Monesa Watts

While an undergraduate student at JSU my research included such topics as Minority Women in Science, convective initiation, and Heat Sums (original work with Brian Potter). During the summer internships included Howard University through the CSTEA (CHARC) program and the Alabama A & M University Global Hydrology Soil Climatology and Remote Sensing.

My research at Howard was on ozone transport while that at Alabama A & M was on the characterization of rainfall for a forty year period in Early County, Georgia. Following graduation I attended graduate school at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

I returned to JSU in January 2001 to work under a NOAA grant as a Meteorological Lab/Office Research Assistant with Dr Croft. I 'm currently under a NOAA/NESDIS grant as a Meteorological Technician and currently serve as the corresponding secretary for the local AMS/NWA chapter. I also helped extensively the preparation and coordination of the 3rd NOAA Diversity Conference hosted by Jackson State University in April of this year. I also participated in a NOAA grants workshop in Washington, DC last March.

My current research "Creating a Haines Index (HI) Climatology for the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico" is for the USDA Forest Service. I attended a workshop of Fire Weather Meteorology in Minneapolis/St Paul and gave oral presentations regarding my research at the National Weather Association annual meeting in Spokane, WA, at the American Meteorological Society's 4th Symposium on Fire Weather in Reno, NV and at the 25th Annual Agriculture and Forest Meteorological Conference in Norfolk, VA. I oversee the JSU Weather Lab and assist in mentoring of meteorology majors.

I will also be expanding efforts for the recruitment of perspective meteorology students, and upgrading materials. I hope to enhance my knowledge in the field of meteorology here at JSU. The JSU Meteorology Program is definitely moving forward and I am proud to be a part of its growth.

I am a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society and Sigma Pi Sigma National Physics Honor Society. I will be joining the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.