Protégés 2008





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SOARS & RESESS Protégés of 2008 *********************************************************************************************************************************************************
As of 5/02/08 Meet the Protégés of 2008. On this page the protégés describe their background and research interests. To read about last year's protégés click here. Proteges: You can send an updated biography or picture by email to Rebecca.
	Chahta Butler Chahta is a sophmore in environmental sciences at Haskell Indian Nations University. He is part of the American Indian & Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group. Last year, he did a summer research internship with NASA to explore on how to use GIS and remote sensing imagery to gain a better understanding of traditional Sámi reindeer migration patterns in the Norwegian Arctic, as well as to asses potential loss of grazing lands that are vital to reindeer .
	Marques Cameron Marques is currently a junior at Norfolk State University pursuing a B.S. degree in physics. His future goals include attending graduate school and getting a job with NASA. This will be his second summer internship but his first year with the SOARS program. Marques loves learning new things, having a good time and especially being outdoors and going fishing.
	Roque Cespedes Roque Vinicio Céspedes, an undergraduate student at the University of Miami (U.M.), plans to graduate in May of 2009 (with a double-major in Meteorology and Applied Mathematics, and a minor in Spanish). Roque is in the U.M. General Honors Program. Roque is interested in the topics of Global Warming / Climate Change, and in finding ways of improving the daily weather forecast products. In summer 2007, he completed a 6-week paid summer internship at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in which he found a significant positive correlation between the rainfall at three canal sites around West Palm Beach County, FL and the ammonia, phosphate, and nitrogen concentrations at each of the canal sites. Prior to that, in summer 2006, Roque did the U.M. 2006 Honors Summer Research Program at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) completing 280 hours as a research assistant. Roque manipulated/plotted Mexico City aircraft data from the MIRAGE-Mex (Megacity Impacts on Regional and Global Environments) Project.
	Karl Clarke Karl C. Clarke is a junior at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Before attending Hunter College , he attended Montego Bay Community College in Jamaica where he majored in Pre-Law. Realizing that this avenue is not for him, he came to the United States to attend Medgar Evers College of CUNY and majored in Environmental Science. He excelled but the school lacked the resources needed to fully develop their students' full potential so he transferred in the spring 2007. At Hunter College , he has found the right niche for him. He is currently a research assistant for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and a fellow for the CUNY Black Male Initiative Teachers as Leaders Program . In the former, he has been able to research winter storm systems affecting the New York coast from the perspective of oceanography. The latter program is a development program geared at male students who want to become teachers in New York . As a potential researcher, his heart is torn between research itself and teaching. Although, both can compliment to each other, he does not think he will be able to choose. As such, after graduating, he would like to remain in New York to pursue a teaching career in secondary education, but he would also like to attend the University of Miami to follow a strict research career. Beside the academic aspect of his life, he attempts almost every activity conceivable, that's not a exaggeration! However, for now, he participates more often in soccer, tennis and photography, especially nature photography. Nature photography holds a special interest to him because it always tells us a story.
	Ian Colon Pagan Ian Colon Pagan is a second year protege. He is a senior at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Last summer, he did reaserch on "Hurricanes & Tropical Storms Impacts over the South Florida Metropolitan Area: Mortality and Government" with his science mentor Dr. Mary Hayden.
	Eowyn Connolly-Brown Eowyn is a sophomore atmospheric science major at Cornell University. She loves severe weather, bluegrass, and days where the high temperature exceeds freezing. Eowyn is excited to spend her summer in Boulder, hopefully researching the impact of global climate change on agriculture. In previous lives, she has spent time studying the impact of microclimatic factors on carbon dioxide concentration in forest wetland environments. Her family lives in Tennessee, but she spends most of her time in Ithaca; previous habitats include Western Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, and Scotland. And yes, her name really is from Lord of the Rings.
	Isaiah Corley Isaiah was born in Washington D.C. As of this summer he attends the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he will be majoring in the geosciences/GIS. He loves working out and traveling in his spare time and of course for academic trips. He wishes to concentrate on sedimentology and stratigraphy once he reaches graduate school. From there he plans to work for a government agency or an oil company such as Exxon. All around, geology is where his heart will forever lie!
