Howard University NASA URC BCCSO

Dear Students:

Please review the attached flyer for an informal presentation on Friday, March 21, 2014, at 12:10 pm (in Room 104) by Mr. Bill Corso of USRA/GESTAR regarding exciting research internship opportunities at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Bill wants this to be an informal interactive information session with students, rather than a formal presentation. Talk to Bill directly regarding some opportunities that may be available also for permanent residents and non-U.S. citizens.

This is your opportunity to get engaged in cutting-edge research at NASA Goddard and get paid handsomely for it! Spread the word and show up!

Best wishes,

Prabhakar Misra
Professor & Interim Chair
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Howard University, Washington, DC 20059

CONGRATULATIONS CHURCHILL!

BCCSO scholar, Churchill Okonkwo, successfully proposed his dissertation today, Tuesday, February 25, 2014. His dissertation is titled, " Characterization of the Relationship between West African Jet Streams and ENSO: Implications on Lake Chad level Variability.”

HU NASA URC PI Dr. Belay Demoz, as well as Howard University faculty members, Dr. Gregory Jenkins and Dr. Vernon Morris were among the committee members. We are extremely proud of Mr. Okonkwo’s research. He now holds all but dissertation status.

Abstract

The frequent severe drought in the Sahel region and the attendant socioeconomic consequences such as famine has led to a series of studies exploring the dynamics of the atmospheric variables that control precipitation in this region. Recently, the revised picture of West African monsoon is pointing to a diminished importance of Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in controlling precipitation while emphasizing the role of African easterly jet (AEJ), tropical easterly jet (TEJ) and low-level westerlies. Despite these advances, there are still fundamental gaps in our understanding of the impact of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on West African jet streams. Also, the atmospheric circulation anomalies under combined warm phase of Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) and ENSO have received little or no attention. At the basin scale, the droughts and rainfall fluctuations in this region have contributed to the decrease in the size and water levels of Lake Chad (LC). The problem is compounded by anthropogenic pressure on water resources. It is thus imperative to examine these climatic-anthropogenic drivers of LC level variability.

The proposed methodologies for addressing this environmental concern are therefore interdisciplinary. A combination of space-based data products (e.g. eMODIS-NDVI, GPCP, TRMM and RFE), ERA-Interim and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis outputs and footprint from biomass burning will be used in the study. Geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis tool will be used to characterize the spatial distribution of rainfall and drought indices at basin scale. A multi-scale wavelet covariance analysis of the stochastic association between the time series of ENSO-wind and ENSO-LC hydrologic variables will be conducted using IDL and MATLAB tools. The underlying physical mechanisms will be diagnosed by characterizing the atmospheric conditions anomalies under 2 strong ENSO events - 1982/83 vs. 1997/98 - (but different drought impact) and strong 1974/76 La Nina events. Finally, practical policy options will be presented based on the knowledge of the driving forces of LC variability.

http://huresearchday.com/

The Research Day 2014 abstract submission deadline has been extended to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16. Research Day is open to all faculty and students. COAS students should complete and submit their signed mentorship form by Feb. 14, to their respective Dean's office. For more information, please visit the Research Day website:http://huresearchday.com/.

huresearchday.com Howard University Research Day celebrates the breadth of research being conducted across the University. In this spirit, our students and faculty will be exhibiting poster and oral presentations in the following categories: Biological & Biomedical Sciences Business Computation & Modeling Creative Ar...

How Air Pollution Destroys Floral Scents Necessary for Pollination

Please join Dr. Jose Fuentes, BCCSO collaborator and sub award recipient, for a discussion on the changing environment this Thursday, February 6, 2014 at American Geophysical Union. The event is being sponsored by The Rotaract Club of Washington, DC. Details are below:

Location: American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue NW WDC

Date: February 6, 2014

Time: 6:30 PM-7:30 PM

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/rotaractdc/events/144928802/

http://huresearchday.com/

Submissions for Research Day Abstracts Now Being Accepted

The call for abstract submissions is now open for Howard University Research Day on April 4, 2014. Be a part of the premier event at Howard University for presenting cutting-edge research that covers several disciplines including biological sciences, physical sciences, education, social sciences, humanities, ethics and religion and creative arts, amongst others.

Abstracts may be submitted by students, faculty and staff via huresearchday.com. The submission deadline is Sunday, Feb. 2, at 11:59 p.m. EST.

For abstract submission guidelines and categories, please visit http://huresearchday.com/

huresearchday.com Howard University Research Day celebrates the breadth of research being conducted across the University. In this spirit, our students and faculty will be exhibiting poster and oral presentations in the following categories: Biological & Biomedical Sciences Business Computation & Modeling Creative Ar...

