Participants
Summer WAS*IS #2
July 2006
*** WAS*IS Organizers ***
 Eve Gruntfest
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.
 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
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.
*** WAS*IS Participants ***
 Kevin Barjenbruch
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.
 Lindsey Barnes
Education
- B.A. Geography and Environmental Studies May, 2006
- Latin Honors and with Highest Distinction in Geography and Environmental Studies. (Awarded November 2005)
- University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Thesis title: Public perceptions of flash flood false alarms: a Denver, Colorado case study
Positions and Honors
- 2004 – Present Research Assistant, University of Colorado, CU Trauma Studies and Resource Center, the Warning Project, Colorado Springs, CO
- 2004 Research Assistant, University of Colorado, Geography and Environmental Studies, NCAR Superstorm ’93 Study, Colorado Springs, CO
- 2004 UCCS College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences Collaborative Research Scholarship. Findings presented in a formal presentation at the Undergraduate Conference on Research, Scholarly, Creative and Public Service Activities on April 30, 2005 .
- 2003 and 2004 Recipient of the Women in Geography Fellowship
- 2004 Recipient of the Jeanne X. Kasperson Hazards Specialty Group student paper competition. Paper presented at the AAG April 2005 Denver meeting.
- 2004 Recipient of the Will Fowler Scholarship for on-campus involvement
- 2005 Student Dean of Letters Arts and Science- appointed spring semester, University of Colorado, Student Government Association, Colorado Springs, CO
- 2005 Student Senator, elected fall semester, University of Colorado, Student Government Association, Colorado Springs, CO
- 2006 Outstanding Student of the Geography and Environmental Studies Department Award, University of Colorado,
- College of Letters Arts and Sciences, Colorado Springs, CO
- 2006 Outstanding Student of all Social Sciences Award University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO
 Alan Cohn
After nineteen years of school (counting Kindergarten), I’ve finally decided to enter the job world, although I’m sure there will be more school in my future. I just earned my Master’s degree from the University of Maryland, where I studied the variability of ocean temperatures in the North Pacific. As an undergrad, I studied meteorology at Cornell University with a brief stint at the University of Hawaii . Right now, I’m an intern in the Climate Change Division at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. I put the day’s climate-related news into an email newsletter for EPA employees, as well as work on brochures and materials for the public about the impacts of climate change and how they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I’m interested in communicating information about climate change to the public to promote awareness and energy efficiency, as well as exploring technology options that will help reduce greenhouse gases and meet the world’s energy demands… but I’m always looking for new ideas. There’s a wealth of scientific information available, and I’m interested in how to make it relevant to society. WAS*IS will be a great opportunity to learn new ways to do this, and connect to people with the same interest.
 Ashley Coles
In 2005 I acquired a B.S. in Atmospheric Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY . While at Cornell I worked for the Northeast Regional Climate Center on a variety of projects over the four years. I participated in a COMET funded flash flood research project with the Binghamton, NY National Weather Service, Art DeGaetano, the director of the climate center, and Cornell graduate student Steve Jessup. We compiled a list of flash flood events from Storm Data and compared the atmospheric conditions on those days to those of heavy rainfall events and a random sample of days to see what conditions are sufficient for flash flooding. The results are to be implemented in operational forecasting for flash flood prediction. This project has inspired my interest in flash floods, including atmospheric and hydrological variables as well as human impact and response.
I am currently working on my M.A. in Geography at the University of Arizona in Tucson under the guidance of Dr. Katie Hirschboeck. I have done some work looking into the feasibility of using real-time streamflow data as a proxy for human observers to identify unreported flash floods. I am currently working on a paper exploring how cultural factors affect warning response, with particular emphasis on flash floods and other weather-related phenomena.
I am delighted to join the other WAS*ISers for this workshop in the hopes that I may gain new perspectives and network with others interested in similar topics.
 Jennifer Cox
Jennifer R Cox has directed the GIS Program at Regional Plan Association since its inception in 2001. She has led multi-scaled build-outs, urban growth and environmental impacts research. Jennifer has co-authored several reports including: What happens when we run out of land? A Build-Out Analysis for Nassau & Suffolk Counties, the New York New Jersey Harbor Needs and Opportunities Report and most recently organized a panel session for the 2006 Regional Assembly called Coastal Hazards: the Next Perfect Storm. Currently, her research focuses on land use policy, vulnerability and climate change.
As a PHd student at the CUNY- Grad Center, Earth and Environmental Sciences Program, Jennifer is investigating land use policy, urban heat island, and future heat waves. Jennifer currently participates on NYC Heat Island Mitigation projects where she has traveled as far a Shanghia to present research findings, and co-authored several articles on UHI.
Jennifer earned an MA in Geography from Hunter College where she investigated the Growth Patterns of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area from 1970-1990. She has a BA from State University of New York at New Paltz. Prior to RPA, she was Asst GIS Manager at the NYS DEC and served as GIS Specialist at the Town of East Fishkill . Jennifer volunteers as acting Coordinator of NYC ARC Users Group, a GIS support group in the New York metropolitan region.
 Shripad (Jayant) Deo
I am a social scientist (Economics and Sociology) at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. I am working on several projects with the National Weather Service in Kansas City since 2000. My primary interest is in sociology of science and technology. I have been working on interface between science and policy and society. It is widely recognized that science is transforming modern society, it is less often appreciated that society, in speaking back, is transforming science. Contextualized knowledge is the outcome of this reverse communication. The increased socio-economic demands on sciences have contributed to the multiplication of user-producer interfaces.
Under the prevailing contract between science and society, science has been expected to produce reliable knowledge, provided merely that it communicates its discoveries to society. Reliable knowledge is defined as such because it ‘works’. A new contract must now ensure that scientific knowledge is socially robust, and that its production is seen by society to be both transparent and participative(1).
What works has now acquired a further dimension that can be described as a shift from reliable knowledge to socially robust knowledge(2) . The latter characterization is intended to embrace the process of contextualization. The socially robust knowledge has three aspects. First, it is valid not only inside but also outside the laboratory or a scientific organization. Second, this validity is achieved through involving an extended group of experts, including lay ‘experts’. And third, because ‘society’ has participated in its genesis, such knowledge is less likely to be contested than that which is merely ‘reliable’.
Communication of scientific information to non-professionals or lay experts in society, to me, is part of this shift to socially robust knowledge. The differences in the understanding of the role of science in society, by scientists and lay public, have implications for (a) organization of scientific enterprise, and (b) attitudes of scientific workers, especially, in democratic societies. My earlier research work related to agricultural biotechnologies, economic development, and underdevelopment in South Asia .
My primary interest in coming to WAS*IS is meet with different scientists interested in looking beyond disciplinary boundaries of physical and social sciences. Traditional boundaries between university and industrial science, and between basic and applied research, are disappearing. As a result, science and society are invading each other’s domain, requiring a rethinking of previous responsibilities. I have been working on projects that have tried to dismantle disciplinarity in physical and social sciences to push the envelope.
I first came to the US as an exchange student for a year and later as a graduate student. I worked as development economist for a bank before coming to the academic world. After university teaching at the University of Kentucky and Colorado State University, I have moved to full-time research. I like to travel, read, draw, and paint. Currently, I am reading The Unknown Matisse: A life of Henri Matisse, the early years, 1869-1908 by Hilary Spurling and Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge Practices edited by John Law and Annemarie Mol.
 Somer Erickson
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.
 Pam Heinselman
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?"
 Lance Jones
<to be added later>
 Emily Laidlaw
I am an associate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, working on projects related to the societal impacts of weather and weather forecasting. I have a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Rochester . In college, I dabbled in a variety of environmental areas including geology, hydrology, ecology, climatology and public policy. For graduate school, I chose CU’s journalism program because of its unique focus on communicating environmental and scientific issues to the public. My past work in technical communications includes positions with the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice in Denver, the University of Colorado Environmental Center, and a long stint as a student research assistant with NCAR’s Institute for the Study of Society and Environment (ISSE) and Societal Impacts Program (SIP). I have held various writing and editing positions with the University of Rochester Office of Communications, the Denver Business Journal, SKI Magazine, and the Fort Morgan Times. Currently at NCAR I am overseeing a large information resources project that aims to position SIP as a reliable and consistent source of information for societal impacts researchers and policy makers, as well as members of the media and the general public.
