Contact: Keli Tarp
(405) -366-0451
Cell (405) 203-4839
Keli.Tarp@nssl.noaa.gov

LOCAL STUDENT PARTICIPATES IN
SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM

LaCenter High School graduate Dave Bolen, a senior meteorology major at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., was one of 10 students selected to participate in a summer research program at the Oklahoma Weather Center in Norman, Okla. that ends Aug. 4.

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 researchers in the field of meteorology, are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Oklahoma (OU) organizations that make up the Oklahoma Weather Center, including NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory and Storm Prediction Center and OU's Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms.

Bolen, who is the son of Russ and Debbie Bolen of LaCenter, Wash., is working with mentors from the Storm Prediction Center - Robert Johns, science and operations officer, and John Hart, lead forecaster - on a project to find the relationship between tornadoes and surface boundaries. Through the use of techniques currently available to forecasters, he is attempting to determine the frequency in which strong and violent tornadoes are associated with pre-existing surface boundaries, commonly known as cold fronts and warm fronts.

"It's been a wonderful opportunity being introduced to some of the top research scientists in the field, as well as being able to take part in some of the current research in meteorology," Bolen said. "This will be an invaluable experience in preparation for graduate school."

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.

Information about the following organizations can be found online:
Oklahoma Weather Center 2001 REU program: http://www.caps.ou.edu/CAPS/reu01
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