Participants
The Original WAS*IS #1
November 2005 & March 2006

WAS*IS Organizers

Eve Gruntfest, NCAR Institute for the Study of Society and Environment
I am a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research this year. For the past 25 years I have been a geography professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. My research specialty is social science and weather with particular attention to flash floods and warning systems. I have had the opportunity to work in Trieste, Italy as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Geography in 2003 and I have been invited to work on flash flood mitigation issues in Italy, France, Australia, Slovenia, and elsewhere. I have the most fun hunting treasures in a thriftstore, walking along a beach, and cuddling with my partner Marc and my little dog Ziggy.
(More > web page )

Julie Demuth
I am a visiting scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) Societal Impacts Program (SIP) where I’ve been co-organizing the Weather and Society * Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) workshops with Eve Gruntfest since last summer. I am interested in studying public interpretation and understanding of weather forecasts, watches, and warnings; communicating uncertainty; and working with non-traditional user groups (e.g., social programs) to assess if and how they use weather information for short-term planning. I also want to continue working to further the WAS*IS vision of culture change, especially through changing standard undergraduate and graduate meteorological curricula to include mandatory societal-impact components. Prior to my work at NCAR, I had the great opportunity to work in science policy in Washington, D.C., for two years at the National Research Council’s (NRC) Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) as a Program Officer. I also recently worked with colleagues at Colorado State University/Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) on estimating tropical cyclone intensity and wind structure using Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) data. Our algorithms were transitioned to operations at the National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center (NHC/TPC) during 2005, where they provide objective tropical cyclone intensity estimates.

Jeff Lazo, NCAR Research Applications Lab / Institute for the Study of Society and Environment
I am the Director of the Collaborative Program on the Societal Impacts and Economic Benefits of Weather Information at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. I am an economist with extensive experience in nonmarket valuation of environmental and natural resource commodities. I am a Colorado native, have worked as a dishwasher, parking lot attendant, and chimney sweep (all pre-grad-school), still play soccer for fun, like to travel, and am currently reading some books about African history.
(More > web page)

WAS*IS Presenters

Mary H. Hayden
I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs working with on an NSF funded study underway in Denver and Austin: “The Warning Project: Geographical and Psychological Components to Understand Warning Response and Improve Warning Messages for Short-Fuse Weather Events”. I am a co-PI for a NOAA funded study currently in its fourth year investigating the role of climate variability on the potential for dengue fever to emerge along the US/Mexico border. I have professional training in the health and behavioral sciences (Ph.D.) and geography (climatology, M.A.) and my research interests include community-focused interventions, infectious disease ecology, and the role of human-environmental interactions on disease transmission, particularly dengue fever and West Nile Virus. I have worked as a science mentor for undergraduate students in Climate and Health at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and I am a member of the scientific advisory board for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) project.

Bob Henson, UCAR Communications
Born and raised in Oklahoma City, I grew up surrounded by wild weather and fascinated by it. My bachelor's degree at Rice University, completed in 1983, featured an interdisciplinary major in meteorology and psychology. I went on to graduate school in both meteorology and journalism at the University of Oklahoma. My M.A. thesis looked at actual and perceived accuracy of severe weather warnings on local television, and I maintain a keen interest in how weather and climate (especially the extreme types) are understood by the public. Since 1989 I've been a writer/editor at UCAR, producing internal and external newsletters and reports and assisting with a variety of other forms of outreach, including the Walter Orr Roberts Weather Trail. I enjoy freelance writing on a variety of topics and serve as contributing editor of Weatherwise magazine. I've written two books--Television Weathercasting: A History (McFarland, 1990) and The Rough Guide to Weather (Rough Guides/Penguin, 2002)--and I’m now at work on The Rough Guide to Climate Change. Since 1980 I've seen around 20 tornadoes, two hurricanes, and a vast array of severe thunderstorms while on field projects and personal travel. Bicycling and photography are two other passions of mine: I've done several bike tours of 200 to 800 miles and spend a lot of my transportation time on two (nonmotorized) wheels.
(More > Web page)

Sandy Johnson , NCAR/Louisiana State University
I am a Visiting Scientist at NCAR, which is hosting me while I am away from the Louisiana State University School of Public Health where I am a Professor of Epidemiology. I began my career in communications before turning to development and public health. I hold a Ph.D. from Tulane University where my focus was on international health and development, infectious disease epidemiology, and medical anthropology. My B.A. was a double-major in the completely unrelated fields of Film Production and East Asian Studies. My research interests include the interaction of social policy, environmental change (including climate change!) and health; and development and conflict. I have conducted research in Latin America and Asia. As you might expect, I therefore love travel. What you might not otherwise expect is that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my personal hero.

