Published Manuscript Highlights Student-Faculty Collaboration

The NIU Meteorology Faculty participate annually in the College of Liberal Arts and Science’s Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP). This program “provides opportunities for selected undergraduates to develop research skills by offering them monetary and scholarly support and significant apprenticeships with senior faculty.” Previous meteorology-oriented URAP projects have focused on a wide variety of topics, from examining the impacts of weather on agriculture, to illustrating lightning distributions in the State of Georgia. It is expected that through these collaborative activities, the student-researchers will 1) gain valuable knowledge of research methodological procedures (i.e.., the "creation" of knowledge) and 2) be afforded a more thorough understanding of the peer-review process (i.e., the "communication" of that knowledge).

During the spring of 2006, Dr. Ashley and undergraduate student Alan Black collaborated on a research project examining the deadly impacts of non-thunderstorm winds. That semester’s work culminated in a research brief that was submitted to the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Just this past week, the manuscript was published in the journal, illustrating the success of student-faculty collaborative efforts at NIU. You can read the manuscript abstract at the AMS website. For a PDF copy of the note, please click the manuscript image below.

Mr. Alan Black continues his studies at NIU after receiving his B.S. in Meteorology in 2006. Currently, he is pursuing a M.S. in Geography where he is examining the relationship between NWS warning activities and killer thunderstorm events.

Update [4/10/2008]: Results from the manuscript were the focus of recent piece at Discovery.com.