UND atmospheric scientist Gretchen Mullendor to provide research experience for undergrads
Gretchen Mullendore, assistant professor in the University of North Dakota Department of Atmospheric Sciences, will conduct an undergraduate Special Studies course that aims to provide undergraduate students with direct experience in research. Atmospheric Sciences is part of the UND John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.
Mullendore’s spring semester 2012 course is titled “Forecasting/verification of convective regimes for the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign.”
The DC3 field campaign will investigate the impact of strong, and sometimes severe, thunderstorms on the transport of pollutants from the surface to the upper atmosphere. Studying how storm motions move pollutants around in the atmosphere will help improve both weather forecasts and climate predictions. The campaign will make use of extensively instrumented aircraft platforms and ground-based observations. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation.
The course will examine of the objectives and motivation of the DC3 field campaign, which will occur May 15 – June 30, 2012. Participants will work in teams to provide forecasts of convective regime and suggested flight plans using the field catalog from last spring’s DC3 test flights. Mullendore, who’s a severe storm expert and climate change observer, was also the principal investigator on a grant to use National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data to educate undergraduates about climate change this past summer.
Participants in Mullendore’s spring 2012 research experience class will also be eligible for the following summer 2012 opportunities:
*Internship credit is available for students who participate in forecasting and tele-conferenced forecast discussions for the DC3 field campaign.
*Up to six students will be funded to travel to University of Alabama, Huntsville, one of the observational focus areas for DC3, to help launch sounding balloons and collect radar data for two weeks and present their experiences at the American Meteorological Society Student Conference.
About UCAR
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research serves as a hub for research, education, and public outreach for the atmospheric and related Earth sciences community. UCAR provides services to and promotes partnerships in a collaborative community of researchers and educators who are dedicated to understanding the atmosphere—the air around us—and the complex processes that make up the Earth system, from the ocean floor to the Sun’s core. UCAR manage the National Center for Atmospheric Research and UCAR Community Programs on behalf of the National Science Foundation and the university community. It is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.
