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Ashley Heath successfully defended her M.S. thesis entitled, “Interactions of large scale dynamics in multi-model Madden-Julian Oscillation simulations” on July 6th via Webex. She officially graduated one month later and is working on publishing her research in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. Congrats, Ashley!

There is a fully funded, Graduate Student Research Assistantship opening up in our Tropical Atmospheric Dynamics group for Fall 2021. We are seeking a bright and enthusiastic graduate student who has strong skills in applied mathematics and computer programming (FORTRAN, Python, NCL) with interests in numerical modeling of tropical storms, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, and…

Natalie Kongable was just recognized for her high school senior research project where she worked with our Tropical Atmospheric Dynamics group perfecting fluid experiments on extratropical cyclones using the DIYnamics Lego-based tank system and presenting said experiments at local middle schools in eastern Iowa. Congrats, Natalie! For more info, see the DIYnamics blog post.

Alex and two other scientists were added as core team members of the DIYnamics Project, which is a multi-institutional project that develops affordable, accessible Earth science demonstration and teaching materials to K–12 and universities. For more info, see the DIYnamics blog post.

Alex’s grant entitled, “Nonlinear Dynamics of Daily-weekly Boreal Spring InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) Shifts over the Eastern Pacific Ocean” was awarded by the National Science Foundation’s Climate & Large-Scale Dynamics Program. Funding for this project will be for three years beginning in May 2020. See more details on our ITCZ Dynamics Research Page and the official…

Undergraduate student, James Larson, won a Student Experiential Opportunities award through the Iowa Space Grant Consortium for January through June 2020. James will be assessing the accuracy of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) in simulating sub-monthly shifts in the eastern Pacific Ocean Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) for October 2009–March 2010. Congrats and welcome to our research group,…

Undergraduate student, Melissa Piper, won the 2019 Outstanding Senior Thesis Award on her research entitled, “Evaluating Hurricane Harvey’s Rapid Intensification and Precipitation in the ERA5 Reanalysis.”

Ph.D. student, Indrani Ganguly, won the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) NCAR’s Advanced Study Program’s Graduate Student Fellowship for summer 2020. Indrani will be working with Dr. Richard Neale in the Climate and Global Dynamics Division conducting research on double ITCZ biases in climate models through hindcast simulations. Congrats, Indrani!

Sara Foernssler, Melissa Piper, and Matthew Statz all presented their senior thesis research at the 27th Annual Iowa State University Atmospheric Science Undergraduate Research Symposium. Congrats, Sara, Melissa, and Matt!

Melissa Piper’s reflects on her undergraduate experience in Meteorology at Iowa State in an article featured in Inside LAS: https://news.las.iastate.edu/2019/12/05/adventure-by-melissa/.