 Neil Lareau
I have been working for the better part of the past three years as a mountain top weather observer for the Mount Washington Observatory. The observatory is located on the 6,288ft summit of New Hampshire ’s Mount Washington and is known for playing host to some of the most severe weather on earth. The core component my work is maintaining a continuous hourly observational record of weather data. This requires week long shifts, continual deicing of equipment, and hourly forays into some truly nasty weather; a challenge no doubt but also a privilege. Additionally I am called upon to construct daily forecasts for the high elevations of the White Mountains . These forecasts are in turn disseminated by means of numerous daily radio segments, weekend TV shows, and our popular website. Since these forecasts are primarily used for purposes of mountain recreation in a location that can prove deadly it is vital that they clearly inform the end user as to the spectrum of conditions that may be experienced. This is a challenge that proves to be as much about weather interpretation and presentation as it is about the technical forecasting. It is from this problem that my interest in the WAS*IS conference is derived.
 Carlie Lawson
I hold two Bachelor's degrees - one in Journalism and Mass Communications, and one in Film and Video Studies - and a Master's degree in Regional and City Planning with a specialty in Environmental Planning from the University of Oklahoma . My thesis examined disaster mitigation and response in Oklahoma 's 1995, 1996, and 1998 drought and wildfire events. I am actively searching for the appropriate Ph. D. program in natural hazards and am developing dissertation ideas. My main research interest is end-user understanding of, and reaction to, forecasts/outlooks, especially as it pertains to drought and hurricanes. My specific applications of this include agricultural producers' decision making during drought events, and coastal residents' hurricane evacuation decision making, including how to design forecast and educational products to help overcome the issue of social capital as a liability in evacuation decision making. My secondary interest is in the re-development of existing drought indices, and heat wave indices (i.e. Dr. Laurence S. Kalkstein's recent work with the NWS) on a regional climatic scale to improve their applicability in determining onset, intensity, and end point, and the development of explanatory/educational products provided to the public in order to mitigate economic and health impacts. I currently serve as Operations Manager at the Environmental Verification and Analysis Center . I recently began working part-time as a consultant on municipal drought plans, and environmental and natural hazards education products. Very broadly, my research interests include drought, wildfires, hurricanes, organizational learning in hazard mitigation, risk communication, renewable energy, and the Internet as a hazards mitigation tool.
 Russanne Low
Russanne Low serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). Prior to assuming this position, she was on the science faculty of the University of Maryland, European Division, and later served as Director of University of Minnesota’s Science CentrUM, a university-wide consortium supporting science outreach related to faculty research, simultaneously meeting the professional development needs of K-12 science teachers. She has been involved for many years in paleoenvironmental research in central Europe and SW Asia, and has an abiding scientific interest in societal impact on and response to climatic change, past and present. Through these research activities and extensive work facilitating scientist-teacher partnerships, she has developed a strong interest in promoting widespread understanding of the inextricable interconnection of human society and climate systems. To that end, Rusty is currently serving on the education and outreach umbrella committee for the International Polar Year (2007-2009), an international effort to increase understanding of the Earth’s system and global change as observed in polar regions, but also around the globe, and on the Education Steering Committee for the Gulf Coast Ocean Observing System (GCOOS).
 Brent MacAloney
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.
 Burrell Montz
I am Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Binghamton University, and Associate Director of the Center for Integrated Watershed Studies at Binghamton . I am also co-Executive Director of the national Applied Geography Conferences. I have more than 25 years of experience with research in natural hazards, water resources management, and environmental impact analysis. My interests in hazards center on vulnerability issues, how to generate appropriate responses to risks, and policy development. She has undertaken research in New Zealand and Slovenia, as well as throughout the United States, My current work focuses on the decision-making processes of those living in manufactured housing in hurricane prone regions. I served on the National Research Council’s committee to evaluate the National Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System, the report of which is currently in press. As the lone social scientists on this committee, and through other work in the field of hazards, warnings, and responses, I’ve seen first hand how important it is for social scientists and physical scientists to learn each other’s languages and ways of thinking.