HBCUs Taking The Lead On Important Initiative

Black Colleges Leading Climate Change Advocacy

"Howard University’s Weather and Climate Group is a key support system for the National Weather Service, providing research and data gathering to assist in improving forecast accuracy and storm tracking for the nation. The group is a part of a partnership between Howard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, community development and professional networking in environmental science areas."

To read the entire article by Jarrett Carter, please visit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/hbcus-climate-change_n_4591695.html

huffingtonpost.com Weather monitoring satellites, hurricane tracking, atmospheric assessment, climate advocacy. Many Americans would normally associate these terms with federal research from NASA or the National Science Foundation.

SARP 2014 — National Suborbital Education and Research Center

2014 NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP)
June 15 - August 8, 2014

The NASA Airborne Science Program invites highly motivated advanced undergraduates to apply for participation in the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP 2014). SARP provides students with hands-on research experience in all aspects of a major scientific campaign, from detailed planning on how to achieve mission objectives to formal presentation of results and conclusions to peers and others.

Participants will fly onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft where they will assist in the operation of instruments to sample and measure atmospheric gases and to image land and water surfaces in multiple spectral bands. Along with airborne data collection, students will participate in taking measurements at field sites. Students will work in multi-disciplinary teams to study surface, atmospheric, and oceanographic processes. Each student will develop his/her own individual research project. Many students have gone on to present their results at conferences such as AGU, AMS, and ASLO.

Instrument and flight preparations, and the research flights themselves, will take place at NASA’s Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility, in Palmdale, CA. Post-flight data analysis and interpretation will take place at the University of California, Irvine. Applicants must have a strong academic background in any of the physical, chemical, or biological sciences, or engineering and an interest in applying their background to the study of the Earth system. We especially encourage applications from students majoring in Earth, environmental or atmospheric sciences and related disciplines.

SARP participants will receive round-trip travel to California, housing and transportation during the 8-week program, a $3000 stipend and a $2500 meals allowance.

The deadline for all applications is Feb. 7, 2014.
Applicants must be US citizens currently enrolled in a four-year college or university. Preference in admission will be given to current undergraduate juniors (rising seniors in summer 2014).

For more information and to download the program application, visit:
http://www.nserc.und.edu/sarp/sarp-2014/

To watch a video about the program, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjRYmVKbqSw

nserc.und.edu The NASA Airborne Science Program invites highly motivated advanced undergraduates to apply for participation in the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP 2014). The purpose of the Student Airborne Research Program is to provide students with hands-on research experience in all aspects of a…

BCCSO scholar Megan Payne attended the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting which took place 9-13 December in San Francisco, California.

Ms. Payne (pictured here) successfully presented her research this past Friday, December 13th entitled: “Meterological influences on particle growth events in Beltsville, MD during July 2011.”

Cassie Stearns is a PhD student in candidacy and BCCSO scholar who attended the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting which took place 9-13 December in San Francisco, California.

This past Friday, Ms. Stearns (pictured here) gave a research presentation entitled: “Locations of Warm Season High Precipitation Relative to Urban Areas in the Baltimore, MD-Washington, DC Region, 2006-2010.”

Howard University NASA URC BCCSO's cover photo

BCCSO Scholars Attend 2013 AGU Conference

Three BCCSO scholars, Churchill Okonkwo, Megan Payne, and Cassie Stearns, are currently attending and presenting research at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting taking place 9-13 December in San Francisco, California.

Mr. Okonkwo (pictured here) is presenting his research today entitled: “On the relationships between Sahel precipitation, SST teleconnections and jet streams: a wavelet analysis.”

Howard University students, including NASA Student Ambassador Raul Garcia-Sanchez and former BCCSO intern Ajamu Abdullah, were at NASA Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston to conduct experiments aboard the reduced gravity aircraft Nov. 12-13.

HU Press reports, “The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program (RGEFP) gives undergraduate students the opportunity to design, build and fly experiments in reduced gravity. The teams have been working with NASA scientists and engineers to develop experiments based on current NASA research. Students and their NASA mentors performed these experiments aboard a microgravity aircraft. The aircraft produces periods of weightlessness for up to 25 seconds at a time by executing a series of approximately 30 roller coaster-like parabolas over the Gulf of Mexico. During the free falls, students gathered data in the unique environment that mimics space.”

http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/2013122HowardUniversityStudentsPrepareforFlightAboardNASAsReducedGravityAircraft.html

Welcome to the Homepage of

NCAR's -ACD Diversity Fund Proposal is delighted to sponsor Dr. Gabriele Pfister's visit to Howard University.