Matt Kelsch , UCAR/COMET
I have lived and worked in Boulder since 1986 and I am currently with UCAR’s Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET). I have coordinated and served as an instructor for the many hydrology-related courses at COMET, but I have also worked in mesoscale meteorology, emergency management, aviation weather, and winter weather. My personal interests include communicating weather and climate phenomena to the media and the public, the impacts of land use on hydrologic responses, and climate change. I am the cooperative climate observer for Boulder and I help train a couple hundred volunteer precipitation observers in Boulder and Broomfield counties that are part of Colorado’s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network. I am a local media contact but I also get some national exposure; in 2005 I was interviewed or quoted by the National Institutes of Health, National Public Radio, CNN, the Associated Press, and National Geographic. I have an M.S. in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma, and a B.S. from the State University of New York at Oswego. As a Long Island, NY native I was always rooting for the blizzards and hurricanes that were headed our way. As a long-time Boulder resident I wish it rained more, but I enjoy the windstorms, snowstorms, lightning, and spectacular rainbows. I am an avid hiker, gardener, and bicycle commuter. I also like to rescue older dogs that need a place to call home.

Emily Zielinski-Gutiérrez
I am a Behavioral Scientist with the CDC Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, located in Fort Collins, Colorado. I coordinate national education efforts for West Nile virus, Lyme disease, plague and several other vector-borne diseases, work with dengue fever and filariasis in the Pacific and conduct research to improve prevention of these diseases. I hold doctoral and masters degrees in public health from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans where my studies included medical anthropology, tropical medicine, epidemiology and health communication. I have worked internationally in reproductive health and dengue fever prevention, and domestically with bioterrorism issues, HIV, hospice and border health. My interests include evaluation of infectious disease control, the role for community participation and culture in public health prevention, and the role of human ecology in understanding vector-borne disease. I live in Fort Collins with my husband, too many pets and my new daughter, Elise.

WAS*IS Participants

Matthew Biddle, University of Oklahoma
I am currently finishing my Ph.D. in the Department of Geography at the University of Oklahoma with a sub-specialty of Natural Hazards and a dissertation topic that examines warning behavior and response in the 1999 Oklahoma City Area tornado. I have a professional background in environmental regulation and remediation, I’m a former Emergency Management Director of a rural Oklahoma town, and I’m a long time volunteer with Oklahoma County Emergency Management. I was directly involved in the response and recovery for both the Murrah Bldg bombing and the 1999 tornadoes. My secondary interests in Geography include the Great Plains and Midwest. I am a ten year veteran driver for National Severe Storms Laboratory tornado intercept teams, and have also worked with National Geographic and the National Science Foundation on various tornado field projects, such as VORTEX. As far as non-academic activities go.......I currently have little time to even think about anything else as I am desperately trying to finish the dissertation for a FALL 05 graduation. I would normally love to drive around the area with no particular place to go, to visit Nederland or some other close small town, and just get out and enjoy the scenery. However, I am so tired and beat up right now that I am not looking to over-extend myself because I am REALLY looking forward to the workshop. I like to watch hockey at the bar (since I do not get to do that much at home currently), and would probably take care not to be too overbooked with a lot of trips and extra activities, so as too make sure I use the free time to rest given all I am trying to get done this Fall. I hope to not seem anti-social if there are a few nights I do not leave the room or the hotel lounge trying to conserve myself. (I am permanently on crutches and am still recovering from a recent infection in my knee).
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Amanda (Brandt) Graning, NOAA National Weather Service
Amanda is currently a general forecaster at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Duluth, MN. Her career in the NWS began in 2002 when she was selected for a cooperative-student meteorologist. For 2 years, Amanda worked at the NWS in Minneapolis, MN while attending St. Cloud State University. In May 2004 she received her B.S. Degree in Meteorology and moved to the NWS office in Duluth, MN. She has received multiple awards for her research including the Best in Session Award at the Academy of Science Winchell Undergraduate Symposium, the Denise M. McGuire Student Research Award, and the St. Cloud State University Undergraduate Research Award. She has presented her work at various functions in the weather community and enjoys sharing her love for meteorology with others, especially students.
(More > interest statement - resumé)

