“What is the weather forecast?” … “Are we going to get a lot of snow?” … “What channel are you on?” … “Do you believe in climate change?” … “I love space!” These are the comments/questions that are all too familiar to a Meteorologist, when often have no relevance to a Meteorologist’s career. I thought I would fit into one or more of these categories when I first began my career in Meteorology at Penn State, but my skillset and interests took me in many other directions. This talk will cover a smattering of topics on which I have focused over the past decade and a half. First, a discussion on my fundamental (and ongoing) microphysics work, including shape-aware ice parameterizations, and their influences on aggregation, electrification, and polarimetric simulation. Investigations of aggregation evolve into a project in which airborne hydrometeors are classified according to their shape/habit using a convolution neural network, and a large database is established. This work dovetails with interests in computer science and the establishment of the xCITE lab, a space that employs software development, data analytics, and machine learning on a myriad of projects, including participation in NSF AI2ES and the development of an outage forecast model for local utilities. The evolution of topics is an example how a fundamental career into meteorology can branch into multiple disciplines, areas of expertise, and responsibilities, all critical to the evolving nature of the field in alignment with technological advancements.
Date and Time
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Location
112 Walker Building
Links
Presenters
Kara Sulia