Dr. Pfister's research interest is studying the atmospheric composition of the troposphere using satellite and in situ observations with regional and global atmospheric models. For more information about Dr. Pfister's research please go to: http://acd.ucar.edu/~pfister/

Events:

Thursday -- November 21, 2013 -- Howard University Beltsville Campus, Beltsville, Maryland

•10:30 am - 1:00 pm: Dr. Pfister meets with students and talks about their interests and research. A small tour is scheduled and refreshments will be served.

Please make an appointment to meet individually with Dr. Pfister at the HU- Beltsville Campus on Thursday November 21, 2013 with Megan Payne.

Friday -- November 22, 2013 -- Howard University Main Campus, Physics Department, Thirkield Hall, Room 103

•11:30 am - 12:30 pm: SEMINAR -- Dr. Pfister will give a presentation titled: Predication of future North American Air Quality

•12:30 pm - 1:30 pm: WORKSHOP -- Dr. Pfister will give a workshop and be able to meet one-on-one with students.

** Light refreshments will be served

All events are open to the general public.

For more information, please contact Coordinator Tamil Maldonado-Vega:
[email protected] / (787) 914-9554

Howard University Faculty Collaborators:
Dr. Belay Demoz / Dr. William Stockwell

Student Collaborators:
Megan Payne, Mayra Oyola, Karretta Venable

acd.ucar.edu My general research is in studying the composition of the troposphere using satellite and in-situ observations (e.g. aircraft and ground-based measurements taken during field campaigns) in conjunction with regional and global atmospheric models. I am addressing the link between local pollution proce...

HUPAS Director, Dr. Everette Joseph and PhD Candidate Mayra Oyola, set up instrumentation on top of the mobile lab as the AEROSE IX campaign goes underway.

The AEROSE Team is now on its second 2013 research campaign.

Dr. Everette Joseph, director and principal investigator of BCCSO, has joined several colleagues, on the NOAA PNE/AEROSE 9 Campaign, beginning Monday, November 11, 2013 from Bridgetown, Barbados and finalizing on Sunday, December 8, 2013 in Recife, Brazil. The AEROSE cruise is led by Dr. Vernon Morris, director and principal investigator for the NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS) at Howard University.

The AERosols and Ocean Science Expeditions (AEROSE) is a series of intensive field experiments conducted aboard the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Master Research Vessel Ronald H. Brown. The ship, named in honor of the late Secretary of Commerce, Ronald H. Brown, is a state-of-the-art oceanographic and atmospheric research platform and the largest vessel in the NOAA fleet.

The purpose of the AEROSE cruise is to (1) provide a platform for satellite calibration and validation, (2) study the transport, microphysical evolution and regional impacts of aerosols and (3) study the regional atmospheric chemistry and marine meteorology.

Congratulations are in order!

BCCSO scholar, Felisha Lawrence, successfully proposed her dissertation today, Monday, November 4, 2013. Her dissertation is titled, "An Operational Method for Near Real-Time Estimation of Three-Dimensional Winds using NEXRAD Radar Network ."

BCCSO principal investigators, Dr. Everette Joseph, Dr. Demetrius Venable, and Dr. Belay Demoz, as well as Dr. Amber Emory, Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory NASA/GSFC, were among the committee members. We are extremely proud of Ms. Lawrence’s research. She now holds all but dissertation status.

HUPAS Dissertation Proposal Defense by Felisha Lawrence

Abstract
Severe weather systems occurring in large populated metropolitan cities cause millions of dollars in damage, and significant loss of life annually. More specifically, bow echoes/derechos negatively affect the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. Extensive studies into each of these systems over the last 20-30 years have yielded important results with regards to storm formation, storm structure, precipitation accumulation, and more importantly in relation to this study, wind speed and structure. This work aims to investigate the possibility of calculating the three-dimensional wind field in near real-time through the use of National Weather Service (NWS) radars in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. The dual-Doppler technique will be implemented using the national network of WSR-88D NEXRAD radars. Two cases are considered for analysis; the June 29, 2012 Mid-Atlantic derecho, and what is considered to be a ‘null’ derecho case, June 13, 2013. Dual-Doppler analysis will be applied to these two cases, and will be used to demonstrate the near-real time method.