David Call, Syracuse University
I received a B.S. in meteorology from Penn State and began my career by working for WJET-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania. In 2002 I enrolled in Syracuse University’s Geography program and earned my M.A. from there in 2004. I am now pursuing my Ph.D. at Syracuse University. For my Master’s thesis, I studied the impact of major snowstorms on large cities in Upstate New York, and my dissertation will examine society’s vulnerability to ice storms. In my spare time, I enjoy working as a part-time meteorologist for WSTM-TV, collecting counties, playing various musical instruments, and restoring old traffic lights. Also, I packed extra clothes for this workshop because every time I visit Colorado, snowstorms cancel or delay my plane flights.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page )

Kim Carsell, David Ford Consulting Engineers, Inc.
I am a geographer and a certified floodplain manager at David Ford Consulting Engineers in Sacramento, California (www.ford-consulting.com). I have a Bachelor in geography and environmental studies and a Masters of Basic Science in geography from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. My current work involves flood warning system evaluation, floodplain management, and social science review of stakeholder opinions and requirements. Recent flood warning system evaluations have included Harlan County, KY; Austin, TX; Johnson County, KS; Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins, CA; Boulder, CO; and San Bernardino County, CA. Prior to joining David Ford Consulting Engineers, I worked as a research associate at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where I investigated public response to flood warnings (and false warnings/alarms) with Dr. Eve Gruntfest. On a personal note, I volunteer during the spring and summer at a wildlife nursery caring for injured birds (my favorite are crow babies). In my spare time I like to take my two giant poodles for walks along the American River in Sacramento. I enjoy attending minor league baseball games, college hockey games, and major league basketball games. I occasionally play golf (albeit not well). One of my favorite outings is thrift store hunting with the queen of thrift stores, Eve – you would not believe the bargains she can find! One last thing – I have been a hazard junkie since I can remember. My friends could never understand how I can be so excited by extreme weather – I’m glad to be part of this group who does understand!
(More > interest statement - resumé)

David Changnon, Northern Illinois University
I am a middle-aged applied climatologist who loves to help people find ways to use weather and climate information. When not involved in climate-related activities, I really like having conversations with others (especially with my wife), playing board games with my two sons (ages 9 and 12), working out (including biking and walking to work), reading the Chicago Tribune, vacationing each summer in Colorado (and exploring all that state has to offer), and watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I enjoy playing golf all though I don't do it well), eating mexican food (with a good margarita, especially at the Rio Grande in Fort Collins/Boulder), taking my dog for walks, swimming, and being lazy on Sundays!
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Jeff Craven, NOAA National Weather Service
I'm a native of Oxnard, CA. Born and raised there until College, I was always a fan of active weather, especially Thunderstorms. This is interesting in that I rarely witnessed thunderstorms or winter weather in coastal CA. I was deprived! I love to follow and watch college football and to a lesser extent pro football. I participate in weekly pick'em contests and certainly love my OU Sooners (through thick and thin). I love most foods, and maintain the seefood diet (See food, eat food). Although I don't ride much, my wife and daughters ride english and especially hunter jumper. We have six horses. We also have three St. Bernards, which my wife breeds. Let us not forget the Collie, Beagle, Doxie, three cats, and hamster. Just call us the Craven Zoo! We have moved a lot, and my family of five (wife, two daughters, son) were all born in different states (CA, MA, LA, KS, OK).
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Sheldon Drobot, University of Colorado
I am an applied climatologist at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR), housed within the Aerospace Engineering Department at CU. My work focuses on the interface of environmental variability and society, and my research goal is to increase the societal benefits of and reduce societal vulnerability to environmental variability and change. In particular, my research involves activities broadly grouped into four categories: (a) understanding the recent decline in Arctic sea ice; (b) developing seasonal forecasts of Arctic and Great Lakes ice covers; (c) determining what risk factors lead people to make poor choices in dangerous situations; and (d) verifying short-range atmospheric forecasts.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page )