 Ernie Ostuno
I have a B.A. in meteorology from Western Connecticut State University, 1993. My work experience includes being an Intern/General Forecaster with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in State College, Pennsylvania, from 1994-1999. Since 1999, I have been a Senior Forecaster with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Grand Rapids, Michigan . My research projects and professional interests include (a) communication issues, including assessing the effectiveness of wording used in NWS public products, particularly severe weather warnings; (b) creating public weather safety programs, specifically targeted to outdoor enthusiasts such as campers, hikers, and swimmers; and (c) investigating local historical weather events, especially details of how the events changed public awareness, and finding a strategy for overcoming the tendency for complacency towards very rare, extreme events.
 Karen Pennesi
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".
 Christina Peters
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!
 April Raulerson
I was born and raised in the Sunshine state. I am a true Floridian. I received my Bachelor’s degree in geography with a minor in meteorology from the Florida State University . I am currently a graduate assistant in the department of geography at the University of South Florida in Tampa . I am the graduate assistant for the meteorology and climatology classes. I am a member of both the Association of American Geographers and the American Meteorological Society.
While at Florida State University, I worked at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies under the state climatologist researching the weather patterns of Florida and the controlling forces behind them. My more recent research has turned towards natural hazards and quick onset event warning response systems. Attending WAS*IS gives me the ability to combine the two things in life I am most passionate about: people and the weather. I also enjoy teaching and am currently teaching Algebra at a local high school in addition to attending graduate school. In my spare time I enjoy jogging in the wonderful Florida sunshine with my Shetland sheepdog, Royce!
 Andrea Ray
I’m a research scientist at the NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory in Boulder, formerly the Climate Diagnostics Center, and a participant in the multi-disciplinary Western Water Assessment (WWA) that is a joint project of NOAA and the Univ. of Colorado (“CU” in local-speak). I’m interested in the potential uses of and needs for climate information and forecasts in natural resource management. I’ve studied the interaction of climate, reservoir management, and the evolving natural resource management context in the interior West, and on how the interacting institutions and the governance structures in the region may influence the use of climate information. I consider my areas of expertise to be climate and society interactions, water management and development in the Western U.S., adaptive management, policy sciences, qualitative and context-sensitive research methods, and facilitating interactions between “stakeholders” and “scientists.” An example of the latter is that I edit a monthly “Intermountain West Climate Summary” for the WWA, which we consider a pilot NOAA climate service. I finished my dissertation a couple of years ago in Geography at CU, advised by Bill Travis and Jim Wescoat, on the interaction of climate variability and reservoir management in the Gunnison Basin .
Why is a climate person coming to a weather workshop? Because I’m interested in studying vulnerability to a range of conditions and in communicating those risks. Many societal issues could potentially benefit from a suite of information that provides risks for conditions over a year or a season and the kinds of weather that may occur and then specific information on weather as it occurs. My other research interests right now all relate to issues ranging across weather and climate time-scales: applications of research in the North American monsoon region; applications of intraseasonal forecasts in various aspects of reservoir management; and an analysis of needs for climate and weather information by municipal water managers in the Colorado Front Range.
