News Archive
We are excited to announce that Rachael Cross has won the Provost Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for Outstanding Graduate Assistant.
Rachael Cross is a PhD student in the School of Meteorology, advised by Dr. David Bodine.
This award is presented to the top 10 percent of graduate assistants based on student evaluations from Fall 2021. Congratulations, Rachael!
Junho Ho is a M.S. student in the School of Meteorology, advised by Dr. Guifu Zhang.
Asked about his current research, Junho said, "I am working on improving rain estimation and DSD retrievals from polarimetric radar data using the deep neural network. Compared to the previous methods (e.g., physical, and empirical methods), the present results show about 10% enhancements for the estimation and retrievals."
In his free time, Junho likes to play games or watch soccer.
Regarding his plans for after graduation, Junho said, "After completing my M.S. program, I am planning to join Ph. D. program here at OU and will be staying with Dr. Zhang."
An ARRC Team traveled to Plymouth, MA last week to deploy the Rapid-Scanning X-band Polarimetric (RaXPol) Doppler Radar System to observe the nor’easter blizzard that struck the east coast last weekend. The team led by Dr. David Schvartzman deployed RaXPol in support of the NASA IMPACTS campaign, to study microphysical characteristics of threatening snowstorms.
Dr. Howie Bluestein said that RaXPol observations were unique and will serve to further understanding of the genesis, temporal evolution, and merging of snow bands that produced over two feet of snow in certain cities in MA. They collected over 10 hours of radar measurements in coordination with other atmospheric-sensing systems, including the P-3 NASA aircraft that flew over RaXPol for simultaneous measurements from the top of the blizzard. Wind gusts exceeded 75 mph and temperatures were as low as 10 F.
We are very pleased to announce that Dr. David Bodine has been awarded the 2022 Outstanding Early Career Award by the AMS Scientific and Technological Activities Commission! Dr. Bodine has also recently been elected as Adjunct Assistant Professor in OU's School of Meteorology.
The ARRC is very excited to once again host an annual workshop. This event will take place March 3rd and 4th, and will be open to research sponsors, Strategic Partner Consortium (SPARC) members, and charitable donors to the ARRC.
If you have not received an invitation despite your organization falling into one of these categories, please contact Professor Nathan Goodman at goodman@ou.edu.
Plan for an all-day workshop on the 3rd, and half day on the 4th followed by the advisory board meeting. Events on the 4th should wrap up by early afternoon. Pictured is our group from 2020's Industry and Government Days.
We're excited to announce that the ARRC is expanding our professional engineering team. Multiple positions are available for each of the job postings in the links below. Please help in our expansion process.
Precious Jatau is a PhD student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, advised by Drs. Tian Yu and Valery Melnikov.
Scholarships, Awards and Publications:
• Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) Student Journal Paper Award (2021)
• Farrar Endowment Scholarship for Electrical and Computer Engineering (2020)
• William H. Barkow Scholarship for Electrical and Computer Engineering (2019)
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Graduate student scholarship (2018)
• Farrar Endowment Scholarship for Electrical and Computer Engineering (2017).
• Jatau, P., Melnikov, V., and Yu, T.-Y. (2021). “A Machine Learning Approach for Classifying Bird and Insect Radar Echoes with S-Band Polarimetric Weather Radar”, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 38(10), 1797-1812
• Jatau, P., Melnikov, V., and Yu, T.-Y. (2021). "Detecting Birds and Insects in the Atmosphere Using Machine Learning on NEXRAD Radar Echoes." Environmental Sciences Proceedings. 2021; 8(1):48
Current Research:
"My current research project focuses on the development of a machine learning algorithm to classify bird and inset echoes for S-band dual-polarization radars. This algorithm can be applied to NEXRAD radar network, enabling large-scale monitoring of biological migration activity. Potential benefits include better understanding of the spread of avian diseases, improved collision avoidance of migrating birds with aircraft, and improved velocity azimuthal display IVAD) wind retrieval using only passive wind tracers like insects."
Interests and Plans After Graduation:
"After completing my PhD, I plan to pursue a career in Machine Learning / Software Engineering."
ARRC Executive Director Bob Palmer has recently given a presentation at AGU regarding the development of a Transportable Phased Array Radar (TPAR). Watch and download the prerecorded presentation here.
The ARRC is proud to announce that the selection committee below has chosen Cesar M. Salazar Aquino as the next WNI Scholarship awardee. Congratulations Cesar!
• Dr. Petra Klein, Executive Associate Dean, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences
• Dr. Zahed Siddique, Associate Dean for Research, Gallogly College of Engineering
• Dr. Daisuke Abe, WNI Director, Chief Service Officer
We thank the selection committee for their time and effort, and Weathernews for their generosity, continued collaboration, and friendship.
A ceremony was held on December 8, 2021 at the Radar Innovations Lab. Cesar is pictured here with Dean Berrien Moore and ARRC Executive Director Bob Palmer.
Randall Summers is a masters student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, advised by Dr. Mark Yeary. Randall's current research investigates the impact of various predistortion algorithms on the performance of radar systems. Randall said, "I'm also looking into beam-shaping algorithms for phased arrays and ways to quickly evaluate super-resolution algorithms.
Recent publications:
• R. Summers, M. Yeary, H. Sigmarsson and R. Rincon, "Adaptive Digital Predistortion for Radar Applications using Convex Optimization," 2020 IEEE International Radar Conference (RADAR), 2020, pp. 816-820, doi: 10.1109/RADAR42522.2020.9114654.
• R. Summers, M. Yeary, H. Sigmarsson and R. Rincon, "Architecture Study for a Bare-Metal Direct Conversion Radar FPGA Testbench," 2021 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf21), 2021, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/RadarConf2147009.2021.9455320.
Asked about what he likes to do in his free time, and his plans for after graduation, Randall responded: "I like to spend my free time cooking. I also enjoy walking and generally spending time outside. I plan to continue my studies here at OU and work towards earning a PhD."