	Karen Diaz Karen Diaz graduated from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico with a degree in environmental engineering. She is a forth year protégé this summer. In previous summers, she has worked with Holger Vömel in the Ozone and Water Vapor Group at NOAA measuring ozonesonde background current. Last summer she worked with Michael E. Trudeau on "Investigation of the Global Atmospheric Oxidation Chemistry by Ozone -Non-methane Hydrocarbon Correlation Analysis". Her research interests include ozone layer depletion, air pollution, and air quality. Upon completion of her education Karen would like to specialize in air pollution control and work in academia as a professor. She enjoys star gazing, astronomy, going to coffee shops, canoeing, and going to the movies.
	Sandra Diaz Sandra is a Junior, Meteorology major at Texas A&M University in College Station. From her hometown of Dallas, TX, she has seen her fair share of severe weather and close calls with tornadoes. Ever since she was a child she has been fascinated by thunderstorms and this has turned into a dream to study severe weather across the U.S., more specifically the central planes. As a sophomore and junior during the spring semesters she helped in the Student Operational ADRAD Project (SOAP). Using A&M's S-band Doppler radar, undergraduate students in SOAP take data of the weather patterns in Brazos county to help researchers/graduate students to better understand the forcing of weather systems in southeast Texas. Sandra is a member of the Texas A&M Student Chapter of American Meteorological Society (TAMSCAMS) and Texas Aggie Storm Chasers (TASC). At Texas A&M she works in the General Academics department with Aggie Access as a mentor to incoming Freshmen. Sandra says she is greatly blessed by helping others into their college careers and by being part of Texas A&M University. She loves getting to know new people, making people laugh, being outside, singing, playing Volleyball, and most of all COLORADO!
	Emanuelle Feliciano Bonilla Emanuelle A. Feliciano Bonilla has lived in Añasco, Puerto Rico his whole life. He is currently in his fourth year at the University of Puerto Rico, at Mayaguez where he is majoring in Geology. Emanuelle wants to continue studying geology with a concentration in geophysics or seismology. This will be his second summer with RESESS. One of his goals was to work at the Puerto Rican Seismic Network and after his first year in RESESS he accomplished that goal and since October he is working in the Seismic Network of Puerto Rico, which is the largest seismic network and the most efficient network in all the Caribbean. Recently, he was selected in an Exxon Mobil grant to go to Spain with the University of Puerto Rico and Kansas University (KU). RESESS helped making all of these accomplishments possible. His hobbies include hanging out with his friends, playing basketball and tennis, going to the movies, and going to the beach. The thing that he likes the most is Puerto Rican food.
	Alisha Fernandez Alisha graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a major in mathematics. She will be a forth year protégé this summer. Her research interests include space weather, mesoscale meteorology and education in science and mathematics. Alisha plans on attending graduate school in the fall of 2008 to pursue these research interests and find her passion. She loves the outdoors, astronomy and Latina literature, and as a Washingtonian loves everything about her home state: the rain, the hippie-vibe and the ocean.
	Katherine Fornash Katherine Fornash is a resident of Hialeah, Florida and is currently pursuing her Bachelors of Science in Geology. This will be her second year with the RESESS program.
	Miriam E. Garcia Miriam E. Garcia received her B.S. at the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in geophysics and a double minor in physics and mathematics. This will is her third year participating in the RESESS program. In 2006 she worked at CU modeling data from the 1931 Mach earthquake in western Pakistan. She also helped collect data from creepmeters placed along faults throughout the San Andreas and Hayward faults in California. In 2007 she volunteered at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and attended a volcano monitoring course from the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes in Hawaii. Miriam will start graduate school at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Fall 2008 where she will focus on volcanology with a geophysics approach. Her ultimate goal is to conduct research for a government hazards program to educate people about potential volcanic dangers. Besides research, Miriam enjoys spending time with family, running, hiking, belly dancing, and dancing cumbias and duranguense.
	Alex Gonzalez Alex is currently a senior at Penn State University majoring in meteorology, with a concentration in atmospheric science and minor in mathematics. This is second year as a SOARS protégé. His research interests are in tropical meteorology, including dynamics, variability, and numerical modeling. His project this summer involves revisiting the Gill (1980) model with new mathematical and model interpretations. After graduating from Penn State, he would like to attend graduate school and research tropical variability. In his spare time Alex enjoys exercising at the gym, playing basketball and football, singing, traveling, and reading books about the atmosphere and the environment.
