Research in Meteorology at UNCA

UNC Asheville is nationally recognized as a leader in undergraduate research.  As a founder of the National Council for Undergraduate Research (NCUR), UNCA provides an excellent environment for those students interested in participating in projects that would normally be reserved for graduate students. 

The Department of Atmospheric Sciences has a robust undergraduate research program. During the 2005-2006 school year, our faculty mentored 9 majors in projects that ranged from numerical modeling of Asheville snow events to rapid intensification of tropical cyclones.  Five of those students published conference preprint articles and presented their research at the 20th NCUR conference at UNCA.  You can read more about the student research projects here.

Participation in undergraduate research in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences is open to all qualified sophomores, juniors, or seniors.  A research informational meeting is held early in the fall semester.  All interested students must attend this meeting.  You will learn about the research program at UNCA and ATMS, as well as the research interests of ATMS faculty.  Occasionally there are opportunities for students to work on a funded research project, in which students earn a small stipend.  All students who successfully complete the requirements of their faculty mentor during the semester receive credit towards their degree (ATMS 499).  If you have any questions about the research program in ATMS, please contact any faculty member.

ATMS 499 Atmospheric Sciences Research (1-6 hrs)
Research and/or development in atmospheric science as approved by the department leading to a written thesis. Prerequisite: permission of a department mentor.   Fall and Spring.

   Dr. Hennon's Research Web Page

   Dr. Miller's Research Interests

   Doing Undergraduate Research for NEMAC

   ATMS Undergraduate Research Guideline (9/7/2006)

   ATMS Undergraduate Research Projects (since 2004):

Semester Project Title Student Advisor
2004 Spring Progress of Mesoscale Numerical modeling Efforts at UNCA Matt Rosier ('05) Alex Huang
2004 Spring North Carolina Thunderstorm Events from 1996 through 2003 Grant Gilmore ('06) Alex Huang
2004 Fall Changes in Thunderstorm and Forest Fire
Frequency in Response to Climate Warming in Alaska		 Eric Freeman ('04) Frank Quinlan
2004-2005 Sensitivity of WRF Charley simulations to implicit and explicit moisture schemes and horizontal grid spacings Matt Rosier ('06) Doug Miller
2005 Spring Testing the new Kain-Fritsch convective parameterization scheme trigger mechanism in the WRF for Hurricane Charley Neil Garrett ('04) Doug Miller
2005 Spring Climatology of severe weather observations for North Carolina Grant Gilmore ('06) Doug Miller
2005 Spring, Summer Investigation of four Northwest Flow snowfall events using WRF model simulations Chris Hovanic ('05) Doug Miller
2005 Summer Sensitivity of WRF Northwest Flow snowfall simulations to the explicit moisture schemes Eric Fanny ('05) Doug Miller
2005-2006 Investigating false-positive tornado warnings in southeast severe storm systems Chad Hutchins ('08) Doug Miller
2005-2006 The integration of WRF model forecasts fro mesoscale convective systems interacting with the mountains of North Carolina Jacob Carley ('08) Doug Miller
2005-2006 Orographically driven snowfall and the northwest flow in the Southern Appalachians Justin Couch ('07) Doug Miller
2006 Spring Eastern Caribbean tropical cyclogenesis during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season Amy Harless ('08) Chris Hennon
2006 Spring Case study of rapid intensification: Hurricane Katrina Michael Erb ('07) Chris Hennon
2006 Spring Investigating the rapid intensification of 2005 Atlantic tropical cyclones Brandon Cromer ('07) Chris Hennon
       
2006-2007 Improved Oceanic Wind Vector Retrievals in Hurricanes John Allard ('07) Chris Hennon
2006-2007 Improved Oceanic Wind Vector Retrievals in Hurricanes Amy Harless ('08) Chris Hennon
2007 Spring An Objective Algorithm for Identifying Tropical Cloud Clusters from
Satellite Imagery		 Chip Helms ('09) Chris Hennon
2007 Spring Impacts of Power Plant Emission Reduction on Asheville Air Quality and
Climate		 Megan Stone ('08) Chris Hennon
2006 Spring, 2007 Spring Tornadoes spawned from hurricanes Sarah Davis ('07) Doug Miller
2005-2007 The integration of WRF model forecasts for mesoscale convective systems interacting with the mountains of North Carolina Jacob Carley ('08) Doug Miller
2005-2007 Orographically driven snowfall and the northwest flow in the Southern Appalachians Justin Couch ('07) Doug Miller
2006-2007 The flooding of Hurricane Ivan: How far ahead can we predict? Michael Erb ('07) Doug Miller
2006-2007 The influence of the Great Lakes on northwest snowfall in the Southern Appalachians Robbie Munroe ('07) Doug Miller
2006-2007 Sounding-based experiment on mixed precipitation events (SEMPE) Brooke Stewart (’07) Doug Miller
2006-2007 Sounding-based experiment on mixed precipitation events (SEMPE) Susan Osborne (’07) Doug Miller
2006-2007 Sounding-based experiment on mixed precipitation events (SEMPE) Erin Ball (’08) Doug Miller
2006-2007 Sounding-based experiment on mixed precipitation events (SEMPE) Greg Cutrell (’08) Doug Miller
2006-2007 Sounding-based experiment on mixed precipitation events (SEMPE) Chris McCall (’09) Doug Miller
       
2007 Summer Forecasting accuracy of a winter storm entering the southern Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina Chris McCall (’09) Doug Miller
2007 Summer Measuring, modeling, and understanding orographic precipitation regimes and hydrology in mid-latitude mountain regions Robbie Munroe (’07) Doug Miller
2007 Summer Measuring, modeling, and understanding orographic precipitation regimes and hydrology in mid-latitude mountain regions John Allard (’08) Doug Miller
2007 Summer Measuring, modeling, and understanding orographic precipitation regimes and hydrology in mid-latitude mountain regions Chris LaValley (’09) Doug Miller
       
       

                               

Department of Atmospheric Sciences, CPO #2450, UNC Asheville, One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804-8511
Phone: (828) 251-6149  Fax: (828) 232-5046  Email:

Site designed by Dr. Chris Hennon and maintained by Dr. Alex Huang  
Last Updated: 08/06/2007 17:39:40