Dr. Ryan Boyles

Director and State Climatologist
135 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-513-2816
Email: ryan_boyles@ncsu.edu

Ryan Boyles is a North Carolina native from Durham. In 1997, he received a B.S. in Meteorology from NC State University. Ryan went on to pursue his graduate degree at NCSU, but postponed its completion to take a position with the State Climate Office of North Carolina. Ryan continued his research on weather and climate in North Carolina, and studied temperature and precipitation trends for his Master of Science degree, which he completed in 2000. Ryan received his PhD in 2006 at NC State University based on research involving development of a radar-based mesoscale precipitation climatology and study of summer rainfall patterns across our state.

As State Climatologist, Ryan is the chief scientist with responsibilities to promote the Office's climate services for extension, research, and education of applied meteorology and climatology. Ryan supervises staff and students, assists NC state and county agencies, and interacts with a wide range of public and private sector clients to ensure development and delivery of advanced climate science and services. As a core objective for the State Climate Office, Ryan works to increase the exposure of the SCO and NC State University as a resource for weather and climate expertise and information, including expansion of the NC Environment and Climate Observing Network (NC ECONet) and development of weather- and climate-based decision support tools.

Ryan has research and development interests in spatial analysis, Geographic Information Systems, global and regional climate change, drought monitoring, water resource management, sensors and instrumentation, agricultural and forest meteorology, and complex data visualization. Ryan wants to see the climate office continuously develop science applications to aid other agencies and institutions, and extend such tools and technology to support decision-making. Ryan hopes the efforts of the State Climate Office will improve community understanding of climate and climate-related issues.

Dr. Sethu Raman

State Climatologist Emeritus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-7144
Email: sethu_raman@ncsu.edu

Sethu Raman is a native of Chennai, India. In 1958 Sethu graduated with a diploma in civil engineering from the Central Polytechnic, Chennai and worked as a civil engineer and a Lecturer for nine years. In 1966, Sethu received his A.M.I.E. (B.S. degree equivalent) in civil engineering from the Institution of Engineers, India. He received his Master of Civil Engineering (Hydraulics) with honors at the University of Roorkee, India in 1969, where he studied sediment transport. In 1972, Sethu completed his Ph.D. at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. His research was on a study of the urban heat islands. From 1972 through 1982, Sethu was a scientist (meteorologist) in Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York. He joined NCSU as an associate professor in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences in 1982 and became a professor in 1986. In 1996, Sethu became the State Climatologist of North Carolina, and later the director in 1998 when SCO became a public service center. He has published over 350 scientific papers, 200 of which are in refereed international journals. He stepped down as the State Climatologist and the director of the SCO in 2006. Currently Sethu is a professor in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at NCSU and continues to collaborate with the SCO staff and students.

Ameenulla Syed

Associate Director / NC ECONet Manager
133 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-1448
Email: asyed@ncsu.edu

Ameenulla Syed was born in India, where he worked for the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore with a Diploma in Sound Engineering for several years. While employed at the Institute, Ameenulla pursued a Bachelors Degree in Electronics Engineering (1981), and later completed his Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering (Instrumentation) from the Indian Institute of Science (1997). Over the years, he has worked on various research projects and participated in national and international field experiments at various levels such as Lead Instrumentation Engineer/ co-Project Investigator. Experiments include 1) Monsoon Experiment (MONEX) 1979, 2) Experiment during Total Solar Eclipse in India 1980, 3) Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE) 1985-86, 4) Monsoon Trough Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment (MONTBLEX) 1990, 5) Vegetation and Surface Energy Balance Experiment (VEBEX) 1998, 6) Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) 1997-99, 7) Bay of Bengal Monsoon Experiment (BOBMEX) 1998-99. Ameenulla has published research papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored scientific reports for different compliance and regulatory agencies.

Ameenulla began working for the SCO to modernize the NC ECONet, which currently consists of about 30 weather stations across the state, and measures parameters like soil temperature, solar radiation, and evapotranspiration, in addition to temperature, precipitation, and winds. Ameenulla serves as the SCO's instrumentation expert. He has developed an auto clean mechanism for precipitation gages, and is working on an all-season, low power precipitation sensor. As manager of the ECONet, he oversees the installation, maintenance, and improvement of weather sensors at the various sites. He also helps in implementing quality assessment and quality control procedures for this data. In the future, Ameenulla wants to expand the ECONet across NC, and continue in-house design and development of weather sensors.

