Howdy! I'm a NSF graduate research fellow co-advised by Drs. Robert J. Trapp and Stephen Nesbitt in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. I earned my MS degree in the department in August 2023. My graduate research examines the dynamics and environmental conditions that produce tornadic quasi-linear convective systems (QLCSs). I am primarily interested in the factors that cause a QLCS mesovortex to become tornadic and how QLCS forecasting techniques can be improved. Part of my research has investigated the predictability of tornadic QLCSs using the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) atmospheric model. In the springs of 2022 and 2023, I participated in the Propagation, Evolution, and Rotation in Linear Storms (PERiLS) field campaign that collected data on QLCS events throughout the SE U.S. In this project, I assisted in assembling, operating, and disassembling the quickly-deployable C-band On Wheels (COW) radar. Currently, I am analyzing in-situ pod and COW data to determine the characteristics that differentiate tornadic from non-tornadic mesovortices within linear systems.

Before attending UIUC, I received my BS in meteorology and minor in oceanography at Texas A&M University in May 2021. As an undergraduate, I launched weather balloons during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment- Southeast (VORTEX-SE) field campaign and maintained weather instrumentation at the Texas A&M Mesonet. I also conducted a virtual internship with the NWS WFO in Juneau, AK where I investigated the varying strengths and impacts associated with atmospheric rivers (ARs) across SE AK to aid forecasters in predicting AR events.