David Bodine

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Student Spotlight

Featured: 3/2012

David is a Ph.D. student in the School of Meteorology and Atmospheric Radar Research Center, and is also finishing a second M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) East Asia Summer Pacific Institute Fellowship to conduct tornado modeling research at Kyoto University in Japan. This NSF Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for graduate students to learn how research is conducted in an international setting, and forge strong, long-lasting international collaborations. For his research project, he will spend six months using a numerical model to study how the distribution of debris and precipitation varies in tornadoes. This study will help improve our understanding of dual-polarimetric radar signatures of debris and precipitation, and illuminate how these signatures are related to tornado dynamics. David also looks forward to the opportunity to learn Japanese, try different types of Sushi, and the opportunity to meet renowned Japanese scientists and other Japanese students.

David is currently researching dual-polarimetric signatures of tornadoes and their potential for assessing near real-time tornado damage severity. In the spring, David will be leading field experiments with a new mobile radar called the Atmospheric Imaging Radar (AIR), which will obtain volumes of radar data in only 5 – 10 seconds. Last summer, David operated the Rapid XPol (RaXpol) mobile radar in a deployment in Hurricane Irene and led a field experiment with the RaXpol to collect tornadic supercell data for his REU student.

In David’s spare time, he enjoys traveling around the world. Recently, he has recently visited China and Japan, and has traveled to 15 countries in Europe and Asia. David has also played the piano since he was 5, and enjoys playing Rachmaninoff, Gershwin and Beethoven. After graduating, David would like to become a professor and continue doing weather radar, severe storm, and boundary layer research.