头脑风暴教授
For UNC assistant professor Wendi Flynn, who grew up exploring the Boundary Waters wilderness area in Minnesota and Canada, narrowing her field of study meant making a choice between geology and meteorology. With her father’s science background in physics and engineering, and regular family forays into the outdoors, her decision 为了研究地球科学， 自然.
在圣。. Cloud State University, she chose meteorology and had an opportunity to work on research funded by the 国家科学基金会. 从此，她有所收获 practical experience working as an operational forecaster, predicting weather for 各种各样的目的和活动. Then she returned to earn both her master’s degree and her doctorate degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
There she worked closely with her graduate advisor and mentor, Steve Nesbitt, learning the ropes of running a field project in a fast-paced research position.
Those experiences shaped her philosophy and goals for her own work as a professor 2012年她来到博天堂官方.
“I was really excited to see an opening at UNC,” she says. “我在找一个相对 small program with a small student-to-professor ratio. 我想直接参与其中 in all my courses and not have teaching be peripheral to my research.”
Combined with her desire to work closely with students was her interest in finding a location well suited for studying and teaching meteorology.
“We’re in a really great location because it is very easy for us to take fun, instructive 实地考察旅行. To the east we’re in a good location for thunderstorm activity, and we can go west and look at mounta在气象学.”
Plus, there are several great state-of-the-art facilities close to Greeley. 寒冷 雷达，由 国家科学基金会, is located just north of the Greeley Airport. 就在博尔德的西边，有 National Center for Atmospheric 研究. UNC itself has geared up with high-tech instruments and facilities to give students practical experience on campus.
Flynn’s research involves looking at “land-surface atmosphere interaction,” and it’s research perfectly suited for Colorado climate issues.
By studying data that compares soil moisture, and correlating that data with known 当地的天气 patterns, she’s working to determine how conditions on land may affect 当地的天气. Her research involves areas of western Mexico, along the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, and along the Western Ghat mountain range in India. 一个 question her research focuses on, for example, is whether or not surface irrigation 会影响当地的天气模式吗.
Along those lines, she and her colleague, UNC meteorology professor Cindy Shellito, PhD, are co-advisors for their graduate student, Ben Abel. 他在看如何 growth of the Front Range urban corridor may affect 当地的天气 patterns. 而且, says Flynn, raises a lot of questions.
给n Colorado’s water issues, will the growing urbanization of the environment change the amount of rainfall we see east of the mountains? 这意味着什么呢 区域气候变化?
“The ultimate goal of the research I’m doing and the research Ben is doing is to try
to provide information so that citizens and policymakers can make good decisions.”
It’s research that Flynn says offers exciting opportunities for UNC undergraduates
在气象学.
“The meteorology department (made up of Flynn, Shellito and colleague David Lerach, PhD) wants to make this a personal experience for students,” Flynn says.
Shellito, a Fulbright Scholar headed to Ecuador this spring for research in paleoclimatology, advocates engaging undergraduate and graduate students in research in the field and 在教室里.
Lerach, a member of the National Ski Patrol and actively involved in Colorado search and rescue, focuses on mesoscale meteorology and works within the community to spread regional weather and climate awareness and the impacts of weather on mountain environments. His work offers students opportunities for field experience in the mountains.
All three faculty members bring real experience to their students, something that Flynn knows helps engage and inspire them. “Many students said that recent fieldwork with the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) was the most valuable part of their undergraduate education so far--a chance for them to apply the things they were learning in the 教室到实时情况. What they learn in the field really stays with 他们的余生.”
Flynn’s own enthusiasm for meteorology hasn’t flagged since graduate school. “你 know you picked the right career,” she says, “when you’ve spent your life studying one area and still find it beautiful and inspiring.”