	Stephen Hernandez Stephen Hernandez is a 5th year senior in Pure Mathematics at the University of Texas at El Paso. Although he did not participate in Summer 2007, this is his 3rd year as a RESESS intern and was the inaugural intern in 2005. In previous years has worked under the auspices of Kristine Larson of CU-Boulder, and Eric Calais of Purdue. His current research interests cover a relatively broad field of topics, but are currently focused on earthquake seismology, explosion seismology, earthquake-earthquake interactions (e.g., dynamically and statically triggered seismicity), crustal deformation, asthenosphere-lithosphere interaction, and associated tectonics. In general, he hopes to synthesize seismic, geodetic, and geologic observations of our earth, in order to develop methods of analysis that help crack the code of natural hazards and eventually contribute to their more effective mitigation. Stephen plans on attending graduate school (in a related Earth Science) perhaps by Fall 2009. Besides being a bookworm, Stephen is constantly listening to music, new and old, foreign and domestic. And lastly, he has finally accepted that he is a hippie at heart. Peace.
	Cynthia Hyland This year Cynthia is a second year RESESS protege. During summer 2007 she was mentored by Dr. Harley Benz and Dr. Antonio Villaseñor at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) in Golden, CO. where her research focused on seismic activity in Northeastern Russia. This year she will continue her geophysics research while looking forward to undergraduate studies in Applied Mathematics (Physics Option) at University of Colorado at Boulder. Cynthia's interests include photography, music, beadwork, and travel.
	McArthur Jones Jr. “Mack,” as most people call him, is currently a junior attending Millersville University on a PA Board of Governor’s Scholarship. His major is Meteorology and he has minors in Physics and Mathematics. He is also involved in the University AMS and is currently a member of the Millersville Men’s Soccer Team. Mack was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. As for his hobbies, he is a huge fan of all sports. He also loves learning anything having to do with mathematics and science, especially weather. In addition, he enjoys spending time with his friends. Last summer, his research was entitled "The Daily Cycle of Winds at Estacion Obispo, Mexico, during the North American Monsoon". Finally, his two “dream” jobs would be to work at either NASA or NOAA.
	Ramiro Mata Ramiro is currently a sophomore at Brown University. He was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico and moved to Texas at the age of 14 where he attended High School. He is concentrating in Geobiology, and is particularly interested in the field of astrobiology or exobiology. Ramiro has been working since last year at the Alcohol and Addiction Studies Center at Brown University where he studies the biobehavioral effects of topiramate on alcohol dependent individuals. His research interests vary from topics such as the terraformation of the planet Mars to the effects of ibogaine on drug dependent individuals. Ramiro will pursue a Ph.D. and a career in Earth Sciences. He plans to teach and do research. He enjoys dancing, and loves to listen and create music. He plays the congas, guitar, and the electric bass. Soccer is his religion.?
	Talea Mayo Talea L. Mayo attends Grambling State University in northern Louisiana . She will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics this May and will begin her journey to a Ph.D. in applied mathematics next fall. This will be her second year as a SOARS protégé. Talea was born and raised in Colorado and is always ecstatic to come home. She also enjoys running, reading, and the company of dogs. She thinks people are pretty great, too.
	Ezer Patlan Ezer is a senior at the University of Texas at El Paso where he is majoring in Geophysics with a double minor in physics and mathematics. He was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to El Paso as a teenager. This will be his second year in the RESESS program. Ezer has received awards from the Alpha Phi Omega Engineering and Geology Social Fraternity and the Reese Rowling Foundation. In the future, he plans attain a PhD and work in academia with the intent of discovering methods to further our understanding of seismology and volcanology. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends.
	Lumari Pardo Lumari Pardo is a second year SOARS protégé from Puerto Rico. Anything related to weather fascinates her, especially thunderstorms and tornadoes. She is a graduating senior at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico (San Germán campus) with a major in pure mathematics. Her goals are to pursue graduate studies in atmospheric science and work as a researcher. Lumari loves all kind of sports, especially Olympic Taekwondo. This sport is her passion, and she has been practicing it since childhood. She was part of her University taekwondo team for two years, and has competed both inside and outside Puerto Rico with her lifelong team “los Gallitos Olimpicos” from San Germán.
	Dana Pausauskie Dana is graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in Social Welfare. Dana's research interests include human-environment relationships and interactions, the impacts of climate change on indigenous communities, human rights policy, and sustainable community development. Outside of academia Dana enjoys a good conversation, outdoor adventures, jogging, reading for pleasure, and -- most recently -- learning a thing or two on the banjo.