HUPAS Dissertation Proposal Defense by Felisha Lawrence

Title:
An Operational Method for Near Real-Time Estimation of Three-Dimensional Winds using NEXRAD Radar Network
By: Felisha Lawrence
Date: Monday November 4, 2013
Time: 10:30 AM
Place: Howard University, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Thirkield Hall, Room 104

Abstract
Severe weather systems occurring in large populated metropolitan cities cause millions of dollars in damage, and significant loss of life annually. More specifically, bow echoes/derechos negatively affect the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. Extensive studies into each of these systems over the last 20-30 years have yielded important results with regards to storm formation, storm structure, precipitation accumulation, and more importantly in relation to this study, wind speed and structure. This work aims to investigate the possibility of calculating the three-dimensional wind field in near real-time through the use of National Weather Service (NWS) radars in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. The dual-Doppler technique will be implemented using the national network of WSR-88D NEXRAD radars. Two cases are considered for analysis; the June 29, 2012 Mid-Atlantic derecho, and what is considered to be a ‘null’ derecho case, June 13, 2013. Dual-Doppler analysis will be applied to these two cases, and will be used to demonstrate the near-real time method.

Congratulations Lorenza!

BCCSO scholar, Lorenza Cooper, successfully proposed his dissertation today, Thursday, October 31, 2013. His dissertation is titled, "Quantifying the Forecast Impact of Integrating Remote Sensing Observations in WRF Simulation of the 29-30 June Derecho.”

HU NASA URC P*s Dr. Belay Demoz and Dr. Demetrius Venable, as well as Howard University faculty members, Dr. Gregory Jenkins and Dr. Vernon Morris were among the committee members. We are extremely proud of Lorenza Cooper’s research. Mr. Cooper now holds all but dissertation status.

Abstract:

Severe thunderstorms have been known to have catastrophic impacts on society. Although progressive improvements are shown, such storms are difficult to forecast in advance primarily due to the high variability of water v***r and the inadequacy of operational instrumentation to observe and represent it in operational weather forecasting models. Recent advances in ground based remote sensing of water v***r and temperature are just now being tested and investigated as to what role they can play. The National Research Council has recommended that the troposphere should be observed using a network of thermodynamic profilers across the nation and agencies are investigating such feasibility. However, these remote sensing instruments are relatively new and their performance needs a careful study. Further, the use of the remote sensors in now casting – in capturing the atmospheric stability index has not been well documents. Moreover, a data assimilation study of such instrumentation using case-study approach is still in its infancy. I plan to address these issues in my dissertation. I will discuss prerequisite statistical analyses necessary to understand the successes and limitations of these emerging remote instrumentations. Preliminary results suggest that the microwave radiometer is capable of obtaining accurate retrievals of both water v***r and temperature – relevant to make improvements in our model performance. Proposed work consists of a sensitivity comparative study of the assimilation of these retrievals into operational weather forecasting models. As a case study investigation, the 29-30 June 2012 derecho over the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan region is selected. This is a perfect example of storm that impacted millions of lives stretching from the Midwest to Mid-Atlantic United States. At Howard University—Beltsville Campus, and at Germantown, MD microwave radiometer instruments were taking atmospheric profiles on a 2-minute interval up to the onset (HUBC) and through the historic storm (Germantown). After carefully documenting the storm characteristics through what is observed, the objective of this work is to quantify the impact of assimilating the profile measurements for model simulation.

HUPAS Dissertation Proposal Defense by Lorenza Cooper

Title: Quantifying the Forecast Impact of Integrating Remote Sensing Observations in WRF Simulation of the 29-30 June Derecho.

By: Lorenza Cooper
Date: Thursday, October 31, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM
Place: Department of Physics & Astronomy
Thirkield Hall, Room 104

Abstract:

Severe thunderstorms have been known to have catastrophic impacts on society. Although progressive improvements are shown, such storms are difficult to forecast in advance primarily due to the high variability of water v***r and the inadequacy of operational instrumentation to observe and represent it in operational weather forecasting models. Recent advances in ground based remote sensing of water v***r and temperature are just now being tested and investigated as to what role they can play. The National Research Council has recommended that the troposphere should be observed using a network of thermodynamic profilers across the nation and agencies are investigating such feasibility. However, these remote sensing instruments are relatively new and their performance needs a careful study. Further, the use of the remote sensors in now casting – in capturing the atmospheric stability index has not been well documents. Moreover, a data assimilation study of such instrumentation using case-study approach is still in its infancy. I plan to address these issues in my dissertation. I will discuss prerequisite statistical analyses necessary to understand the successes and limitations of these emerging remote instrumentations. Preliminary results suggest that the microwave radiometer is capable of obtaining accurate retrievals of both water v***r and temperature – relevant to make improvements in our model performance. Proposed work consists of a sensitivity comparative study of the assimilation of these retrievals into operational weather forecasting models. As a case study investigation, the 29-30 June 2012 derecho over the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan region is selected. This is a perfect example of storm that impacted millions of lives stretching from the Midwest to Mid-Atlantic United States. At Howard University—Beltsville Campus, and at Germantown, MD microwave radiometer instruments were taking atmospheric profiles on a 2-minute interval up to the onset (HUBC) and through the historic storm (Germantown). After carefully documenting the storm characteristics through what is observed, the objective of this work is to quantify the impact of assimilating the profile measurements for model simulation.