 Pam Shrauger
I’m an emergency management and meteorological consultant based in Montana . I’ve always had a passion for how the public prepares for and responds to disasters, particularly weather emergencies. My interest began when I was seven and Hurricane Gloria hit my hometown of Upton, Massachusetts . I’ve been hooked ever since! After being the official “snow day forecaster” in high school, I earned my B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from Cornell University in 2000. Through my college internships with local National Weather Service Forecast Offices, I realized a forecaster could make a perfect forecast and issue timely warnings, but if the public was unprepared for such an event, the forecast didn’t mean much to them. With that in mind, I went to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region I ( Boston ) Mitigation Division managing the Project Impact “Building Disaster Resistant Communities” Program and serving as a Team Leader for the National Hurricane Liaison Team and our Regional Hurricane Program. The mountainous West was too enticing to keep me in Boston for long, and upon moving to beautiful Bozeman, Montana in 2002, I created a business, Big Sky Hazard Management, that specializes in disaster planning, particularly Pre-Disaster Mitigation and Emergency Operations Plans. I continue to be a reservist for FEMA, and during hurricane season, I frequently get deployed to the National Hurricane Center or a FEMA Regional Operations Center to help communicate the hurricane threat to emergency managers. I’m super interested in being a part of WAS*IS and hope to take back some thoughts on how to improve the use and communication of meteorology.
 Sarah Stapleton
I was born and raised in Colorado and despite my best attempts to leave, keep on coming back. I returned to Colorado to pursue a Ph.D. in water resources engineering at the University of Colorado, became disenchanted with the engineering approach to handling water issues, and left the program with a master's. For my master's thesis, I developed seasonal streamflow forecasts incorporating large-scale climate features for the Yakima River Basin and investigated how the forecasts could be used to manage water for the salmon populations. I am currently working on my Ph.D. in environmental studies and am working at the Natural Hazards Center on the socio-behavioral aspects of natural disasters. For my dissertation research, I want to work with a community in Puerto Rico on managing water resources. In short, my primary question is focused on how to affect behavioral change concerning a water resource in the current social structure and in the face of climate variability. I am interested in attending WAS*IS because of its multidisciplinary goals of merging the social and physical sciences in understanding the relationships between societies and climate.
 Michael Stavish
I studied meteorology at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, and received my Bachelors degree in 1992. Working as a co-op student with the Environmental Research Labs in Boulder during my senior year allowed me to transition quickly into the federal workforce after graduation. It also provided good exposure to the weather research activities in Boulder . In 1994 I accepted an intern position with the National Weather Service in Neenah, Wisconsin . There I operated a WSR-57 radar and gained a good deal of knowledge in radar meteorology and thunderstorms. I moved to the weather office in Green Bay in 1995 and continued as an intern taking upper air soundings and working with NOAA weather radio. Soon after, I accepted a journeyman forecaster position on the high plains of Kansas in the small town of Goodland, Kansas, where the weather there brought a little bit of everything from blizzards to tornadoes. Enjoying computer work, I became involved in AWIPS during its implementation phase. I moved on to a senior forecaster position at my current office in Medford, Oregon . Here I have continued working with AWIPS and have also served as an incident meteorologist with incident command teams on forest fires. I enjoy working in an environment with climate diversity ranging from the south Oregon coast to the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains, to the high desert of south-central Oregon and northeast California . Through my years with the NWS, I’ve been involved in public outreach including presenting talks to various user groups, serving local chapters of the National Weather Association, and serving as a team member of the Datasteme project.
I’m excited about coming to Was*Is because I understand that some of the largest challenges we face in my business are rooted in education and communication. I hope to be involved in an effort that focuses on getting out critical forecast and warning information to the public more effectively and timely. Some of the largest weather-related events impacting life and commerce in the Northwest are fires, winter storms, and floods. The NWS also sounds the alarms for tsunami warnings, which could have a devastating effect on the coast region. Ensuring our communication channels and education outreach are clear and effective in these areas is paramount to fulfilling our mission to the public.
 Steven Stewart
Steven Stewart holds a joint position as Research Scientist in the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources and Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Arizona . Steven does research at the interface of economics, public policy, and water resources and teaches production, water, environmental and microeconomics. His specialties include non-market valuation including conjoint analysis. choice modeling, contingent valuation, and the travel cost method, using economic experiments to address the provision of environmental goods, behavioral economics approaches to risk and uncertainty, scenario development, and integrated dynamic simulation models of economy/ecosystem interactions. He is a member of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, the Economic Science Association, the Western Economic Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, the American Economic Association, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Geophysical Union.
