Louis John Wicker (born September 30, 1959) is an American atmospheric scientist with expertise in numerical analysis, numerical simulation, and

forecasts Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared with what actually happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual resu ...

of severe

convection Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoy ...

and

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

es. Doing

storm chasing Storm chasing is broadly defined as the deliberate pursuit of any severe weather phenomenon, regardless of motive, but most commonly for curiosity, adventure, scientific investigation, or for news or media coverage. A person who chases stor ...

field research, Wicker deployed the TOtable Tornado Observatory (TOTO) and was in leadership roles in the

VORTEX projects The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (or VORTEX) are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentat ...

. He is also known for pioneering work simulating convection at the

National Center for Supercomputing Applications The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) is a unit of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and provides high-performance computing resources to researchers in the United States. NCSA is currently led by Professor Bill ...

(NCSA) at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

(UIUC).Curriculum Vitae for Dr. Louis J. Wicker
/ref> Wicker earned a B.S. and M.S. in

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

(OU) in 1984 and 1986, respectively, with the masters thesis: ''A Simulation Study of a Data Assimilation Scheme Designed for VAS Temperature Soundings''. He was awarded a Ph.D. in

atmospheric sciences Atmospheric science is the study of the Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climatology is the study ...

from UIUC in 1990 with the doctoral dissertation: ''A Numerical Study of a Tornado-Scale Vortex in a Three-Dimensional Cloud Model''. From 1990-1992 he was a Visiting Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at UIUC and at NCSA. Wicker was a professor at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

(TAMU) from 1992-1999. In 1999 he joined the

National Severe Storms Laboratory The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather research laboratory under the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs). NSS ...

(NSSL) as a research meteorologist and is a Fellow of the

Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies The Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) is one of 16 NOAA Cooperative Institutes (CIs), hosted at the University of Oklahoma. Before Oct. 1, 2021, it was known as the Cooperative Institute for ...

(CIMMS). At NSSL/CIMMS, he is an affiliate associate professor in the School of Meteorology at OU. He was on the steering committee and was a principal investigator (PI) of

VORTEX2 The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (or VORTEX) are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentat ...

, the field phase of which occurred from 2009-2010.VORTEX2
/ref>

References

External links

NSSL staff page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wicker, Louis J. University of Oklahoma alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Texas A&M University faculty University of Oklahoma faculty American meteorologists Storm chasers 1959 births Living people