Congratulations are in order!

BCCSO scholar, Megan Payne, successfully proposed her dissertation today, Monday, October 28, 2013. Her dissertation is titled, "Meteorological Controls and Primary Chemical Mechanisms for New Aerosol Formation during NASA DISCOVER-AQ in Beltsville, MD July 2011." Dr. Everette Joseph, grant contributor and sub award recipient, Dr. Jose Fuentes from The Pennsylvania State University, as well as Howard University faculty members, Dr. Vernon Morris and Dr. William Stockwell were among the committee members. We are extremely proud of Ms. Payne’s research. She now holds all but dissertation status.

DISCOVER-AQ stands for “Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality.”

During DISCOVER-AQ, BCCSO collaborated with Maryland Department of Environment, the Environmental Protection Agency, and NASA Langley Research Center. Graduate fellows like Megan Payne worked alongside faculty,staff, interns, NASA scientists and other BCCSO collaborators throughout the month of July 2011 in order to participate in this tremendous research opportunity.

HUPAS dissertation proposal defense by Megan Payne.

Title: Meteorological controls and primary chemical mechanisms for new aerosol formation during NASA DISCOVER-AQ in Beltsville, MD July 2011

By: Megan Payne
Date: Monday October 28, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM
Place: Department of Physics & Astronomy
Thirkield Hall, Room 104

Abstract:

Extensive field campaigns have researched the creation of new secondary aerosols at the surface in urban and rural areas around the world. The creation of new particles happens due to multiple mechanisms, but one method is gas-to-particle conversion of sulfur dioxide (SO2) to sulfuric acid (H2SO4) condensed to sulfate particles. A limitation of this research is that current technology is not advanced enough to measure the size range and number concentrations in the nucleation mode (

Howard University Office of Grants Management Open House

The Office of Grants Management is hosting an open house from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm today, Thursday, Oct. 17, on the Third Floor, Annex III, Graduate School.

This open house will feature informational sessions from the Office of Regulatory Research Compliance, Research Administrative Services, and the Intellectual Property Center.

Faculty, research staff, and graduate students are encouraged to stop by to get better acquainted with the University’s research support offices. Light refreshments will be available.

Howard University Newsroom

Physics Colloquium Presents Noted Physicist Clint Sprott

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is hosting a lecture by University of Wisconsin Physics Professor Clint Sprott. The event is taking place at 3:30 PM today, Wednesday, Oct. 16th, in Thirkfield Hall Auditorium, Room 300.

His lecture is titled “Self-Organization – Nature’s Intelligent Design." Dr. Sprott will provide examples of self-organization in nature and introduce six simple computer models that can replicate the features of these patterns.

Source: http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/20131010PhysicsColloquiumPresentsNotedPhysicistClintSprott.html

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NCAR's -ACD Diversity Fund Proposal is delighted to sponsor Dr. Alma Hodzic visit to Howard University.

Dr. Alma Hodzic is currently working as a Scientist at NCAR in the Atmospheric Chemistry Division on air quality modeling. Her research in particular is aimed at understanding and improving the representation of atmospheric aerosols, and their retroactions on regional photochemistry and meteorology. She contributes also to the development and evaluation of community meso-scale models used for chemical weather predictions such as WRF-Chem. She has been involved in field studies including (i) the MIRAGE project - to examine the formation and evolution of organic aerosols in the polluted outflow from Mexico City, and (ii) the BEACHON field project - studying the formation of biogenic secondary organic aerosols.

Events:
* Dr. Hodzic meet students and talk about their interests and research.
Please make an appointment to meet individually with Dr. Hodzic at the HU- Beltsville Campus on Thursday October 10th, 2013 starting at 11:00 a.m.

* Dr. Hodzic Seminar: Formation and removal of organic aerosols in a polluted megacity. Current scientific and modeling challenges.
HU- Main Campus - Physics Department - Room 103 - 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
October 11th, 2013.

* Dr. Hodzic will give a workshop: Modeling simple chemical mechanisms
HU-Main Campus - Physics Department - Room 103 – October 11th, 2013.
TBD (either 10:00am-12:00 p.m. or 2:00-4:00 p.m.)
Please bring your laptop, PC based.