Dr. Hannah Attard, assistant professor of physics, received a prestigious NASA Research Initiation Award that provides grant funding to set up a laboratory and engage undergraduate students in cutting-edge research. Dr. Attard will lead a group of students in researching “The predictability of upward Wave Activity Flux and Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSW) in NASA’s GEOS Model.” The aim of this research is to better understand the forecasts of the stratospheric circulation in wintertime, as the wintertime stratosphere can impact the weather that we experience here on earth.
The grant award will provide undergraduate students with research experience to better position them for applying to graduate school and their future careers. Students who are selected will engage in computational research, working with big data that covers the Northern Hemisphere and up into the stratosphere. They will learn how to code, how to parse through large amounts of data to find what they need, and how to effectively communicate their findings. Ultimately the study will look at how we can better forecast the weather.
Dr. Attard’s proposal was one of just 18 proposals selected for funding out of 73 submissions. Initial funding from the Research Initiative Award will position her to apply for similar NASA grants in the future.
Dr. Attard holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from SUNY Albany.