Gina Eosco, American Meteorological Society
I am a Program Associate in the Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society where I have the privilege to work on a number of fun projects. I help organize policy forums, environmental science seminars, as well as advise AMS staffers on relevant legislative developments. I am half terp half human (and all Boston, as I was born there!). I graduated from the University of Maryland, and was able to take advantage of many policy opportunities in Washington, D.C. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Policy, and worked on environmental policy issues while interning for Congressman Stephen F. Lynch's (MA-09) office, as well as with Taxpayer's for Commonsense, a non-profit budget watch dog group. When I have free time, I fill my empty hours with a variety of activities. As the picture shows, I play the flute and piccolo in a flute choir called Flutes on the Brink. I also coach a 3rd & 4th grade girls basketball team, and am a field director on a state senate campaign. When I really don’t have anything to do or am just bored, I enjoy rollerblading, cheering for all Boston sports teams, and decorating cakes for special events. The 3D bunny cake is my favorite!
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Tanja Fransen, NOAA National Weather Service
Born in Weiden, Germany, to an Air Force father, and a German mother, I got to experience diversity from an early age. And the love of traveling I had as a child continues to be one of my favorite things to do as an adult. My job at the National Weather Service in Glasgow, as the Warning Coordination Meteorologist, allows me to travel throughout Montana as well as other portions of the United States. I really enjoy all the great people I get to meet. I am married to Mike Fransen and I have two boys, Andrew who is nine, and Alex who is six. When not busy with my kids’ football, bowling and baseball activities, I like to read fiction thrillers and old west history. My husband and I also enjoy (most of the time!) home remodeling. Growing up a tomboy in the mountains of Colorado, I loved riding dirt bikes and four wheelers. But with no national forest in my back yard nowadays, I spend time with friends and family on Fort Peck Reservoir, fishing, water skiing and tubing.
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Joel Gratz, University of Colorado
If the week of November 7-11, the week of WAS*IS, blankets the mountains of Colorado with feet of snow, you’ll need to chain me to my chair to get me to stay in Boulder! I am a huge skier, and living in Boulder for the past two years helps me to spend most of my time and money on the sport of skiing between November and April. Otherwise, I enjoy road and mountain biking, photography (see www.gratzo.com for some examples, although updates to this site have been few and far between), golfing, and partying like a 24 year-old grad student should. My tastes include any and all pasta, white wine over red (sorry Julie), randomly dressing up in old clothing found in thrift stores (go Eve!), and massaging my own photos and videos on my Apple laptop. Overall, I’m a typical Boulder person – I drive a Subaru and my sports equipment is worth more than most of my other possessions combined!
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page)

Eric Holthaus, Columbia University
Growing up in a small town in rural Kansas, I've witnessed my share of huge thunderstorms. Weather has always been a part of my life. Throughout my formal education in meteorology, I've been interested in how weather affects people and their livelihoods. Through my hobby of stormchasing, I've seen this first hand. How do communities recover after a severe storm strikes? Which people are the most vulnerable to weather and climate related risk? This interest has led me to my current masters program at Columbia University, focusing on the impacts of climate change in developing countries. I like to say that I'm studying the "social justice of weather". When I'm not busy with classes, I enjoy photography, hiking, and following major league baseball. Also, exploring New York City is a full time hobby in and of itself. My most exciting recent experience was the U2 concert in Madison Square Garden, definitely an experience everyone should have! I'll be looking for a job in the weather/climate impacts field upon my graduation in August 2006.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page )

Joshua Jans, Minnesota State University
In the life of Joshua Jans, there is never a dull moment - with storm chasing, technology consuming, lab directing, business consulting, and cross-disciplinary graduate studies, there is hardly sufficient time for sleep! Since being literally chased down by my University academic mentor Dr. Cecil Keen in 2002, I earned my undergraduate degree from Minnesota State University in Geography and Atmospheric Sciences. I have continued in graduate studies integrating meteorology, technology, and societal impacts within an educational framework. If I can’t be found in the state-of-the-science weather laboratory, I’m probably off brushing up on my digital photography techniques, planning a domestic or foreign adventure (be sure to ask me about my recent trip to Bogotá), discovering the latest and greatest innovations from Apple (yes, I’m an MAC-Apple disciple!), enjoying my wide variety of musical tastes on my iPod, or, browsing the selections at a local wine-café. I am a native Minnesotan with all the traits of Lake Wobegone!
(More > resumé)

