Welcome! Thank-you for visiting my research website at Florida State Univeristy. This website is designed to share the latest information about my research as a Ph.D. student within the department of meteorology. This site will contain updates on my research as well as information on projects, activities or other events with my involvement.

I have a broad range of interests in meteorology and related weather phenomena. If I had to narrow my focus, I am most drawn to synoptic and mesoscale meteorolgoy. In particular, I am interested in severe weather and lightning. However, my interests include opperational forecasting, applied research, and emergency operations. My doctoral program at Florida State has been particularly rewarding as I have been involved in several lightning conferences, the State of Florida Emergency Operations Center, the INTEX-B field project, and teaching MET 1010 Introduction to the Atmosphere. My overall goal is to have a career in applied research, combining the challenges and benefits of research and operational meteorolgoy.

My dissertation topic embodies my goal of combining research and real life operations and applications. I am working to develop an empirical lightning cessation forecast algorithm for the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). In short, my research is designed to help the 45th Weather Squadron know when the last lightning flash will occur within a given thunderstorm "event". To facilitate this research, I am utilizing the Kennedy Space Center Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) network, which is capable of detecting intra-cloud lightning flashes. This will be combined with cloud-to-ground lightning data provided by the KSC Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Surveillance System (CGLSS). The goal is to utilize various cessation "characteristics" to develop a forecast algorithm. The projected date for my graduation is Spring to Summer 2007.

I would like to thank NASA for funding my research through the Innovative Partners Proposals (IPP) Program.