Bic Fort

Administrative Assistant
117 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-1667
Email: b_fort@ncsu.edu

Bic was born in New York, NY and attended elementary and secondary schools in Winston-Salem, NC. He is a graduate of Reynolds Highs School in Winston-Salem and graduated from N.C. State University with a B.A. in Business Management. Subsequently, Bic also studied law at North Carolina Central University and Taft Law School. His duties include drafting reports, agreements and proposals, as well as daily interaction with SCO staff, the public, state and federal agencies, and media representatives. He is also responsible for all day to day business functions and activities relating to fiscal administration, personnel, purchasing, and assigned grants management, monitoring, and evaluation. Bic supports numerous business functions for SCO including preparation and monitoring of all budgets, fiscal notes, expenditures, invoices, contracts, and project management activities. Bic is knowledgeable of procedures for managing organized research and public service units.

Aaron Sims

Assistant State Climatologist / Environmental Meteorologist
140 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-513-2101
Email: aaron_sims@ncsu.edu

Originally from Raleigh, Aaron Sims received two associate degrees from Wake Tech in 1996. Aaron Sims joined the State Climate Office in 1998 as an undergraduate assistant. After completing a B.S. in Meteorology in 1999, he went on to graduate school and received his master's degree in 2001. Upon graduation, Aaron worked in the private sector for several years when he rejoined the SCO as an environmental meteorologist in November of 2004. Aaron's main roles at the climate office are the design, development, an implementation of the SCO's operational modeling systems. He is working with other staff members and students to continue to develop applications for agriculture and other weather-sensitive industries. He has also helped in the development of quality control procedures and model evaluation tools, and continuously aids our instrumentation meteorologist in ECONet site selection, installation, and maintenance. Aaron is also heavily involved in system administration for the SCO machines. In the future, Aaron wants to improve the SCO's operational modeling capabilities, and bring in new data streams, such as upper air and remote sensing data. Using these new data streams, Aaron plans to develop opportunities with other various agencies and institutions. He also hopes to explore new information techonologies as a way of distributing environmental data.

Mark Brooks

Climate Services Coordinator / Environmental Meteorologist
141 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-1446
Email: mark_brooks@ncsu.edu

Mark Brooks is from Albemarle, NC. In 2003, he earned a B.S. in Meteorology at NCSU, with a concentration in Marine Sciences. Mark began working for the SCO after graduation, when he developed a digitized database of environmental data called CRONOS. Mark's main roles at the climate office are to develop online products to visualize and disseminate environmental data, maintain the CRONOS database and associated web interfaces, and to collaborate with researchers and user-groups to create decision support tools for crop management. He also markets the SCO's abilities and mission to university faculty, researchers, or any other potential partners. Mark wants to continue focusing on the SCO's core mission of extension by developing innovative, multi-disciplinary applications that can benefit various NC communities. This includes agriculture and other industries where decision making is weather-sensitive. Mark is interested in developing methods to connect climate data with other available data of similar temporal and spatial resolution in order to see and understand the social and economic correlations to weather and climate. Mark is also interested in working with MEAS and the AMS student chapter to help students explore the science and technology of weather and climate outside of the classroom.

Ashley Frazier

Environmental Meteorologist
138 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-1440
Email: ashley_frazier@ncsu.edu

Ashley Frazier was born in Burlington, NC. In 2005, she received a B.S. in Meteorology at NCSU, with a minor in statistics. Ashley became an employee of the SCO after graduation, and was initially involved in creating statistical evaluation tools of the SCO's operational model. She has also researched climate change in NC for the Global Climate Change Commission. Currently, Ashley is involved in extending the CRONOS database to include data from various water sites in NC, and calculating percentiles for various parameters such as streamflow, groundwater, and precipitation. She also assists in data retrieval services, as well as various SCO programming needs. In the future, Ashley hopes to continue work with state agencies and institutions in developing science applications, and expand the SCO's outreach to NC communities.

Bryan Aldridge

Systems Developer and Administrator
136 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-513-0244
Email: bealdrid@ncsu.edu

Bryan Aldridge was born in Charlotte, NC and received a bachelor's degree in computer science at NCSU in May 2007. Bryan's current responsibilities at the climate office include investigating and evaluating performance of data storage techniques using Linux clusters. He is also responsible for other Linux Systems Administration tasks including the Linux Virtual Server and maintenance of ingest scripts.