Keelin Kuipers, NOAA Coastal Services Center
I am the program manager for the NOAA Coastal Storms Program, which brings together data, models, and decision support tools from across NOAA to help coastal communities prepare for and recover from storms. I have been working with the program since 2002. From 2001-2002, I served as a Special Assistant to the National Ocean Service Assistant Administrator and was responsible for a variety of coastal management projects and issues, including planning a National Governors Association conference on recommendations from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. From 1999-2001, I served as the California and Oregon coastal management program liaison in the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. My responsibilities included managing cooperative agreements, providing policy assistance on coastal management issues and providing guidance on the development of state programs to control polluted runoff. Prior to joining NOAA, I worked for the National Science Foundation in the Directorate for Biological Sciences. At NSF, my responsibilities included budget development, grants management, and representing the agency on biodiversity policy issues. I am married to Matthew Kuipers and we have one daughter, Maeve, who is 1 ½. I enjoy baking, gardening, and the beach. When my daughter is older, I look forward to returning to another favorite hobby, scuba diving. I was born in Washington, DC and came back to the area after finishing graduate school at the University of Michigan in 1995. My family and I currently live in Bethesda, MD.
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Rebecca Moore, University of Wisconsin
I'm currently in my fifth and final year of grad school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. My five years in Wisconsin have been the longest I've lived in any one place. My undergrad years were spent at American University in DC, Mesa State College in Grand Junction, CO, and the University of Colorado-Boulder, where I finally received a B.A. in geology. Growing up, I also lived in Atlanta, GA, Lexington, KY, and upstate New York, near Poughkeepsie and Binghamton. I spend most vacations camping, either in the mountains or on the beach. I also enjoy swimming, playing soccer and hockey (I'm still a beginner), cooking, beer, bourbon, and puzzles- everything from crosswords to jigsaw puzzles.
(More > interest statement & resumé - web page)

Rebecca Morss, NCAR Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division/Institute for the Study of Society and Environment
I am a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. I have a PhD in atmospheric science; my PhD research focused on developing strategies for taking meteorological observations to improve weather forecasts important to society. Because I have wanted for many years to combine my interest in science with my interest in benefiting society, I now work both in traditional atmospheric science research and at the science/society interface. My current work includes four interconnected areas: 1) researching observing network design and atmospheric predictability; 2) researching societal use of and needs for weather information for decision-making; 3) researching public policy aspects of meteorology; and 4) integrating atmospheric science and socioeconomic/policy perspectives, to help design interdisciplinary projects and information for the benefit of society.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page)

Isabelle Ruin, Joseph Fourier University
I like sports a lot, particularly swimming and mountains sports as hiking, ski mountaineering and ski. As I live not far from Grenoble, in the Alps there are a lot of exciting places to explore in winter and summer. What I also enjoy is to visit foreign countries and especially volcanic ones where I like to hike volcanoes in activity. I think the most fascinating thing I have ever seen is a volcanic eruption as at the Stromboli. For a few months I haven’t had much time to hike or to go abroad as we were building our house. It was a very exciting job and often a brainteaser to design it, so that it would be nice, convenient and ecological. This last point is really important to me, as I feel very concerned about nature and environment. Sharing time with friends (and also good meals and wine) is another important part of my life. Reading novels, baking jam with berries I have gathered, eating black chocolate and listening to guitar players in front of a fireplace are some other little pleasures I really enjoy. Of course like most women I’m also a shopping addict and the only way I found to avoid temptation is to live in a small village in mountains with no exciting stores!
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Jason Samenow, Environmental Protection Agency
I am a Climate Science Analyst at the US Environmental Protection Agency in the Office of Atmospheric Programs. I track and analyze the latest climate change science developments and communicate them to policy analysts and to the public through web sites, briefings and other information products. In addition, I founded and manage CapitalWeather.com, a blog dedicated to providing entertaining and useful weather information and commentary for the Washington, DC area. A native of the DC area, I earned my undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia (1998), majoring in Environmental Science with a focus in Atmospheric Science. I went on to receive an MS in Atmospheric Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2000). My intern experiences include working at Mitretek Systems, NBC4 (in Washington, DC), NBC15 (in Madison, WI) and at NOAA's Techniques Development Laboratory. I am presently Chair of the DC Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. In my free time, I enjoy playing tennis, golf, and skiing and rooting for my Virginia Cavaliers in football and basketball.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page)

