Abstract:

“What is the weather forecast?” … “Are we going to get a lot of snow?” … “What channel are you on?” … “Do you believe in climate change?” … “I love space!” These are the comments/questions that are all too familiar to a Meteorologist, when often have no relevance to a Meteorologist’s career.  I thought I would fit into one or more of these categories when I first began my career in Meteorology at Penn State, but my skillset and interests took me in many other directions. This talk will cover a smattering of topics on which I have focused over the past decade and a half. First, a discussion on my fundamental (and ongoing) microphysics work, including shape-aware ice parameterizations, and their influences on aggregation, electrification, and polarimetric simulation. Investigations of aggregation evolve into a project in which airborne hydrometeors are classified according to their shape/habit using a convolution neural network, and a large database is established. This work dovetails with interests in computer science and the establishment of the xCITE lab, a space that employs software development, data analytics, and machine learning on a myriad of projects, including participation in NSF AI2ES and the development of an outage forecast model for local utilities. The evolution of topics is an example how a fundamental career into meteorology can branch into multiple disciplines, areas of expertise, and responsibilities, all critical to the evolving nature of the field in alignment with technological advancements.