Sean Heuser

Instrumentation Technician
112 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-0411
Email: spheuser@ncsu.edu

Sean Heuser was born in Raleigh, NC. In 2005, he received his B.S. in Atmospheric Science with a minor in Mathematics from UNC-Asheville. Projected to complete his masters in Atmospheric Science from NC State in spring of 2009, Sean currently helps install and maintain the NC ECONet stations spread throughout the state. He will also be helping with the implementation of quality assurance and quality control procedures for this data.

John McGuire

Environmental Meteorologist / Developer
132 Research III Building, Centennial Campus
Box 7236, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7236
Telephone: 919-515-0412
Email: jamcguir@ncsu.edu

John was born outside of Chicago and grew up outside of Raleigh. In May 2008, he graduated from NC State with a B.S. in Meteorology, and a minor in mathematics. He was hired full-time for development of meteorological web products for the State Climate Office, Southeast Regional Climate Center, and its users. John is also a part-time graduate student at NC State, pursuing his masters in Atmospheric Science. His graduate research focuses on the feasibility and construction of a high-resolution mesoscale reanalysis of North Carolina using the WRF-VAR model. John hopes to utilize both his work and research to create more interactive and dynamic meteorology products in the future. In the past, John has worked as an undergraduate researcher creating a sea surface climatology, evaluating the peanut disease advisory product with model forecast data, and performing an ASCII analysis on the intensity of coastal mid-latitude winter storms for the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Heather Dinon

Graduate Research Assistant / Environmental Meteorologist

Heather was born and raised near Boston, MA. In May 2008, she graduated from Plymouth State University with a B.S. in Meteorology and a minor in Technical Mathematics. Heather is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Atmospheric Sciences at NC State. Working mainly with Ryan Boyles and Gail Wilkerson (NCSU Crop Science), her project focuses on the relationships between climate variability and crop management. Decision support tools for NC are being adapted for AgroClimate, a website that integrates climate information with agricultural needs. In addition, Heather is modifying an estimation technique for solar radiation, developing an evapotranspiration climatology for NC, and exploring relationships between ENSO and crop yields of NC (peanuts, cotton, corn). This research will assist North Carolina farmers with preparation for an upcoming growing season.

Lara Pagano

Graduate Research Assistant / Environmental Meteorologist

Lara was born outside of New York City and grew up both on Long Island and in Charlotte, NC. After graduating from North Carolina State University in May 2008 with a B.S. in Meteorology, Lara is currently pursuing her masters in Atmospheric Science. Working both with Dr. Boyles and the National Weather Service, Lara will be focusing her efforts on improving fire weather dispersion forecasts for Forest Resources and the surrounding public.

Adrienne Wootten

Graduate Research Assistant / Environmental Meteorologist

Adrienne was born in Carmel, NY but grew up in Maryland. In May 2008, Adrienne graduated from NC State University with a bachelor's degree in Meteorology and a minor in Statistics. In the past, Adrienne has used data from the Great Plains to research the diurnal pattern of thunderstorm convection, and data from the United Arab Emirates to study sea breeze fronts in that region. She has also used ECONet data and data from NCDENR to study Meteorologically Adjusted Ozone Trends in a joint project between the SCO, NCDENR and NCSU Department of Statistics. Adrienne is currently evaluating the Multisensor Precipitation Estimate Data using several statistical analyses.

Monica Laureano

Environmental Meteorologist

Monica was born in Maryland but is now living in Apex, NC. Monica graduated from NC State with a degree in Meteorology and a minor in Environmental Science in May 2009, and will begin graduate school at Purdue University in the Fall. She is currently working on the statistical phase of evaluating the WRF modeling system with other undergraduate researchers. Evaluation will include a statistical analysis, analysis of real-world case studies and conducted research. These studies will focus on examining model strengths and deficiencies, and investigating model possible improvements and enhancements.

Kristen Gore

Environmental Meteorologist

Kristen was born and raised in Aiken, SC and graduated from NC State in May 2009 with bachelor's degrees in Statistics and Meteorology and a minor in Mathematics. In the past, Kristen has used SAS to compose a temporally synchronized database for the EPA that includes ambient ozone, meteorological, and land surface observations. She has also performed a meteorologically adjusted ozone trend analysis in a joint project between the SCO, NCDENR and NCSU Department of Statistics. Kristen is currently working on a web-based application to determine the probability of a killing frost for various locations across the state.

Corey Davis

Environmental Meteorologist

Corey graduated from NC State in May 2009 with a major in Meteorology and a minor in Journalism. Born in Kernersville and now living in Raleigh, Corey is a lifelong North Carolina resident who is familiar with the weather and climate of the Tarheel (and Wolfpack!) State. With the help of research from ECU's Center for Sustainable Tourism, he is creating a recreational climate page for the State Climate Office website, geared for use by the public. This page will calculate the favorable hours for various outdoor activities at different times of the year all across the state.

David Church

Environmental Meteorologist

David was born and raised in Virginia Beach, VA and received a bachelor's degree in Meteorology with a minor in Mathematics from NC State in May 2009. He is currently working to update the hurricane climatology for North Carolina as well as the corresponding "Hurricanes" section of the web page. Past projects include working with other undergraduates, as well as RENCI, and the NWS on developing the NC-FIRST program. The focus of this project was creating educational PowerPoint presentations for emergency managers to learn more about the weather threats faced by North Carolina.

Bradley McLamb

Undergraduate Assistant

Bradley is from Benson, NC. He is scheduled to graduate in December 2009 with a B.S. in Meteorology and Marine Science. Bradley is currently working on a North Carolina winter weather climatology project. His work will include redesigning the SCO's winter weather portion of their website, with the goal being to improve the educational value for the public. In addition, future goals include developing a database containing all winter weather advisories, watches, and warnings issued for each county in NC, and eventually other surrounding states as well. He also hopes to research the correlation between known climate patterns and winter weather in North Carolina.

Huck Suda

Undergraduate Assistant

Huck was born in Myrtle Beach, SC and has lived in Hawaii, Japan, South Carolina, and North Carolina over the years. He graduated from high school in 2006, and is currently pursuing an engineering degree at NC State. Huck's work at the climate office includes a script that will allow users to view rainfall erosivity data from CRONOS.

Heather Russett

Undergraduate Assistant

Heather was born in San Diego, California, but has spent most of her life in Lexington, North Carolina. She is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Meteorology with a minor in Mathematics from NCSU. She will be working with Monica Laureano to evaluate the performance of the WRF modeling system through statistical analysis, real-world case studies, and conducted research. These studies will focus on model analysis and evaluation, examining model strengths and deficiencies, and investigating model improvements and enhancements.

Elizabeth Wilson

Undergraduate Assistant

Elizabeth was born in Washington DC and raised most of her life in Morehead City, NC. She now resides in Raleigh and is a junior currently pursuing a degree in Meteorology with a minor in Environmental Science. She is working on compiling a database of winter weather in North Carolina to later analyze the impacts each event had on North Carolina counties.

Rebecca Cumbie

Undergraduate Assistant

Rebecca is from Newport, NC. She is currently a junior pursuing bachelor's degrees in Meteorology and Applied Mathematics from NC State. She is working to create a web-based Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) advisory and decision aid. This will enable NC tobacco growers assess area-specific exposure of their plantings to TSWV throughout the season, and help them determine the best time to apply treatments to their fields.

Dan McKemy

Undergraduate Assistant

Dan spent the first half of his childhood growing up in Tampa, FL and later moved to Hickory, NC. Dan is currently attending North Carolina State University and is finishing up his last year while pursuing a degree in Meteorology. Dan is currently working on putting together a climate education website for the Science House. The primary focus of this website will be targeting agricultural issues in the Southeastern US while providing easy to understand modules on climate and weather processes.

Megan Embrey

Undergraduate Assistant

Megan is originally from Jamestown, NY, but moved to North Carolina with her best friend in 2004. She received her associate's degree from Coastal Carolina Community College in May 2008 and is currently pursuing her bachelor's degree in Meteorology with a minor in Physics from NC State. Megan is currently working with other undergraduate researchers as well as staff in MEAS at NC State, the Science House and Crop Science in developing web-based climate education modules aimed at the Southeast US for agriculture and growers.

Amy Lee

Undergraduate Assistant

Amy was born and raised in Clayton, NC and plans to graduate from NCSU in December of 2009 with a bachelor's in Meteorology and a minor in Environmental Science. She is currently working with other undergraduates, MEAS staff and The Science House to write climate education modules for farmers and agricultural extension agents. These modules will hopefully be adapted for a wide range of audiences in the future.

Andrew McNamara

Undergraduate Assistant

Andrew was born in Burlington, NC where he lived until he moved to Raleigh to begin as a freshman at NC State in Environmental Science: Watershed Hydrology in 2004. He is now a senior pursuing a double major of Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Soil Science. Andrew is working on developing a graphical interface for a prediction model. It was developed by a graduate student in the department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering which can aid in management of reservoirs. Andrew is scheduled to graduate in December.