Anthony Didlake, Jr. - MMM/RAL, NCAR
Anthony C. Didlake, Jr. is a senior at Yale University majoring in Geology & Geophysics. He is a third-year protégé this summer. In previous summers, he has worked with the COSMIC project and the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) division at UCAR. Last summer, his project with mentor Bill Kuo involved examining the usefulness of GPS radio occultation in the study of hurricane formation. His growing research interests include tropical meteorology and orographic precipitation enhancement.
After graduate school, he plans to work in either the government or education sector doing research, forecasting, or consulting. Anthony wants to be sure that he makes a lot of money in the future so that he can retire early and spend more time on his hobbies and favorite activities. These include writing, singing, learning, traveling, playing tennis, spending time with family, and meeting new people.
Anthony is working with Chris Davis at MMM/RAL/NCAR.

Braxton Edwards - ISSE, NCAR
Braxton Edwards attends the University of Oklahoma, where he is a senior meteorology major. He is a fourth year protégé this summer. In his previous summers he worked in the Mesoscale Microscale Meteorology (MMM) division and at the Institute for the Study of Society and Environment (ISSE) at NCAR. His research interests involve flash flood forecasting and risk management. The work he was doing last summer with his mentors Olga Wilhelmi and Rebecca Morss involved a risk assessment of the front range region of Colorado. He presented the poster "A flood-risk assessment of the Colorado Front Range region using GIS" during the GIS in Weather, Climate and Impacts Workshop 2005 at NCAR. Upon completion of his education he plans to work either in the government sector; specializing in quantitative precipitation forecasting, or go into the private sector with a specialty in flood risk assessment and energy forecasting. In his free time Braxton enjoys photography and watching movies.
Braxton is working with Olga Wilhelmi at ISSE/NCAR.

Shanna-Shaye Forbes - Unidata, UOP
Shanna-Shaye is a senior Electrical and Computer Engineering major at the University of Texas at Austin and this summer she will be a third year protégé. In 2005 Shanna worked with Anne Wilson in Unidata creating a Decoder Wrapper and the previous summer she worked with Chris Webster, Mike Daniels, and Dave Rogers at Jeffco on a Synthetic Data Injector.  Her interests include systems software, and software development, and she’s also discovered a growing interest in embedded systems.  Shanna has had the opportunity to present her SOARS projects at AMS and SACNAS conferences. 
After completing her undergraduate degree she plans to obtain at least a masters degree either in Computer Science or Computer Engineering; she hasn’t quite settled on one or the other as she’s still trying to find her forte.  In her free time, Shanna likes to read sci fi and mystery novels, as well as watch movies.
Shanna is working with Russ Rew at Unidata, UOP.

Douglas Gavin - NOAA/ESRL/Physical Sciences Division
Douglas J. Gavin is a junior at Jackson State University majoring in Meteorology.  He is a first year protégé this summer and is from Mobile, AL. Two of his recent endeavors include the NCAR leadership conference in Boulder, Colorado and a summer internship at the National Weather Service in Mobile, AL.  While working at the NWS, he had the opportunity to assist meteorologists with Tropical Storms Arlene and Cindy, and Hurricane Dennis.  He enjoys jogging, singing, eating, hanging out with friends, and making people laugh.  Douglas is seldom seen without a warm smile on his face unless it is early in the morning.  He is an energetic person and a great person to get to know.  His goals in life are to have a blessed family, and to enjoy a research career in the Atmospheric Sciences.
Douglas is working with Leslie Hartten at NOAA/ESRL/Physical Sciences Division

Keith Goodman - EOL, NCAR
Keith Goodman, Jr. is a sophomore physics major who is also pursuing a minor in mathematics at Norfolk State University.  In his free time Keith enjoys spending time with his family, watching sports, and eating.  He is a second year protégé this summer.  Last summer he worked in the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) at the NCAR.  With his research mentors Scott Ellis and Cathy Kessinger, Keith conducted research that involved retrieving water vapor estimates in the boundary layer.  Water vapor estimates were retrieved by using the ground-based, dual-frequency radars (S-band and Ka-band) of the NCAR S-Pol-Ka.  Upon completion of graduate school he plans to have a fulfilling research career in atmospheric science and later transition into the education sector.
Keith is working with Wen Chau Lee at EOL, NCAR.

Talea Mayo - COSMIC, UOP
Talea Mayo attends Grambling State University in Louisiana, where she is a junior majoring in mathematics.  She completed her first internship last summer in Boulder with the University of Colorado’s Summer Multicultural Access to Research Training (SMART) Program.  Talea worked with Dr. Betterton in the applied mathematics department researching modeled genetic networks. In short, genetic networks explain why people with brown hair tend to have brown eyes.  This will be her first year as a SOARS protege. Talea was born and raised in Colorado and is thrilled about her second opportunity to come home and do laundry for free. 
Talea has been a flautist in Grambling State University’s Marching and Concert bands since she arrived in 2004.  It is a full time job (35 hours per week in the fall), but it keeps her busy out there in the middle of nowhere.  She also enjoys running, reading, and the company of dogs.  She thinks people are pretty great, too.
Talea will be working with John Braun at COSMIC, UOP.

Imani Morris - ACD, NCAR
Imani R. Morris is a sophomore at Jackson State University majoring in Meteorology. She is a lifelong resident of New Orleans, Louisiana but relocated to Fairburn, Georgia due to Hurricane Katrina. Last summer, Imani conducted research at the Army High Performance Computing Center (AHPCRC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota along with mentor Tony Meys.  Her project involved using large eddy simulation with the WRF model.  Her research interests include tropical meteorology, radiation, remote sensing, and numerical weather modeling.  Imani hopes to have a successful career by using her acquired research and computer-programming skills for hurricane research at the National Hurricane Center. Aside from school she enjoys shopping, reading, listening to music, spending time with family, and having fun with friends!  She will be a first year protégé this summer. Imani will be working with Steve Massie at ACD, NCAR.

