BLISS group members design new course at the Univeristy of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology
BLISS members Dr. Elizabeth Smith, Dr. Petra Klein, Dr. Liz Pillar-Little and Tyler Bell have collaborated to design a brand new course at the University of Oklahoma. Offered within the School of Meteorology the new course titled Advanced Observations for Lower Atmospheric Research is open for both undergraduate and graduate student enrollment.
The class is exam free, instead focusing on projects and application-based assignments using real observed datasets. Through key partnerships with the National Severe Storms Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and other key members of the atmospheric science community, students will be exposed to state-of-the-art platforms at the Univeristy of Oklahoma and beyond.
After completion of this course, students will be familiar with several research-grade observation platforms and have experience synthesizing observations and information to address a research problem. Students will have also gained important experiences interrogating and quality assuring observed datasets, which should be transferable beyond the platforms covered and even to other fields. Students entering research or data analysis careers will be more prepared to work with modern, state-of-the-art observations.
The course is open for Fall 2021 enrollment for both undergraduate and graduate students at the univerity of Oklahoma. Visit https://one.ou.edu/ or check out the visual syllabus to learn more.
Dr. Elizabeth N. Smith
Research Meteorologist
Elizabeth joined NSSL as a research meteorologist in January 2020, where she focuses on boundary-layer processes relevant to near- and pre-storm environments and convection initiation.
Dr. Petra Klein
Professor, Executive Associate Dean
Dr. Elizabeth A. Pillar-Little
Former Research Scientist
Elizabeth Pillar-Little was the Assistant Director for the former Center for Autonomous Sensing and Sampling at the University of Oklahoma, where she was responsible for coordinating the field deployments of RPAS teams from both an operational and scientific perspective. She also ensured the continuity of day-to-day center business and enjoyed spearheading outreach and science communication activities on behalf of the center. She was also appointed as a research scientist in the School of Meteorology and led the atmospheric chemistry research nucleus of CASS. Dr. Pillar-Little’s research interests were broadly centered around atmospheric and environmental chemistry, but she is very passionate about atmospheric composition, aerosol optical properties and composition, and the interplay between aerosols and convection initiation.
Dr. Tyler M. Bell
Research Scientist
Tyler is a Research Associate in CIWRO working on using ground-based remote sensors and WxUAS to advance the understanding of various boundary layer processes. He is acitvely exploring ways to optimally combine data collected from WxUAS and ground-based remote sensing.