Reno, Nev. -- A North Carolina State University graduate student, Heather Reeves, has won the Desert Research Institute's Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences for her study of how a layer of stable air—an inversion—in the Po Valley, Italy affected where and how convection and precipitation occurred in the valley and surrounding areas.  Reeves received the Wagner Award's $1,250 prize at DRI in Reno today, following a presentation of her winning paper, entitled "Effect of stable layer formation over the Po Valley on the development of convection during MAP IOP-8." 

The Peter B. Wagner Award, given annually, was established in 1998 by Nevada Gaming Commission member and former Nevada Lt. Gov. Sue Wagner in memory of her late husband, Peter, a DRI scientist who died in the 1980 crash of a DRI research aircraft.  This national award is intended to encourage women graduate students in the atmospheric sciences.

Reeves' winning paper, co-authored with her advisor, Yuh-Lang Lin, uses data from the Po Valley, Italy when many weather observations were being taken for a field study (MAP IOP-8) in 1999.  Reeves developed three models to explore why weather and precipitation predictions were not accurate when a stable layer of cold air, or an inversion, was present in the valley.  Reeves' findings show that the stronger and cooler the inversion, the more convection developed to the south of the Po Valley, rather than where it was predicted to occur—over the valley and on the slopes of the Alps.  She also showed that the complex interactions of air moving over the inversion layer differ from air moving over a mountain.  This work has implications for weather forecasts because if stable-layer strength is not predicted accurately, convection and precipitation may be mis-forecast, with areas of heavy rain being predicted in the wrong places. 

Reeves is a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University who plans on graduating in May 2007.  Reeves has several notable professional accomplishments—among them, she won the American Meteorological Society's Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award in 2004 at the 11^th Conference on Mountain Meteorology, and was a Fellow in the Summer School in Mountain Meteorology held at the University of Trento, Italy in that same year.

"As an undergraduate, I found I really enjoyed the theoretical side of meteorology," Reeves said, which is what led her to pursue a Ph.D. in the subject. 

Reeves wants to continue her academic research in developing theoretical models for mesoscale meteorology, and says, "My professional goal is to be a professor."  Among her many other accomplishments, Reeves was named the Teaching Assistant of the Year in 2001 at North Carolina State University.  Therefore, it is not surprising that Reeves enjoys the teaching aspect of academia.  She says that one of the reasons she is pursuing an advanced degree is, "I also discovered I really want to teach." 

Reeves' research paper on the effects of stable layer formation in the Po Valley has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, and she has many co-authored publications in conference proceedings.  Reeves also has been invited as a speaker for several lectures, and serves as a departmental ambassador.  It is clear her work already has and will continue to have an impact on the field of meteorology, and that she is excited to build on these studies in the future.  Applicants for the Wagner Award must be pursuing an advanced degree in a program of atmospheric sciences or a related field, and must submit a paper based on original research directly related to the identification, clarification, and/or resolution of an atmospheric or climatic problem.

ABOUT DRI: A nonprofit, statewide division of the Nevada System of Higher Education, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale.  More than 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct more than 300 research projects at DRI annually.  DRI generates $45 million in total revenue consisting predominately of competitively won research contracts and grants. The State of Nevada provides critical funding in support of DRI's administration, operations, and maintenance through the Nevada System of Higher education budget.  While DRI’s portion of the NSHE budget is less than 1 percent, the institute leverages these funds to enhance its competitiveness.