Brian Argrow | |
---|---|
Born | Stroud, Oklahoma, US |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | BSc, Aerospace Engineering, 1983, MSc, Mechanical Engineering, 1986, PhD, Aerospace Engineering, 1989, University of Oklahoma |
Thesis | A computational analysis of the transonic flow field of two-dimensional mininum length nozzles (1989) |
Doctoral advisor | George Emanuel |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences University of Oklahoma |
Brian Maurice Argrow [1] is an American aerospace engineer and Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Currently,he serves as the Chair of the department. Argrow specializes in the field of hypersonic aerodynamics,rarefied gas dynamics,dense gas dynamics,and UAVs.
Argrow was born to parents Essie Argrow and Lavonne Davis in Oklahoma where he attended Stroud High School. [2] Following high school,Argrow graduated from the University of Oklahoma (OU) on the Dean's Honor Roll in 1983. Upon graduating with his Bachelor's degree,he spent three months with Aerospace Engineering Support in El Segundo,California before pursuing his Master's degree. [3] He then returned to the University of Oklahoma for his Master of Science degree and PhD, [4] where he earned the 1989 national Black Engineer of the Year Award in the student leadership category. [5]
Upon completing his PhD,Argrow accepted an assistant professor position at the University of Oklahoma's School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from 1989 to 1992. He left OU in 1992 to accept a similar faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder's (CU Boulder) Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Upon joining the faculty,Argrow's research team was the first to verify the method of osculating cones for supersonic waverider design. He also created a shock tube to create uniform static initial conditions near 800 °F to explore non-classical dense gas dynamics. [6] As a result of his research,Argrow was the 2000 recipient of the President's Teaching Scholar. [7] [8]
In 2004,Argrow became the founding director of the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV) at CU Boulder. In this role,Argrow continued to monitor hurricanes while collaborating with Erik Rasmussen through the Norman-based National Severe Storms Laboratory. [9] He also served in various leadership roles outside of CU Boulder including co-chairing the first Symposium for Civilian Applications of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and serving on the NASA Advisory Council's Unmanned aerial vehicle Subcommittee. [10] In 2007,Argrow was appointed the associate dean for education in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. [7] Two years later,he was one of the leaders of the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2,the largest scientific study of twisters in history. In this role,he helped track the formation of tornados through the central Great Plains by co-developing an unmanned aerial vehicle to fly into the middle of the storm. [11]
Argrow's research team later collaborated with researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to intercept supercells with an Unmanned Aerial Systems for the first time. [12] Through funding from the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL),Argrow's research team flew a UAS across northeast Colorado to collect sample outflows from several supercells. In 2014,Argrow completed a semester sabbatical at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NSSL at the National Weather Center. [13] Upon returning from his sabbatical,Agrow was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics as someone who had contributed and advanced the aerospace industry. [6] A few years later,he was named the inaugural holder of the Schaden Leadership Chair in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. [14]
In February 2022,Argrow was elected a Member of the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to unmanned aerial systems capable of penetrating severe storms and leadership in their application to scientific observation." [15]
Argrow and his wife Gwen have one daughter together. [16]
The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather research laboratory under the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).
The National Weather Center (NWC),on the campus of the University of Oklahoma,is a confederation of federal,state,and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range of time and space scales. The NWC partners give equal attention to applying that understanding to the development of improved observation,analysis,assimilation,display,and prediction systems. The National Weather Center also has expertise in local and regional climate,numerical modeling,hydrology,and weather radar. Members of the NWC work with a wide range of federal,state,and local government agencies to help reduce loss of life and property to hazardous weather,ensure wise use of water resources,and enhance agricultural production. They also work with private sector partners to develop new applications of weather and regional climate information that provide competitive advantage in the marketplace.
An anticyclonic tornado is a tornado which rotates in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and a counterclockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere. The term is a naming convention denoting the anomaly from normal rotation which is cyclonic in upwards of 98 percent of tornadoes. Many anticyclonic tornadoes are smaller and weaker than cyclonic tornadoes,forming from a different process,as either companion/satellite tornadoes or nonmesocyclonic tornadoes.
Neil Burgher Ward was an American meteorologist who is credited as the first scientific storm chaser,developing ideas of thunderstorm and tornado structure and evolution as well as techniques for forecasting and severe weather intercept. He also was a pioneering developer of physical models of tornadoes,first at his home,then at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman,Oklahoma. He significantly furthered the modern scientific understanding of atmospheric vortices,particularly tornadoes.
