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NOAA's NWS Focus
March
17, 2003 |
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| Lt. Col. David I. Knapp (Right), Chief of the NWS AWC Aviation Support
Branch, is honored on his military reserves retirement. With Knapp is
Lt. Col. Eric McKinley. Read
the story below.
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| NOAA
Center for Atmospheric Sciences: Addressing Research and
Diversity Needs
By Priti Brahma
NWS Office of Science and Technology
A partnership
between NOAA, NWS, and the NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences
(NCAS) based at Howard University in Washington, DC, is
addressing research and diversity needs for NOAA and helping
students pursue government careers.
NCAS is a consortium of four Minority Serving Institutions
(MSIs) including Howard University, University of Puerto
Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM), Jackson State University (JSU),
and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). In 2001,
NOAA established NCAS and three other Cooperative Science
Centers to develop research and offer undergraduate and
graduate degrees in NOAA-related disciplines.
"This is part of NOAA's and the DOC's commitment to expand
and strengthen its partnerships with MSIs," said NWS Deputy
Director John Jones.
At its annual Science Team Meeting on March 5-7, 2003,
in Washington, DC, NCAS hosted several NOAA experts, including
Jones; David Caldwell, Chief Operations Officer, National
Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP); Priti Brahma,
NWS's Technical Monitor for NCAS; Bruce Hicks, Director
of NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory; Henry Juang and Eugene
Song of NCEP; Xin-Zhong Liang of the Illinois State Water
Survey; and representatives from NASA along with NCAS
faculty
and students.
NCAS will collaborate with NOAA and NWS on several research
themes:
- Weather and Climate Modeling
- Atmospheric Chemistry
- Space Weather Research
- Climate and Public Health Research
Another key goal of NCAS is to establish a talent pipeline
of students for NOAA and the NWS.
Collectively, the four NCAS universities have a total
of 26 undergraduate and 12 graduate students studying meteorology
or atmospheric sciences. The NOAA award of $2.5 million
per year is directly supporting 17 undergraduate and 10
graduate students. In addition, Howard University hosts
an annual two-week Weather Camp to introduce meteorology
and atmospheric science to high school students.
One session of the recent meeting was devoted to enhancing
education, outreach, and training. Prior to NCAS, Howard
University offered a doctoral in atmospheric sciences and
under NCAS, Howard also established a 3+2 program in which
after five
years, students receive a bachelor's degree in physics
and master's degree in atmospheric sciences. The partnership
also enables students from UTEP, JSU, and UPRM to pursue
doctoral degrees at Howard University. NCAS has developed
summer workshops to train university students in the areas
of meteorology instrumentation, space weather, forecasting/modeling,
and remote sensing.
"An essential component of student training has been the
mentoring of students by NWS employees," said Jones. "NCEP
employees including Wassila Thiaw, Ralph Peterson, and Fedor
Messinger have served as adjunct faculty and thesis advisors
to several Howard University students."
The $15 million NOAA Educational Partnership Program initiative
is aimed at increasing programs and opportunities for individuals
in NOAA-related professions to pursue applied research and
education in atmospheric, oceanic and environmental sciences
and remote sensing programs, principally among MSIs. The
NCAS award began October 1, 2001, and continues through
September 30, 2004, in the amount of $2.5 million per year.
The meeting began with a student poster exhibit/reception
and welcome from Howard University's Associate Provost,
Joseph Reidy, and continued with technical workshops
and panel sessions discussing research progress and development.
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| WFO
Develops Online Spotter Training Alternative
The Memphis,
TN, Weather Forecast Office (WFO) recently started online
spotter training. Mark Frazier, Greg Garrett, and Jim Belles
led the effort to create the web-based Skywarn class.
The online
presentation has notes with each slide and an automated
test at the end. People who successfully complete
the
test can print a certificate of completion and then
submit their addresses and phone numbers to be
a part of the Skywarn program. The information automatically
comes to the WFO via e-mail.
"Our goal is to supplement our face-to-face training," said
Mark Frazier, Senior Meteorologist. Garrett is the office's
information technology expert,
and
Belles is Warning Coordination Meteorologist.
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| Spring
Flood Outlook News Conference Planned; 1993 Flood
Anniversary
Web Site Created
On March 20,
2003, NOAA/NWS hosts the Spring Flood Outlook News Conference
to provide an outlook for springtime floods and drought
in
the United States. As 2003 marks the tenth anniversary of
the Great Flood of 1993, reporters will be directed to several
articles on the flood at a '93 Flood Anniversary web page.
Pat Slattery,
of Central Region Public Affairs, plans to coordinate with
field
offices to provide local articles and links on the '93 flood
through the course of the spring and summer. Check the NOAA/NWS
Public Affairs web page for information after March
20.
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| Aviation
Services Branch Announces Quarterly
Award Winners
The Aviation
Services Branch (ASB), Office of Climate, Water, and Weather
Services, recently announced the winners of its quarterly
recognition awards.
The individual category awardee is Ricky Hiltbrand from
the Chanhassen/Minneapolis Weather Forecast Office (WFO).
