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Student to study storms
The summer forecast calls for heavy amounts of research at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., for senior Stephanie Nordin.
Nordin is a meteorology major and a math minor at SCSU who has accepted an invitation from one of the top meteorology research programs in the country.
She will be traveling to Norman right after spring finals are over in May to take part in a study put on by the National Severe Storms Laboratory.
Nordin said she will be spending almost her entire summer this year studying severe weather and getting an experience only 10 students in the country are invited to take part in.
"Having this opportunity is going to open many doors for me," Nordin said.
According to Nordin, the program that she is going to take part in is going to be a research study called the International H20 Project (IHOP). Nordin said that this project is going to give researchers a chance to get up close to severe weather such as tornadoes.
Nordin is originally from Anoka, where she said she had witnessed a bad storm one year that sparked her interest in severe weather. She said that severe weather is her main meteorology interest because of this experience.
"A major storm came through my home town and I was amazed with the power of the atmosphere," Nordin said.
She said that the team with the IHOP project will be getting chances to measure severe storms by taking measurements of severe storm factors such as wind velocity and dew points. This will be taken from around the storms and not just the center of the storms.
She said that the researchers will get these measurements by getting close to severe weather like tornadoes by driving vehicles near the tornado. Airplanes flying above and around the twisters will also be used to obtain measurements.
Nordin said that the risk of danger does not bother her because witnessing a tornado is one of the most important perks of the program for her.
"My main goal is to see a tornado with my own eyes," Nordin said.
The 10-week program is only offered to 10 undergraduate students, although hundreds apply each year according to associate professor of meteorology at SCSU, Tony Hansen.
"We (the earth sciences department) do encourage students that we think would have an opportunity for graduate school to apply for this program," Hansen said.
SCSU has only had one student take part in this study program previous to Nordin. That student was Blaine Thomas, who participated in the study during the summer of 1999.
All of the costs for the students in the program are picked up by the National Science Foundation.
According to Nordin, she had to include a lot of information on her application such as her pre-requisite work and research.
She said that she has also enjoyed speaking to children at schools about storm safety.
SCSU has the only meteorology bachelor's degree program in Minnesota, and Hansen said that the program is gaining a lot of prestige and respect from around the country because of students like Nordin.
"It is very gratifying for me to know that one of our students is competitive for a national program like this," Hansen said. "It tells us (the earth sciences department) that we are doing well with our program."
Geoff Higgins can be reached at: [email protected]
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