Guest Meteorologist Lecture

Dr. Austin Coleman gave a guest lecture to Physics, Statistics, and Math Club students about Numerical Weather Predictions.  Her area of work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concerns Extreme Weather Scenarios.  She explained how the NOAA Weather Prediction Center uses data collected around the world in order to make predictions about the weather using mathematical models.  Dr. Coleman walked everyone through the scientific process used in creating and verifying a forecast.  She also demonstrated this to us with a case study on the Roanoke Valley during the snowstorm that hit us earlier in the month. She gave us a glimpse into the kind of applied mathematics she uses on her job, ranging from Newton’s Laws of Physics, k-means clustering, Differential Equations, and Chaos Theory.  Dr. Coleman ended with a Q&A where students got to ask her many questions. It was very awesome!