Nicole Ngo - WHOI
Nicole Ngo attends the University of California, Irvine and is pursuing a double major in Earth System Science and Economics. She is a senior, but will probably be staying another year at UCI. She wants a career that relates earth sciences with economics, but has no definitive goal, just an incomplete outline. Her outline includes graduation and ends there. She wants to remove this uncertainty and hopes that her experience with SOARS will accomplish this. This year will be her second year with SOARS. Last year she was researching harmful algal blooms in 1993 and 2005 in Massachusetts under the guidance of her mentor Linda Mearns . Back home in Orange County she enjoys reading books, jogging, playing tennis, and going to the beach.
Nicole will be working with Porter Hoagland at WHOI.

Nancy Rivera-Rivera - Colorado State University
Nancy I. Rivera Rivera is a graduate student at the University of Texas at El Paso and this will be her fourth year as a protégé.  Over the past summers she has done various types of research ranging from analyzing ozone data from Arctic sites with Detlev Helmig at the Institute of Artic & Alpine Research (2002); working with wind profiles data at the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory with Leslie Hartten (2004); to conducting thesis related research on using remote sensing images to characterize dust outbreaks (2005). This summer she plans to continue working on her thesis project with Jenny Hand at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and at NCAR. Nancy presented her last research at the 2005 AGU and 2006 AMS Conferences. Upon completion of her degree she plans to pursue a PhD in atmospheric and environmental sciences.  When she isn’t hard at work, Nancy likes to play video games, cook, and watch movies.
Nancy is working with Jennifer Hand at Colorado State Univ.

Luna Rodriguez - COSMIC, UOP
Luna Rodriguez is a senior majoring in physics at the University of Puerto Rico. She is a second year protégé this summer. Her research interests involve model analysis for mesoscale meteorology. Last summer, along with mentor Leslie Hartten, she worked in the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory on a wind analysis for the North American Monsoon Experiment. She presented the poster "Lower Tropospheric Analysis of the Daily Cycle of the Wind for the East Coast of the Gulf of California during NAME 2004" at SACNAS 2005 and at the 18th Conference on Climate Variability and Change during the 2006 Annual AMS Meeting.
Upon completion of her education she plans to work in Academia. In her free time Luna enjoys listening to music with her Chihuahua Nova Lulee, extreme activities (skydiving, white water rafting), and hopes to go storm chasing this summer.
Luna is working with Bill Kuo at COSMIC, UOP.

Armand Silva - RAL, NCAR
Armand Silva is a junior majoring in Meteorology at Penn State. He is from Arlington, TX but has also lived in Northern Virginia and France.  He is a first-year protégé this summer.  Armand’s current interests include global climate systems, synoptic-scale meteorology, severe weather, and tropical meteorology.  He plans to attend graduate school and then work for the government or private sector.  Armand has always enjoyed watching and forecasting the weather and has had a particular interest in maps and geography his entire life.  There is nothing that surpasses his strong passion for traveling.  He loves exploring new places and always welcomes changing environments.  Armand also enjoys playing tennis, listening to music and playing the violin.
Armand is working with Tom Warner at RAL, NCAR.

Lennox Thompson - Aerospace Engineering Science, CU Boulder
Lennox Thompson participates in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program at Coppin State University where he is a junior majoring in computer science, with a minor in mathematics.  In his spare time Lennox tutors students in trigonometry, calculus, and college algebra.  He also likes watching television, reading, and going to the movies.  This will be his first year as a RESESS protégé.  Lennox plans to pursue a master’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering and then work for the government specializing in protection design of detection and suppression systems.  Alternatively, he would like to become a fire sprinkler design technician for the Global Fire Engineering Company.  Lennox’s ultimate goal is to be a creative problem-solver who develops strategies to save lives.
Lennox is working with Penina Axelrad at Aerospace Engineering Science, CU Boulder

Kimberly Trent - CGD, NCAR
Kimberly Trent is a junior at Yale University majoring in Applied Physics. This New York native’s hobbies include drawing, reading, watching the French news, and learning how to fly model helicopters. Last summer she worked with Professor Jura at UCLA. Her research focused on further developing a method for finding extra-solar planets by the detection of non-thermal radio continuum emission. This technique appealed to her because of its potential to detect planets of earth-like size. Her research pursuits include astronomy, astronautics, aeronautics, and hurricane forecasting. Kimberly plans on earning a PhD in Astronautical Engineering after graduating. She is interested in how air and space craft can be used as vehicles for learning more about the climate and different weather phenomena, and for improving forecasting. She hopes to one day work for agencies like NOAA and NASA helping to improve the ability of these vessels to learn more about our world and the universe.
Kimberly is working with Warren Washington at CGD, NCAR.

Julien Wang - ACD, NCAR
In 2005, Julien Wang worked with science mentor Linda Mearns on Climate and Health issues for the summer. She is majoring in Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is a third year undergraduate there, and this will be her second year as a SOARS protégé. Her research interests are in the field of finding correlations between environmental issues and public health. The work she did last summer was looking at how climate change affects health in terms of vector-borne diseases and perhaps other health indicators. This may tie into climate change indicators as well, such as hurricanes and ocean currents. For fun, she likes to explore the wonders of musical theater. She finds Broadway music to be especially fun and relaxing after a long day.
Julien is working with Xue Xi Tie at ACD, NCAR.