Undergraduate Research Institute Discovery Project Highlights The Undergraduate Research Institute (URI) promotes research, scholarly and creative activities at the undergraduate level. By enhancing critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills, URI helps to prepare Embry-Riddle students to contribute as productive individuals, employees and citizens. We facilitate interactions with industry and community partners as students build their professional network. URI is university-wide and invites students and faculty from all disciplines to participate and present their research. Undergraduate research plays a large role in the academic and student life of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Every year, the Prescott campus is vibrant with a variety of incredible developments in the realms of aviation, engineering, security and intelligence and arts and sciences. URI Funding URI provides more than $100,000 annually in funding for student research and development, scholarly and creative and competition-based grants. Our E-Prize Grants fund teams of students to develop material and attend regional, national or international competitions and initiatives for new competitions. Our Ignite Grants fund individual or student teams to conduct research, scholarly or creative projects with a focus on presenting their work at professional conferences and publishing in scholarly and industry journals. We also provide small Travel Grants for students to present their work at conferences. We have both academic term and summer term funding cycles. We have a team of dedicated faculty and staff mentors committed to assisting students with their projects. Discovery Day is our celebration of undergraduate research and scholarship. From aviation to engineering, security and intelligence to physics and astronomy, our Discovery Day poster session is a wealth of knowledge and discovery for everyone. URI facilitates interactions with industry and community partners as students build their professional network.
A Climatology of Convective Cells in the Southwest STUDENTS Jay Park, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Greta Graeler, Applied Meteorology
MENTOR Professor Curtis James, Applied Aviation Sciences CO-AUTHORS Carter Humphreys, Flagstaff National Weather Service Forecast Office Ronny Schroeder, Applied Aviation Sciences Mark Sinclair, Applied Aviation Sciences Michael Kaplan, Applied Aviation Sciences Andrew Taylor, Central Illinois National Weather Service Forecast Office Convection in mountainous climates is often responsible for severe and critical fire weather and flash flooding. This study investigates the initiation and propagation of convective cells in the southwestern United States. To identify convective cell tracks, we apply an automatic detection and tracking algorithm to Multi-Radar, Multi- Sensor (MRMS) precipitation data. Any convective cells exceeding minimum reflectivity and area thresholds during seven years (2015-2021) are tracked. Centroid location, area and intensity of the cell are recorded in time and space. These cell tracks enable the creation of a climatology of convection using statistical clustering. The study also uses reanalysis data to reveal which atmospheric variables influence convective cell initiation and propagation as a guide to National Weather Service forecasters. So far, the results are consistent with terrain influences.
14 | College of Aviation
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