Episode 13: Kelvin Droegemeier talks about the past, present and future of weather prediction

STEM-Talk

Dawn Kernagis and Ken Ford

Natural Sciences, Alternative Health, Science, Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.7 • 706 Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2016

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Kelvin Droegemeier watched the Wizard of Oz as a child, the tornado scenes scared him so much that he didn’t want to look. Today, the esteemed meteorologist watches storms for a living—with a particular interest in tornados. From his upbringing in central Kansas—where he grew up marveling at weather and storms—to his undergraduate internship with the National Severe Storms Lab, Droegemeier was primed for a brilliant career in meteorology. Droegemeier is currently the vice president for research at the University of Oklahoma, where he is also Regents Professor of meteorology; Weathernews Chair Emeritus; and Roger and Sherry Teigen Presidential Professor. He is also the vice-chairman of the national science board at the National Science Foundation. In 1989, he co-founded CAPS, the Center for the Analysis and Prediction of Storms. This center pioneered storm scale numerical weather prediction with data simulation, which ushered in a whole new science of studying the weather. Droegemeier talks with STEM-Talk Host Dawn Kernagis and co-host Tom Jones about the past, present and future of weather prediction, both in the U.S. and globally. For more information on Droegemeier, check out his home page at the University of Oklahoma: http://kkd.ou.edu as well as his biography at the National Science Board: http://tinyurl.com/zwwvav9. Here is also the report that came out of that, entitled “Hurricane Warning: The Critical Need for a National Hurricane Research Initiative: http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2007/hurricane/initiative.pdf

Transcript

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0:00.0	I don't always listen to podcasts, but when I do, I listen to STEM talk, interviewing the most interesting people in the world of science and technology.
0:14.5	Stay curious, my friends.
0:19.8	Welcome to STEM Talk. Stem Talk, STEM Talk, STEM Talk, STEM Talk.
0:21.1	Stem Talk.
0:21.2	Stem Talk.
0:23.3	Stem Talk.
0:25.6	Welcome to STEM Talk, where we introduce you to fascinating people who passionately inhabit
0:30.5	the scientific and technical frontiers of our society.
0:33.7	Hi, I'm your host, Don Kornegis, and I'm here today with IHMC's director, Dr. Ken Ford.
0:38.7	Hi, Don. Good to be here with you. We have a great interview today that you and Tom Jones did with Dr. Kelvin Dr. Kelvin Dr.
0:46.1	Kelvin is a pioneer in understanding thunderstorm dynamics and predictability, variational data
0:53.0	assimilation, mesoscale dynamics, computational fluid
0:56.8	dynamics, massively parallel computing, and aviation weather, modeling and predicting
1:02.2	of extreme weather. He knows a lot of stuff.
1:06.2	And his location at the University of Oklahoma and childhood in Kansas has no doubt focused his interest on tornadoes.
1:13.3	Kelvin has, through his own research and through his leadership, greatly shaped the scientific landscape in meteorology and storm prediction and tracking.
1:21.0	His work has no doubt saved many lives.
1:23.4	Kelvin is a longtime member of the National Science Board and is now its vice chairman.
1:28.9	The National Science Board is the governing body of the National Science Foundation and also
1:33.4	provides science policy guidance to Congress and the President.
1:38.0	We overlapped on the Science Board for about four years, and Kelvin was a superb member
1:43.0	and now serves, as I mentioned, as the board's
	...

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