He spent four years as Assistant Professor of Economics at The University of Tennessee where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in natural resource economics, environmental economics and microeconomics. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico in 1998.
 Greg Stumpf
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.
 John Tribbia
John is a student researcher under the guidance of Dr. Susanne Moser at the Institute for the Study of Society and Environment (ISSE) in NCAR. He earned a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington and is presently a PhD student at the University of Colorado, Department of Sociology in Boulder . His disciplinary interests are, within environmental sociology, the study of human-environment interactions. John comes to WASIS with an interest in integrating climate and weather studies with the social sciences.
John is an avid runner and cyclist. He enjoys being in the outdoors; and he knows how to paddle stern of a canoe in the event of a flood or rapid sea-level rise.
 Melissa Tuttle Carr
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.
 Chuck Vertucci
I am currently an Environmental Science Instructor at the Oswego County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in Mexico, NY – about 30 miles North of Syracuse and consistently one of the snowiest areas east of the Rockies, two words – Lake Effect. This interdisciplinary course for High School seniors explores major themes in the environment through three lenses: scientific, social and economic. I have Masters degrees in Secondary Science Education ( Syracuse University ) and Environmental Education (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry) as well as a BS in Environmental and Forest Biology (SUNY-ESF). I am interested in the intersections of environment and society, specifically dealing with issues such as water resources, climate change and biodiversity. In the near future I hope to begin a PHD program that will incorporate these interests – research ideas and funding offers welcomed! I hope that WAS*IS will give me a better understanding of where weather fits into this equation and allow me to incorporate it into future teaching and research.
 Britt Westergard
After graduating from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a B.S. in Geological Sciences, I began working for the US Geological Survey as a hydrologist student trainee. Although my interest and continuing Master’s work is in fluvial geomorphology, my work at the Survey was for a fisheries biologist, so I got an early glimpse into cross-disciplinary collaboration. My internship at the USGS served as a springboard to launch me into management of the hydrology program at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Jackson, Kentucky . As Service Hydrologist, one of my major areas of focus is the frequent flash flooding in Eastern Kentucky, which has interested me since I arrived on the job over two and a half years ago. I am particularly concerned with public perception of flash flood warning we issue…with the focus on verifying our warnings, I feel that what our warnings mean to the public and what action they take as a result of our warnings is sometimes left out of the equation. I hope to learn more from my fellow WAS*IS-ers about how our warnings and other products are used as decision-making tools once they leave our office. I also hope to share my experience relating to the origins of these products in an attempt to bridge the gap between the information provided by the National Weather Service and the customers who use it.
 Ray Wolf
I am the Science and Operations Officer (SOO) at the National Weather Service (NWS) Office in Davenport, Iowa . I received a B.S. in meteorology in 1982 and M.S. in agricultural climatology in 1985 from Iowa State University . I have served as the SOO since the office opened in 1994 and am responsible for local operations, training and research, though I actively participate in the office outreach program. Local research efforts to date have focused on tornadogenesis in squall lines and climate studies.
From 1990 to 1994, I was a forecaster at the National Weather Service Office in Denver, Colorado, participating in various exercises utilizing the pre-AWIPS workstation and Mile-Hi Doppler radar including the Denver Mesoscale Forecast Experiment, Enhanced Terminal Forecast Exercise, and STORMFEST. From 1985 to 1990, I was an agricultural forecaster for the NWS in Stoneville, Mississippi . That position involved a combination of operational forecasting, research and development, and interaction with the agricultural user community. I am a member of the American Meteorological Society, having served on the Severe Local Storms committee, and of the National Weather Association where I served on the weather and forecast and agricultural meteorology committees.
My interest in WASIS stems from the perspective of having seen so many gains made in technology and the science of meteorology, yet our understanding of public response to forecasts and warnings – which is the key issue – has not received proportional attention. Thus I think public response is the weak link in the Integrated Warning System. I hope to learn more about the process and see where at the WFO level I can contribute toward improving public response.
 Donna Woudenberg
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.
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