	Luna Rodriguez Luna is graduating with her Master's degree in Meteorology from The Pennsylvania State University in August. She is a fourth year protégé this summer. Her research interests involve artificial intelligence, air pollution, dispersion, and turbulence. Upon completion of her education she plans to work in Academia, become the Director of NCAR, and retire and breed Chihuahuas. In her free time Luna enjoys listening to music with her Chihuahua Nova Lulee, extreme activities (skydiving, white water rafting) and this summer is studying for her PhD candidacy exam.
	Yexary Rodriguez Yexary is currently attending Syracuse University and majoring in Geology. Ever since she was young, she had a fascination with volcanoes. Her goal is to study these magnificent wonders of the world and to become involved in the research on them. She was born in Venezuela , and grew up in Las Vegas , the Dominican Republic , and in New York City (in that order exactly). She enjoys reading, playing the flute, singing and dancing, especially Spanish music (merengue, bachata, and salsa!). This will be her first year in RESESS.
	ZiZi Searles Zi Zi Searles is a currently a senior at San Francisco State University. She plans on graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Geology in Fall 2008 and attending graduate school Fall 2009. After an inspiring summer in Yosemite National Park Zi Zi decided to return to school to learn about the physical processes that shape the planet and how these processes relate to our resource and energy infrastructure. After taking a class on energy production Zi Zi became interested in the topic of climate change. In her junior year she joined a student led initiative to calculate the carbon footprint of her university. During the past year she joined the high school outreach and student science poster committee for Focus the Nation Climate Teach-In. Zi Zi is also the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships including the Carl Sagan Memorial Outstanding Earth Science Award and the CSU Louis Stokes Student Scholar Award. She is currently the lab tech for the new paleoclimatology lab at SFSU. Zi Zi considers herself a typical northern Californian raging granola. She loves vegetarian food and outdoor activities such as hiking, rock-climbing, skiing, and cycling. Salsa is a food group in and of itself. Zi Zi also enjoys adventures, traveling, partying, dancing, and concerts. She has an intention to volunteer somewhere in the world during spring 2009, and is currently in the market for suggestions and advice.
	Lennox Thompson Lennox is a member of the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program at Coppin State University where he is graduating with a BS in Computer Science in May 2008. In fall 2008, Lennox will be attending University of Texas at El Paso for a master's in Geophysics. After the master's program, Lennox plans to pursue a PhD in geophysics focusing on seismology. This will be his third year as a RESESS protégé.
	Cecille M. Villanueva Cecille is a graduating senior studying Physics and Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. She has lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico her whole life. Given that Puerto Rico is vulnerable to hurricanes, Cecille has experienced their effects firsthand; as a result she is fascinated with weather, especially tropical and extreme weather. In addition, as long as she can remember, she has been fascinated by the beautiful displays of the aurora borealis. Cecille’s hobbies include playing volleyball, softball, tennis or any kind of sport, going to the beach, reading books, traveling and visiting new places when she can. She also likes to go to the movies, listen to music (she loves music), dance, and spend time with her friends.
	Marcus Walter Marcus was born and raised in Maywood, IL, a close western suburb of Chicago. He is currently a senior meteorology student and Schreyer Honors Scholar at The Pennsylvania State University. This spring he will earn his Bachelor's degree in Meteorology with a focus in weather forecasting and communications, and starting in the fall of 2008, he will pursue his Master's degree in Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University. Marcus has interests in weather forecasting and communications, statistical meteorology, and Weather Risk Management (i.e. the connection between business and meteorology), and one day plans pursue careers in both broadcast meteorology and private sector meteorology. In his spare time Marcus goes to parties, hangs out with friends, reads a book or two (he loves the book "Angels and Demons"), listens to music, and even salsa dances ("I Love Salsa" by N'Klabe is his favorite salsa song).
	Christopher Williams Christopher is a senior at Georgia Institute of Technology majoring in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences. His emphasis is in meteorology and he is particularly interested in researching tropical meteorology. Earlier in his college career, he participated in the Servant Leadership Program at Columbus State University and was able to volunteer in the community, mentor students, and be mentored himself. Consequently, he has a real appreciation for mentoring because of the positive changes that can result in ones’ life. Christopher enjoys playing basketball, camera work, and spending free time with family. He is the middle child out of five children. He was born in Germany and raised most of his life in Baxley, Georgia. Christopher would like to travel around the world and become a God fearing husband and father.

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The SOARS program is administered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). Program funding is provided by: NSF, CIRES, NOAA, and UCAR/NCAR/UOP.