The team category winner is the Aviation Team at WFO Tulsa,
OK. The ASB Awards Program, which began in January 2002,
rewards individuals (aviation weather forecasters, program
analysts, etc.) and teams (aviation forecasting, computer
programmers, budget and policy, etc.) for superior performance
supporting an aviation function, both quarterly and annually.
Hiltbrand tracked station and individual verification
of the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF), the expected meteorological
conditions at an airport during a specified period (usually
24 hours), for over a year and developed a method to improve
verification of the aviation forecast for the Minneapolis/St.
Paul International Airport. Hiltbrand reviewed the forecast
verification monthly, delivering timely feedback to all
forecasters on the skill of the office and the individual
forecaster. Hiltbrand also posts twelve-month running skill
scores on the metrics viewing board in the forecast office.
He has been particularly insistent in pointing out the office's
very high false alarm on thunderstorms. With his leadership,
the WFO showed increases in accuracy ranging from 20-67
percent over Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and Low IFR ceiling
and visibility categories over the model output statistics. The Aviation
Team at WFO Tulsa is comprised of Steve Amburn, Ray Sondag,
Nicole Kempf, Bruce Sherborn, and Mike
Teague.
The team implemented in-house training, created
and presented a winter weather seminar at the Federal Aviation
Administration WINGS safety program at the Tulsa Technology
center, began pre-production of a video titled "Creating
TAFs and TWEBs" (Transcribed Weather Enroute Broadcast),
a 20-to-30 minute video for the aviation community, and
created an aviation weather page for the WFO Tulsa Intranet
which includes presentations from the WFO Tulsa aviation
workshop, and links to the aviation directives and important
aviation sites. Back
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AWC Branch Chief Dave Knapp Retires From Air Force Reserves
Visitors to the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) in Kansas
City, MO, could have been excused if they thought they
had found themselves on an Air Force base March 6, 2003.
Several U.S. Air Force representatives were on hand for
the official ceremony to retire AWC Branch Chief David
Knapp from the Air Force Reserves. Several other AWC Reserve
members and recent military retirees were decked out in
their own uniforms.
Click here to see photos of
the ceremony.
Lt. Col. Eric McKinley, Director, Air & Space Science
at the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) at Offutt AFB, NE,
officiated the retirement ceremonies. Knapp retired
from the Air Force Reserve after 22 years of military service – 14
on active duty.
Trained as a military meteorologist, Knapp ultimately
reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served as a
meteorologist during his active duty time and was an Air
Force Individual Mobilization Augmentee during his stint
in the Reserves. Among numerous honors and ribbons earned
during his career, Knapp was awarded the 2000 Spengler
Award as the Air Force Individual Mobilization Augmentee
of the Year.
Knapp joined the AWC in October 2000. As Chief of the
Aviation Support Branch, he is the primary technical supervisor
for maintaining and improving meteorological and technological
support to AWC operational forecasting functions. He provides
leadership in the implementation of technological support
and improvements and in the implementation of applied meteorological
research into forecast operations.
“We are very proud of Dave and the contributions
he made in service to his country as an Air Force officer,” AWC
Director Jack May said. “And we are most definitely
glad to have him working with us. His expertise is a great
asset in support of the services we provide at the Aviation
Weather Center.”
In a bit of a surprise, following Knapp’s retirement
ceremony, May presented Col. McKinley with a plaque to
certify: “the appreciation of the Aviation Weather
Center for the professional and outstanding service provided
to the AWC...” McKinley promised to relay the plaque
to Col. Benson, AFWA Commander.
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| SSMC
Map Available Online
The NWS Communications
Office has added a new document to its Resources
web page, where you can find copies of presentations,
event planning tools, biographies, economic statistics, and
more.
The newest addition is a map of the NOAA/NWS Silver Spring
campus and surrounding area. The map includes driving directions
to the Silver Spring Metro Campus (SSMC), a map of local
restaurants in the area, and the location of area parking.
The map may prove useful to those
attending meetings or conferences
at SSMC who are unfamiliar with the area.
The map is in Adobe Acrobat® format, and can be viewed
and printed by anyone using the free Acrobat reader (available
for most computer operating systems). Download the map directly
by clicking on this
link.
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| Also
On the Web...Customer Support Newsletter
Interested in
customer service support? Get on the distribution list for
a newsletter produced to foster front line customer support
in the public sector. Each newsletter provides news about
training opportunities, conferences, ideas, and links to online
resources.
NOAA's own Daryl Covey, who manages the Next Generation
Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Hotline team at the Radar Operations
Center (ROC) in Norman, OK, distributes the monthly "e-letter"
to about 500 people who work on and operate help desks and
call centers at all levels of Government in the United States,
Canada, and the United Kingdom. Covey said he started the
newsletter in November 2000 with the support of ROC Director
Jim Belville. Contact him at Daryl.L.Covey@noaa.gov
to get on the distribution list.
Back
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| Take
a look at other NWS news, as submitted for the NOAA
Weekly Report
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Click
here to take a look at NOAA-wide employee news, as posted
in the latest issue of AccessNOAA
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| Have news you'd like to spread using
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| Send
questions and comments to NWS.Communications.Office@noaa.gov
or mail to:
National Weather
Service
Communications Office
ATTN: W/COM
1325 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3283
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