Our guest for the February 20th show will be Dr. Kevin Kloesel. Below is a brief bio:
Dr. Kevin Kloesel
In 1984, Kevin earned a Bachelor of Engineering Science Degree at the University of Texas - Austin. His 'Eyes of Texas' then went to Penn State University for a Master's (1987) and Ph.D. (1990) in Meteorology.
Kevin began his career in meteorology at Florida State University where he was hired as an Associate Professor. He spent 8 1/2 years as a faculty member with teaching and research interests ranging from boundary layer meteorology to synoptic and tropical meteorology. After receiving tenure, Kevin became Director of the Florida Climate Center. He also served as a Research Fellow with the Cooperative Institute for Tropical Meteorology, and co-directed an outreach project (EXPLORES!) which provides satellite data ingest capabilities to over 200 schools throughout the state of Florida. Kevin also 'moonlights' as an elementary school teacher, teaching an integrated curriculum using weather as the focal point.
Kevin traded hurricanes for tornadoes in January of 1999 when he arrived at OU to become Distance Education Director and NOAA Liaison with OCS. "I thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and teachers in classrooms all over Florida, and look forward to doing the same thing here in Oklahoma."
Kevin has created dozens of web-based modules on weather satellites and satellite imagery interpretation, and welcomes the "What is that?" or "How does that happen?" question from students and teachers alike regarding all aspects of weather. Kevin is also an active mentor in the Kids as Global Scientists program and the GLOBE Project.
On a typical day (after reading the sports section), Kevin will answer a full mailbox of email questions from teachers and students, assess the local weather conditions for storm chase planning, give weather briefings to students, research boundary layer atmospheric processes using Mesonet data, and develop course materials for both classroom and world wide web use. He is also involved in developing distance learning courses, and the training of emergency managers (OK-FIRST) to use weather data effectively. Kevin will be working with NOAA employees in Oklahoma on collaborative research and teaching projects, and is looking forward to being an active participant in developing activities for the EarthStorm Project.
Kevin is a sports addict, bleeds Texas Burnt Orange, and is miserable when the Cowboys lose! "The only thing that's better than a Longhorn victory over the Sooners is watching my family enjoy all the new things the Norman area has to offer. Oh, and going to Dallas on the second Saturday in October!"