AMU Staff

Dr. Frank Merceret - AMU Chief and Director of Weather Research for the Kennedy Space Center Weather Office

Education
J.D., University of Miami School of Law, 1975
Ph.D., Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 1972
B.A., Physics, Johns Hopkins University, 1965

Dr. Merceret has over 30 years of professional experience in the atmospheric sciences. His primary areas of expertise are measurement (in-situ and remote sensing) and data analysis. He has published over 100 scientific and technical papers including more than 35 in peer-reviewed journals. As an atmospheric physicist with the NOAA National Hurricane Research Laboratory (now the Hurricane Research Division), he undertook airborne measurements of hurricane cloud properties and the dynamics of hurricane boundary layer winds. At the NOAA Research Facilities Center (now Aircraft Operations Center) he was responsible for the calibration and analysis of data collected by the NOAA "hurricane hunter" aircraft. Since 1991 Dr. Merceret has served the Chief of the AMU and now also serves as Director of Research for the KSC Weather Office. His current research focuses on winds and atmospheric electricity as they affect the safety of spaceport launch, landing and ground operations.

Dr. Bill Bauman - AMU Program Manager

Education
Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, 1995
M.S., Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, 1989
B.S., Meteorology, Lyndon State College, 1981

Dr. Bauman has over 28 years of federal government experience including 20 years as a meteorologist and Air Force officer and over eight years in private industry managing government programs. Dr. Bauman has been with ENSCO as the AMU as program manager since August 2003. Dr. Bauman’s weather experience included nine years of operational forecasting, six years of research and development, and thirteen years of senior-level program management. Technical experience includes Doppler weather radar, mesoscale numerical weather prediction, aviation, range & aerospace meteorology and meteorological instrumentation.

Mr. Mark Wheeler

Education
B.S., Professional Studies with a Specialization in Science, Barry University, Miami, 1995

Mr. Wheeler has over 37 years of experience in meteorology including 20 years as a Air Force meteorologist. Mr. Wheeler has been with ENSCO as a senior meteorologist since October 1991. Mr. Wheeler’s weather experience included over 15 years of operational forecasting and 2 years of new weather program development. Technical experience includes Central Florida local climatology, satellite, weather radar, mesoscale numerical weather prediction, range & aerospace meteorology.

Ms. Winnie Crawford

Education
M.S., Meteorology, Penn State University, 1994
B.S., Meteorology, Metropolitan State College of Denver, 1990

Ms. Crawford was a student assistant at the National Center for Atmospheric Research while an undergraduate and conducted research as a graduate student at The Pennsylvania State University in the area of numerical weather prediction. She has been employed by ENSCO since October 1994. She has been assigned to tasks involving mesoscale model analysis and verification, graphics display modification, Doppler radar data analysis, and statistical forecast guidance. Ms. Lambert is also the technical editor of the Applied Meteorology Unit Quarterly and Monthly reports, and assists in writing proposals when needed. She attends NWA and AMS conferences where she presents her work and supports the ENSCO booth at these conferences that showcase ENSCO meteorological capabilities.

Dr. Leela Watson

	Education Ph.D., Meteorology, Florida State University, 2006 M.S., Meteorology, Florida State University, 2003 B.S., Environmental Science, University of Miami, 1998
	Dr. Watson joined the AMU upon completion of her Ph.D. in July 2006 and has been running high resolution numerical weather prediction (NWP) models on the AMU cluster in support of various AMU tasks. She has experience using NWP models, with a focus on modeling of tropical cyclones, as well as various meteorological computer software.

Mr. Joe Barrett

Education
M.S., Computer Science, Florida State University, 2005
B.S., Meteorology, Florida State University, 1995

Mr. Barrett has over nine years of professional experience as a meteorologist and computer scientist. This includes nearly a year as a National Weather Service (NWS) Student Trainee Meteorologist, two years as a NWS Meteorology Intern, and over five years as an NWS weather forecaster. He has been with the AMU since April 2006, transitioning weather technology from research into operations in support of the United States space program. As a weather forecaster, he also provided assistance in the maintenance of the office’s computer systems. He has published one NWS technical memorandum and two conferences papers. In addition, he has written two unpublished case studies.