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Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS)

CGD Mentoring of SOARS Students

SOARS, Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science, is an undergraduate-to-graduate bridge program designed to broaden participation in the atmospheric and related sciences. The program is equal parts research internship, learning community, and mentoring program. SOARS offers comprehensive financial support for summer research and graduate school for up to four years.

CGD plays an integral role in actively mentoring students in the SOARS Program.

2007 SOARS Proteges

Alex Gonzalez

Alex is currently a junior at Penn State University majoring in Meteorology, with a concentration in Atmospheric Science, and minors in Mathematics and Spanish. His research interests include dynamic meteorology, tropical cyclones, and the chaos theory. His past research experiences include analyzing the history of pre-satellite tropical cyclone forecasting in the Caribbean. In this research, he translated and examined Benito Viñes’ findings about Caribbean hurricanes in the late 1800s. After graduating, he would like to attend graduate school, and after the completion of that he would like to conduct research in the government sector. In his spare time Alex enjoys exercising at the gym, playing basketball, singing, playing the guitar, dancing hip hop, performing theatre, and researching new technology. He also enjoys traveling and experiencing new cultures, as he just returned from Madrid, Spain, where he studied during the spring 2007 semester.

ZiZi Searles

Zi Zi is a Geology Major at Sonoma State University in Northern California. In her spare time she enjoys a wide range of outdoor activities. Some activities she particularly enjoys are hiking, rock-climbing, swimming and yoga. Besides outdoor fun ZiZi loves reading, going to concerts, hanging out with her friends, and dancing. She is also a big fan of the Daily Show and Colbert Report. ZiZi has lots of experience with field geology. In the past two years she has studied in numerous field environments throughout the Southwest and California. She has visited three geothermal power plants, 2 oilfields, 1 platform and lots of mines. ZiZi seeks a career that helps communities balance human needs against Nature’s delicate equilibrium.

2006 SOARS Proteges

Nancy Rivera-Rivera

Nancy I. Rivera Rivera is a graduate student at the University of Texas at El Paso and this will be her fourth year as a protege. Over the past summers she has done various types of research ranging from analyzing ozone data from Arctic sites with Detlev Helmig at the Institute of Artic & Alpine Research (2002); working with wind profiles data at the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory with Leslie Hartten (2004); to conducting thesis related research on using remote sensing images to characterize dust outbreaks (2005). This summer she plans to continue working on her thesis project with Jenny Hand at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and at NCAR. Nancy presented her last research at the 2005 AGU and 2006 AMS Conferences. Upon completion of her degree she plans to pursue a PhD in atmospheric and environmental sciences. When she isn't hard at work, Nancy likes to play video games, cook, and watch movies. Nancy is working with Jennifer Hand at Colorado State University and Lesley Smith in Climate Analysis Section (CAS) and Natalie Mahowald in Terrestrial Sciences Section (TSS) in CGD.

Kimberly Trent

Kimberly Trent is a junior at Yale University majoring in Applied Physics. This New York native's hobbies include drawing, reading, watching the French news, and learning how to fly model helicopters. Last summer she worked with Professor Jura at UCLA. Her research focused on further developing a method for finding extra-solar planets by the detection of non-thermal radio continuum emission. This technique appealed to her because of its potential to detect planets of earth-like size. Her research pursuits include astronomy, astronautics, aeronautics, and hurricane forecasting. Kimberly plans on earning a PhD in Astronautical Engineering after graduating. She is interested in how air and space craft can be used as vehicles for learning more about the climate and different weather phenomena, and for improving forecasting. She hopes to one day work for agencies like NOAA and NASA helping to improve the ability of these vessels to learn more about our world and the universe. Kimberly is working with Warren Washington at CGD, NCAR.