2025 Project Proposals

Last Updated: February 18, 2025

This is our holding place for project descriptions while we get them all identified. *These are draft descriptions.* Keep in mind that research projects can change quite a bit. That is part of the nature of research. You don't know how things will work out when no one has done your project before.

We put a link to recent REU projects for that mentor, when possible. That doesn't mean the proposed project is like the others, but will give you a flavor of that mentor's research. Likewise, some projects have "most directly applicable majors" listed.

Students applying to the program can mention any particular projects of interest in their essays if they wish, but that is not required and we may not have all projects identified during the application period.

Students who are selected to the program will be asked to rank the projects. This does not necessarily limit who can choose the project, but instead is meant to reveal something of the nature of the project.

The following projects will be funded through this REU.

1. (title coming)

Mentors: Dr. Heather Reeves (OU/CIWRO & NOAA/NSSL)

Description: Investigating winter precipitation types in urban areas - this project will undertake an analysis of novel datasets to understand how urban heat may impact the type of precipitation (i.e., snow, rain, freezing rain, etc) that occurs in urban areas.

Desired skills:

Most applicable majors:

Recent REU projects with mentors on this team:

2. Evaluating the Impact of Vertical Mixing Schemes in the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer on Intensification Forecast of Hurricane Fiona (2022)

Mentors: Dr. Yue Yang (OU/SoM/MAP), Prof. Xuguang Wang (OU/SoM/MAP)

Description: The turbulent mixing in the ocean surface boundary layer (OSBL) can modulate the exchange of heat and momentum between the atmosphere and ocean. Such air-sea fluxes contribute to the energy budget of tropical cyclones (TCs) and affect the storm intensity. Consequently, accurate parameterization of the OSBL turbulent mixing in the vertical mixing schemes is essential for modeling TC intensification. In addition, establishing a physically consistent ocean-atmosphere background ensemble across the OSBL and atmosphere planetary boundary layer (APBL) is crucial for the air-sea coupled ensemble data assimilation (DA) system. Under the Unified Forecasting System (UFS) framework, the self-cycled Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) has been developed to implement the eddy-resolving regional Modular Ocean Model version 6 (MOM6) ocean coupling capability (HAFS-MOM6) by the OU MAP lab. This project aims to evaluate the impact of vertical mixing schemes and associated parameters in the OSBL on the ocean-atmosphere background ensemble of HAFS-MOM6 for Hurricane Fiona (2022) using novel observations at the air-sea interface. The ocean components to be tested include the vertical mixing scheme in the OSBL (KPP vs ePBL) and the critical Richardson number in the KPP. Novel observations were collected from a field campaign using instruments such as saildrones, paired dropsondes and Airborne Expendable Bathy-Thermograph (AXBT) probes, and gliders. This project will provide the student with an opportunity to diagnose and visualize model outputs, gain familiar with novel observations at the air-sea interface, and develop a foundational understanding of DA.

Desired skills: Experience with coding and programming

Most applicable majors: Meteorology or related field

Recent REU projects with mentors on this team:

3. Identifying Emergency Manager Workflows for a Variety of Extreme Weather Events

Mentors: Elizabeth Meister (OU/IPPRA), Anna Wanless (OU/IPPRA), and Sam Stormer (OU/IPPRA)

Description: This project will focus on an analysis of Emergency Management workflow interview data. Data were collected for a nationwide project where interviews were conducted with various types of emergency managers and hazards. Specifically, students will analyze interview data from emergency managers in urban and rural areas, for different kinds of municipalities and/or private industry. The hazards studied are tropical cyclones, severe weather, winter weather, wildfires, extreme heat, and flooding. The goal is to evaluate what information EMs are looking for, what specific decisions are made based on forecast information, what sources or channels they rely on, when and how they share hazardous weather forecast information. This project will focus on qualitative analysis of interview data (i.e., finding themes across hazards and municipalities, etc.) and require minimal coding in R (which the mentors can provide guidance on as needed).

Desired skills: Familiarity with R programming language

Most applicable majors: Meteorology, Emergency Management, communication, other related social sciences

Recent REU projects with mentors on this team:

Analysis of Color Usage in NWS Flood Graphics

14.

Mentors:

Description:

Desired skills:

Most applicable majors:

Recent REU projects with mentors on this team:

The following projects will be funded through AI2ES:

AI2ES-1.

Mentors:

Description:

Most applicable majors:

AI2ES-2.

Mentors:

Description:

Desired skills:

Most applicable majors: