the students just sit there listening
to me talk. I’ve had students run the WRF model as part of
class, for example.
My research interests concern improving the initial and boundary
conditions used by computer models which forecast the weather. The
reason I focus on computer models is that if the computers are doing
a better job, than the human forecasters who use them will do a
better job. Given how important tropical cyclone forecasting is,
that’s the area of computer modeling I am most interested
in improving.
Yes, I teach, I forecast, I do research, but I also go home! When
I do, my life centers on my wonderful wife and my friends. My wife
and I first met playing softball, and we still play twice a week
(except for winter – it’s too cold here in Charlotte!)
My favorite commute option is the Mallard Creek Greenway –
by bicycle. I am also quite attached to two great cats, Jake and
Daniel.
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