UNIVERSITY OF UTAH STUDENT PARTICIPATES IN SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM

Niskayuna High School graduate Maura Hahnenberger, a senior meteorology major at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, was one of 10 students selected to participate in a summer research program at the Oklahoma Weather Center in Norman, Okla.

The program pairs undergraduate students with government and university weather researchers for 10 weeks to conduct research on a variety of topics including severe weather, tornadoes, numerical weather prediction models and climatology. In addition, students prepare and present papers reporting the results of their research. Their experience is supplemented by tours, field trips and lectures, all designed to provide students the opportunity to judge whether or not they want to pursue a future career in research.

The students’ mentors, who are leading scientists in the field of meteorology, are from five of the organizations that make up the Oklahoma Weather Center, including NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, Storm Prediction Center, as well as OU’s Oklahoma Climatalogical Survey, School of Meteorology and Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies.

Hahnenberger, who is the daughter of Marcia Maurycy and William Hahnenberger of Niskayuna, NY., worked with NSSL meteorologist Michael Douglas on a project researching lake-induced precipitation over Lake Titicaca and Bolivia.

The research involved measuring and describing the physical mechanisms involved in rainfall production and distribution along the Lake Titicaca Basin.

Hahnenberger said she is excited to be working on such an important project that will help increase knowledge of the atmosphere over South America. “This experience will help me to excel in my further studies,” said Hahnenberger. “This REU has been a wonderful experience that I am proud to have been a part of.”

Students apply for participation in the Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms. The 10 participants were chosen from almost 100 applicants in the fields of meteorology, atmospheric science, physics, engineering, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, physical geography and other disciplines.

The aim of the National Science Foundation is to promote and advance scientific and engineering progress in the United States. Projects supported by the national REU program provide opportunities annually for several thousand undergraduate students to participate in active mathematics, science and engineering research experiences.

On the Web:

Oklahoma Weather Center REU program: http://www.caps.ou.edu/reu/

National Severe Storms Laboratory: http://www.nssl.noaa.gov

Storm Prediction Center: http://www.spc.noaa.gov

Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms: http://www.caps.ou.edu

Oklahoma Weather Center: http://owc.ou.edu

University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology: http://weather.ou.edu/~som/

National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov