William Beasley

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Prof. Beasley received his B.A. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in 1967 and 1969. After working in the aerospace electronics industry for 2 years, he returned to graduate school and earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1974. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in physical meteorology and atmospheric physics, including Atmospheric Electrodynamics and Cloud and Precipitation Physics. His principal research interests are in the physics of lightning. His publications include articles on the electromagnetic fields and optical emissions of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes and other electromagnetic phenomena in storms such as X-ray emissions, and 'green thunderstorms.' Recently he has been involved in investigations relevant to the question of how lightning is initiated. Currently he is Principal Investigator on research funded by the DoD Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency investigating the question of how lightning is initiated, including the question of whether cosmic rays initiate lightning. The research includes observations with high speed digital cameras, microwave and broadband electric-field change instrumentation, electric-field meters, and the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array. Previously has been Principal Investigator for the NASA EPSCoR funded Center for Lightning Advanced Studies and Safety and on an NSF funded research grant to investigate lightning by means of high speed imaging and electromagnetic fields. Currently he is also conducting research on use of contours of surface electric field for lightning hazard warning decision support. He is a co-inventor on three patents on electric-field meter technology. Before coming to OU, Prof. Beasley served as Associate Program Director for Meteorology and Program Manager for NCAR, in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences of the National Science Foundation, and served briefly as a Senior Staff Officer for the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council. He came to OU in 1989 to be Deputy Director for Operations of the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS). He was Director of the School of Meteorology from 1991 to 1996. As Director he initiated an external advisory board for the SoM. He has served on several national committees of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and numerous review panels for the NSF. His avocational interests include music, photography, and gardening. In 2006 he organized the National Weather Center Brass Choir.