David Schultz, Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, University of Oklahoma
I grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college in Boston, graduate schools in Seattle and Albany, NY, and now I am a research meteorologist at the NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma. My primary research interests are in winter weather, weather of the western United States, and the influence of synoptic-scale processes on convection. I am an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma, and an Editor for Monthly Weather Review. I was a forecaster for the NWS at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. I also write the Weather Watch column for the national magazine Canoe & Kayak. My personal interests are outdoor activities (hiking, camping, kayaking, biking, skiing, etc.), live music, and the visual arts. I look forward to drinking lots of fine red wine during WAS*IS.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page)

Neil Stuart, NOAA National Weather Service
I am married and have 2 sons. My wife and I are long-standing members of the PTA where our sons go to school, and we chair the school science fair. We also help with our boys' cub scouts and their various sports activities. I enjoy running, and I participate in charity 5K and 10K runs. I appreciate nature and like taking hikes with my family on nature trails wherever we are on vacation. It is very relaxing to look for all the wildlife in the woods during long hikes. I have been a Red Sox fan for most of my life, but enjoy baseball in general, and like to go to any major league ball park to see any game.
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Pamela Szatanek, NOAA/NWS/NCEP Hydrometeorological Prediction Center
I am currently a meteorologist at the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center of the US National Weather Service. My career in meteorology began over a decade ago with my enlistment into the Marine Corps where I was trained as an aviation forecaster. My tours of duty afforded me the opportunity to forecast across the globe and to experience producing a variety of atmospheric prognoses ranging from short-fused local warnings to TAFs to transpacific briefs for squadron commanders. After graduate school, I worked as a policy fellow at The National Academies with the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. I was formally educated in both the life and physical sciences, and I received my baccalaureate degree from SUNY Stony Brook and my master’s degree from Arizona State University. In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at the National Zoo, improvisational comedy, yoga and doting on Doberman named Maximus.

Susanne Theis, German Weather Service
That’s me – on the ferry from Long Island to Connecticut, bridging a time gap between my cousin’s wedding in Long Island and an ensemble prediction workshop near Montreal. When I’m not relaxing on some ferry, I am dealing with the weather forecasting business at the German Weather Service near Frankfurt, Germany. Some other things I love to do are going for a walk, riding my bicycle, hiking, preferably in Switzerland, playing the viola in a string quartet (including some time for tea and cake), and seeing lots of friends and my family.

Christopher Uejio, University of Arizona
I’m excited and privileged to be a part of a dynamic, creative, international and inter-disciplinary WAS*IS team. Many thanks to Eve, Julie, Inger and the NCAR/UCAR staff behind the scenes! The opportunity to engage in applied weather and society research is directly tied to my decision to pursue a graduate degree. This passion to conduct socially relevant work guides the formulation of my research questions and I continually challenge and evaluate who may potentially benefit from the work. My work currently revolves around weather and mosquito relationships and the integration of weather into public health best management practices. Outside of this domain, I’m interested in indigenous or local climate and weather knowledge and the political economy of weather and climate data and the implications for global change research. My favorite pastimes, in no particular order are swimming, watching movies, hiking, traveling to Boulder, sleeping, eating, working, singing, and dancing. My sense of humor hasn’t evolved past corny jokes and simplistic puns. Fun things I would like to do in the near future are ride in a hot air balloon, brush up on my Spanish through a language emersion program, teach a class, and snowboard after a productive workshop.
(More > interest statement - resumé)

Olga Wilhelmi, NCAR Institute for the Study of Society and Environment
I was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. My parents are both natural scientists (chemist and biologist), so I spent many summers going on field trips and expeditions with my mom and her students. Naturally, I got interested in geography, traveling, different cultures and simply all things outdoors. Colorado has been a perfect home for me for the last six years (nearest ski resort is only an hour away from my home). I do miss the water though; I take any opportunity to go to the beach (especially in the Mediterranean). I have 10 month-old daughter Kira, who keeps me and my husband Nate very, very busy. When Kira gets a little older we will start traveling again, and for now we are greatly enjoying family walks, long bike rides, going to the zoo, renting movies and occasional good food with a glass of wine (if we have time to cook). In my free time I love to chat with friends over a cup of coffee and practice yoga.
(More > interest statement - resumé - web page)