NIU "Met" attends the 13th Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference

Nine undergraduate students, four graduate students, NIU Staff Meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste, and Dr. Ashley attended the 13th Annual Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference in West Des Moines, IA on April 2nd-4th, 2009. This year's conference was held at the West Des Moines Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center and provided three days of exciting talks on all aspects of severe weather.

NIU's contingent at the conference!

NIU students highlighted their own research by presenting three separate posters, including:

• “Radar Morphology of Fatal Convective Straight-line Wind Events” by Joe Schoen (NIU) and Walker Ashley (NIU); this work illustrates preliminary results from Joe’s thesis, which is examining the storm morphology of killer tornado and nontornadic wind events over the past 10-15 years.
• “Human Vulnerability to Lightning in Georgia” by Chris Gilson (NIU), Walker Ashley (NIU), Mace Bentley (NIU), and Tony Stallins (FSU); this poster highlighted Chris’ thesis work, which examined the enhancement of physical vulnerability to lightning due to population expansion in and around Atlanta, GA. The work further discusses how the urban heat island may be augmenting lightning around the city which, in turn, increases risk to the hazard.
• “The Response of University Students to Severe Weather Watches” by Becky Belobraydich (NIU and Univ. of Oklahoma/NWC-REU Program) and Matthew Biddle (OU); this work highlighted Becky’s research from summer 2008's National Weather Center Research Experiences for Undergraduates, where she had the distinct honor to collaborate with Dr. Biddle at OU.