June Monthly Highlight- Departmental Introduction
June 19, 2020On June 1, Ian Cornejo and Benjamin Rodenkirch joined our department’s graduate program as RAs in Professor Angela Rowe’s research group. It is an interesting and challenging time to be starting as a graduate student, and because of this, she wanted to informally introduce them to the rest of the department through the monthly highlights.
Ian Cornejo
Ian Cornejo is a 2020 graduate from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences and in Engineering Physics. He is interested in cloud physics and will be studying ingredients leading to heavy rainfall through the Prediction of Rainfall Extremes Campaign in the Pacific (PRECIP), which will now take place in 2021 in Taiwan.
From Ian: “Hello everyone. I’m from the Chicagoland area and have lived in Illinois practically my whole life. My hobbies include sewing and running. I listen to just about every genre of music, but metal and punk rock are my favorites. My favorite clouds are Lenticular and a weather phenomenon I’d like to eventually see while out chasing would be a multiple-vortex tornado. Thank you all for having me in the department, I look forward to meeting everyone in person (hopefully) in the Fall”
Benjamin Rodenkirch
Ben received his B.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences with a Certificate in Environmental Studies from UW-Madison in 2017. During that time, he worked on validating the NOAA/CIMSS ProbSevere Statistical Model. Over the past few years, he worked at Mandli Communications in Fitchburg, serving as a data processor and technician, and most recently in the data integration department. He is interested in remote sensing and science data products and will be studying convective processes using radar and lidar data collected during the previous NASA CPEX and upcoming 2021 CPEX-AW field campaigns.
In Ben’s free time, he enjoys any and all outdoor activities, particularly biking, golfing, running, and tennis. He is also an avid Wisconsin sports fan.
Please join me in sending a warm welcome to Ian and Ben!