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GR A DUAT E PROGR A M S
ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
2 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
T O OUR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTSExciting opportunities are awaiting you in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota. The department offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy.
Our facilities are housed in Clifford Hall, part of the complex of buildings comprising the Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences on the west end of the University of North Dakota campus. We have a number of research facilities described within this flyer, including a 5 cm wavelength polarimetric Doppler weather radar, a student computing cluster, two instrumented ground sites, and the Atmospheric Chemistry and Instrumentation Laboratory. Additionally, airborne research is also conducted utilizing UND instruments and a Cessna Citation research jet through an agreement with a private company.
Research areas include atmospheric aerosols, atmospheric radiation, aviation meteorology, climate change, cloud physics, convective transport, data assimilation, dynamic meteorology, mesoscale meteorology, numerical weather prediction, objective analysis, storm dynamics, radiative transfer, radar meteorology, regional climate change, satellite precipitation studies, severe convective weather, weather modification, and winter weather. The department also collaborates closely with the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Center of Excellence, which focuses on UAS Research, Education, and Training, and with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS), which is one of six national centers established to conduct research and gain operational experience with the goal of ensuring the safe integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace. The department is currently involved in ongoing research contracts totaling over $5.0 million.
We would like to offer you an opportunity to apply for graduate education in our nationally recognized research program. Our stipends and tuition waivers are nationally competitive. Graduate student housing is available, ranging from residence halls to two-bedroom apartments, making the University of North Dakota even more attractive.
Sincerely, Dr. Gretchen Mullendore Graduate Program Director & Professor 701.777.4707 | [email protected]
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RE SE A RCH A IRCR A F TCESSNA CITATION IIThe University of North Dakota, under an agreement with a private company, has owned and operated a Cessna Citation II aircraft for the purpose of atmospheric research since 1981. The Citation II is a twinengine fanjet with an operating ceiling of 43,000 feet, cruise speeds of 140 to 340 knots and a climb rate of 3,300 feet per minute. These high performance capabilities are accompanied by relatively low fuel consumption at all altitudes, giving the Citation an onstation time of up to 4 hours or more, depending on mission type. The Citation is certified for flight into known icing conditions. A series of structural modifications have been made to the basic airplane. These include pylons under the wing tips for a variety of probes in the undisturbed air flow away from the fuselage, mounting points on the fuselage, and an air inlet port and manifold for air sampling inside the pressurized cabin. The Citation has been flown in major research programs in the study of a variety of atmospheric phenomena, including thunderstorm dynamics, aircraft icing, turbulence, cloud physics, low-level windshear, atmospheric chemistry, climate change, cirrus and atmospheric electric fields.
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WEATHER RADARThe University of North Dakota owns and operates a 5-cm wavelength (C-Band) weather radar in support of our researchand education programs. It was acquired in 1974 through funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and built by Enterprise Electronics Corporation (model: Weather Surveillance Radar – 1974 C-band: WSR-74C). In 2003, the radar was upgraded with a Sigmet/Vaisala digital receiver and signal processor (RVP8), radar antenna controller (RCP8), and radar control, analysis and display software (IRIS). The following year it was upgraded to a dual-polarized system. This upgrade included the implementation of an antenna mounted receiver (AMR) and a dual-channel feed horn, which allows the radar to simultaneously transmit and receive horizontal and vertical polarizations.
The observables that are measured with the system include: radar reflectivity, Doppler velocity, spectral width, differential reflectivity, differential phase, specific differential phase, and correlation coefficient. The IRIS analysis software is capable of producing over 15 products in real time and post-processing. It also has the flexibility to add user specified algorithms.
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( A ERONE T )AEROSOL ROBOTIC NETWORKThe first AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) station in North Dakota (aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/new_web/photo_db/Grand_Forks.html) was brought on line by Dr. Jianglong Zhang’s research group at the UND Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Coordinated by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, AERONET is a worldwide sun-photometer network that provides measurements of aerosol properties for climate and air quality related applications. The UND AERONET station is located at the UND observatory site west of Grand Forks and is used to study local aerosol phenomena as well as long range aerosol plume transports. The UND AERONET site is jointly supported by the office of the Dean of Aerospace Sciences, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and the Office of Naval Research.
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(GR AO)GLACIAL RIDGE ATMOSPHERIC OBSERVATORYThe Department of Atmospheric Sciences has established a long-term atmospheric and hydrologic research facility in the Northern Plains. The Glacial Ridge Atmospheric Observatory (GRAO) is located on the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge (fws.gov/midwest/GlacialRidge/). The Glacial Ridge property is located about 65 km (40 miles) SE of Grand Forks, between the cities of Crookston and Mentor, Minnesota.
The long-term goal of GRAO is to establish a high spatial and temporal monitoring network to better understand atmospheric and hydrologic processes in the northern plains. A variety of instruments has or will be deployed to monitor the environmental conditions at Glacial Ridge. The current instrumentation network includes a 915 MHz wind profiler (collaboration with NOAA), and surface meteorological observations.
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PROFE S SOR , DEPA R T MEN T CH A IR
MICHAEL POELLOTMike received his M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from Colorado State University (1975), and a B.S. in Physics from Valparaiso University (1972). He has been a faculty member at the University of North Dakota since 1976 and is a Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. His field research experiences began with the GATE project as a graduate student in 1974. He participated in several radar field campaigns in the 1970s and numerous deployments with the UND Citation research aircraft since its first acquisition in 1980. Recent work has focused on airborne measurements of cloud microphysical properties, including marine stratocumulus, thunderstorm anvil cirrus clouds and winter storm systems. Past research includes observations of jet contrails and studies of the suitability of cumuliform clouds for cloud seeding.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Cloud physics, aviation meteorology, weather modification, and atmospheric radiation.
AT MOSPHERIC SCIENCE S
GRADUATE FACULTYListed are the Graduate Professors with their research interests and contact information. Please feel free to contact any of the professors for more information.
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PROFE S SOR
DR. MARK ASKELSONMark received his Ph.D. (2002), and M.S. (1996) in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma, and two B.S. degrees (meteorology and mathematics) (1993) from UND. In a 25 year span, he has participated in numerous field research projects, including the NDTE, VORTEX, HaL, CRYSTAL-FACE, and LD-CAP. His recent research has focused on unmanned aircraft applications, storm dynamics (tornadogenesis), surface transportation weather, objective analysis, mesoscale modeling, and data assimilation.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Use of unmanned aircraft systems in meteorological applications, radar meteorology, surface transportation weather, mesoscale weather prediction, model initialization, objective analysis, storm dynamics, cloud modeling, and cloud [email protected]
PROFE S SORGR A DUAT E PROGR A M DIREC T OR
DR. GRETCHEN MULLENDOREGretchen received her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington (2003) and worked as a researcher at UCLA before joining the UND Atmospheric Sciences department in 2007. Her research focuses on understanding of observed and theorized cloud-scale dynamics through analysis of numerical simulations to benefit both forecasting and climate change applications. Recent funded research has included chemical transport in deep convection, objective verification of convective forecasts, and researching aviation hazards around tropical storms.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Numerical modeling, convective transport, mesoscale dynamics, tropospheric-stratospheric exchange, cloud modeling.
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RE SE A RCH PROFE S SOR
DR. DAVID DELENEDavid received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Wyoming (1998), and a M.S. in Geophysics (1995) and B.S. in Applied Physics (1993) from Michigan Technological University. He spent two years as a Research Associate at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences in Boulder Colorado, evaluating uncertainties in satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth before coming to UND in 2001. At UND, David has focused on conducting airborne measurements to understand aerosol-cloud interaction and precipitation formation. Field projects have taken him to such interesting places as Alaska, Hawaii, New Zealand, West Africa and Saudi Arabia.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Atmospheric aerosols, cloud physics, weather modification, satellite remote sensing of aerosols and clouds, climate change and air pollution.
A S SIS TA N T PROFE S SOR
DR. CATHERINE FINLEYCathy received her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University (1998). After a brief post-doctoral appointment at Colorado State, she accepted a faculty position at the University of Northern Colorado. She was an Assistant Professor at UNC for 4 years, and an Associate Professor for 1.5 years. She left UNC to join WindLogics, a start-up company in Minnesota that focused on renewable energy, where she worked as a Senior Atmospheric Scientist for 12 years. She subsequently accepted a faculty position at St. Louis University for 3.5 years before joining the Atmospheric Science Department at UND in January 2019. Recent work has focused on wind energy and severe convective storms.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: High-resolution numerical modeling of supercells and tornadoes, collecting data around severe storms, wind energy, and numerical model development.
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A S SOCI AT E PROFE S SOR
DR. AARON KENNEDYAaron received his B.S. (2004) and M.S. (2006) in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. In 2011, he received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of North Dakota. After serving as a NSF postdoctoral fellow for a year, he became an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota in 2013. His interests include convection, clouds, and climate with a focus on synergistic studies that use combinations of models/observations/reanalyses to advance knowledge of these topics.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Radar meteorology, clouds radiation and climate, mesoscale dynamics and modeling, regional climate change, severe storms, atmospheric reanalyses and winter [email protected]
A S SOCI AT E PROFE S SOR
DR. MATTHEW GILMOREMatt received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences (2000), and M.S. in Meteorology (1996) from Texas A&M University, and his B.S. (1992) in Meteorology from Oklahoma University (OU). He performed postgraduate research as a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR; 2000-2003) and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC; 2003-2008). Matt has enjoyed collaborating with colleagues and students on a variety of topics including precipitation physics and lightning behavior in tornadic supercells and hurricanes, microphysics differences between high and low-plains supercells, the development of advanced microphysics schemes, and the forces maintaining long-lived tornadoes.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Cloud-scale modeling, cloud microphysics parameterization, cloud physics, supercell and tornado dynamics, hurricanes, intercomparison techniques between observations and models, radar meteorology, lightning, severe and hazardous weather.
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PROFE S SOR
DR. JIANGLONG ZHANGJianglong received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science and M.S. in Computer Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) (2004), his M.S. (2000) in Atmospheric Science from UAH, and his B.S. (1992) in Atmospheric Physics from Peking University, China. Upon graduation, he worked as a UCAR visiting scientist at the NRL Marine Meteorology Division in the Aerosol and Radiation Section. His recent research has focused on satellite remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols and assimilating these data in near-real time into weather forecast models. His team has also worked on integrating remotely sensed data and human factors into crop models.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Satellite remote sensing, data assimilation and aerosol prediction, atmospheric radiation, climate change, crop modeling, aerosol and cloud physics.
MISSIONThe mission of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences is to provide top quality undergraduate and graduate education and conduct significant research in the atmospheric sciences.
atmos.UND.edu | [email protected] | 701.777.2184Clifford Hall 4th Floor, 4149 University Ave, Stop 9006 Grand Forks, ND 58202-9006
FOCUSING TO CREATE AN ACADEMIC AND INTELLECTUAL CLIMATE THAT
APPRECIATES AND RESPECTS DIVERSITY, VALUES CREATIVITY, AND
SUPPORTS THE ACADEMIC POTENTIAL OF EACH GRADUATE STUDENT.