The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentation,enabling a greater understanding of the processes involved with tornadogenesis. A violent tornado near Union City,Oklahoma was documented in its entirety by chasers of the Tornado Intercept Project (TIP) in 1973. Their visual observations led to advancement in understanding of tornado structure and life cycles.
Erik Nels Rasmussen is an American meteorologist and leading expert on mesoscale meteorology,severe convective storms,forecasting of storms,and tornadogenesis. He was the field coordinator of the first of the VORTEX projects in 1994-1995 and a lead principal investigator for VORTEX2 from 2009-2010 and VORTEX-SE from 2016-2017,as well as involved in other smaller VORTEX offshoots and many field projects.
Leslie R. Lemon was an American meteorologist bridging research and forecasting with expertise in weather radar,particularly regarding severe convective storms. Lemon was,along with Charles A. Doswell III,a seminal contributor to the modern conception of the supercell convective storm which was first identified by Keith Browning,and he developed the Lemon technique to estimate updraft strength and thunderstorm organization also as a continuation of Browning's work.
Robert Peter Davies-Jones is a British atmospheric scientist who substantially advanced understanding of supercell and tornado dynamics and of tornadogenesis. A theoretician,he utilized numerical simulations as well as storm chasing field investigations in his work as a longtime research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman,Oklahoma.
Louis John Wicker is an American atmospheric scientist with expertise in numerical analysis,numerical simulation,and forecasts of severe convection and tornadoes. Doing storm chasing field research,Wicker deployed the TOtable Tornado Observatory (TOTO) and was in leadership roles in the VORTEX projects. He is also known for pioneering work simulating convection at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC).
Adam James Clark is an American meteorologist at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) and the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) recognized for contributions to numerical modeling of convection.
David Jonathan Stensrud is an American meteorologist recognized for numerical modeling and forecasting of hazardous synoptic and mesoscale weather and for incorporating new data into models.
David Owen Blanchard is an American meteorologist,photographer,and storm chaser. He was a significant collaborator in seminal research on tornadogenesis,specifically the importance of baroclinic boundaries,the rear-flank downdraft (RFD) and its thermodynamic characteristics.
Donald W. Burgess is an American meteorologist who has made important contributions to understanding of severe convective storms,particularly tornadoes,radar observations and techniques,as well as to training other meteorologists. He was a radar operator during the first organized storm chasing expeditions by the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the early 1970s and participated in both the VORTEX projects.
Edwin Kessler III was an American atmospheric scientist who oversaw the development of Doppler weather radar and was the first director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).
James F. "Jeff" Kimpel was an American atmospheric scientist with expertise on severe storms who was a provost of the University of Oklahoma (OU) and director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).
The Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is a department within the College of Engineering &Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder,providing aerospace education and research. Housed primarily in the Aerospace Engineering Sciences building on the university's East Campus in Boulder,it awards baccalaureate,masters,and PhD degrees,as well as certificates,graduating approximately 225 students annually. The Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is ranked 10th in the nation in both undergraduate and graduate aerospace engineering education among public universities by US News &World Report.
The RapidX-bandPolarimetric Radar,commonly abbreviated as RaXPol,is a mobile research radar designed and operated by the University of Oklahoma,led by Howard Bluestein. RaXPol often collaborates with adjacent mobile radar projects,such as Doppler on Wheels and SMART-R. Unlike its counterparts,RaXPol typically places emphasis on temporal resolution,and as such is capable of surveilling the entire local atmosphere in three dimensions in as little as 20 seconds,or a single level in less than 3 seconds.
Keith Robert Molenaar is the Dean in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Colorado,Boulder. Molenaar,a first-generation college graduate,was raised in Chicago. He completed a Bachelor of Science in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado,Boulder in 1990,as well as a Master of Science in Civil Engineering,and a Doctorate in Civil Engineering. He is the K. Stanton Lewis Professor of Construction Engineering and Management. Following the departure of Robert D. Braun in January 2020,Molenaar took on the role of acting dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science,formally appointed to the deanship in July 2022.
Dušan S. Zrnić is an American engineer of Yugoslav origin,head of the Doppler Weather Radar and Remote Sensing Research Group at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) as well as assistant professor of electrical engineering and meteorology at the University of Oklahoma in Norman,Oklahoma. His research interests include circuit design,applied mathematics,magnetohydrodynamics,radar signal processing,and systems design.
This is a timeline of scientific and technological advancements as well as notable academic or government publications in the area of atmospheric sciences and meteorology during the 21st century. Some historical weather events are included that mark time periods where advancements were made,or even that sparked policy change.