Research Interests

Education (back to top)

Honors, Awards and Activities (back to top)

Bill Carlson Scholarship for academic excellence in the field of Atmospheric Science; University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee 1987.

NASA New Investigator Award for outstanding research and education prospects in the area of convective initiation with an emphasis on aviation safety; UW/CIMSS 2002.

NASA Group Achievement Award, Earth Science Applications Team. In recognition of exceptional achievement in developing the highly successful air quality, aviation weather, and energy management applications for the earth science enterprise. September 21, 2006.

NASA Aviation Safety and Security Program for outstanding contributions to aviation weather safety research and development; September 21, 2006.

NASA Aviation Safety and Security Program for outstanding contributions to aviation weather safety research and development; University of Alabama in Huntsville – Institution Award. September 21, 2006.

NASA Group Achievement Award, Earth Science Applications Team. In recognition of exceptional achievement in developing the highly successful air quality, aviation weather, and energy management applications for the earth science enterprise. September 20, 2007.

Professional Experience (back to top)

1. Cumulus Momentum Transport, Convective Modeling and Convective Organization— Research and Applications using TRMM data. Funded project through NASA. [Principal Investigator April 2000–May 2003].
   
   
2. Developing the University of Wisconsin– Nonhydrostatic Modeling Systems (UW-NMS) model for implementation on a distributed memory, multiprocessor Linux PC cluster for GIFTS data processing and assimilation for numerical weather prediction. Working in collaboration with Dr. H.-L. Allen Huang (Associate Scientist, CIMSS) and Dr. Greg Tripoli (Professor, UW AOS). [April 2000–December 2001]
   
   
3. Studying Convection Initiation through the analysis of GOES and MODIS imagery. Working in collaboration with Rita Robert, Cathy Kessinger and Cindy Mueller (Re­search Scientists, NCAR). Newly funded through NASA New Investigator Program July 2002. [Since March 2001; Principal Investigator as of July 2002]
   
   
4. Developing Methods and Computational Processing for GIFTS within the Office of Naval Research UW and University of Hawaii (UH) MURI. Working in collaboration with Dr. H.-L. Allen Huang (Associate Scientist, CIMSS), Dr. Paul Lucey of UH, Dr. Ping Yang (Texas A & M University), Dr. Irina Sokolik (University of Colorado Boulder), and Dr. Gary Jedlovik (University of Alabama–Huntsville). [Program Manager June 2001–December 2003]
   
   
5. Studying ABL Turbulence and CI through the analysis of AERI, Raman lidar and GOES imagery. Working in collaboration with Dr. Tammy Weckwerth (Research Scientist, NCAR), and Wayne Feltz (Researcher, CIMSS). [August 2001–December 2003]
   
   
6. Developing improved methods for evaluating Forecast Sensitivities and optimal Satellite Data Assimilation Methods. Working in collaboration with Dr. Michael Morgan (Pro­fessor, UW AOS) and other UW AOS Graduate students. [December 2000–March 2001]
   
   
7. Surface Energy Flux Estimation using an Atmospheric-Land Exchange Model, and Validation with Oklahoma Mesonet Observations. Working in collaboration with Dr. Scott Richardson (Department of Meteorology, Penn State), Dr. George Diak (Se­nior Scientist, CIMSS), and Dr. Robert Rabin (Research Scientist, OU/NSSL). More recently, processing of LandSat-ETM+ data for flux disaggregation with NCAR collab­oration (Dr. Peggy LeMone, NCAR) [Co-Investigator since June 1997; Program Manager since September 2001]
   
   
8. Surface Energy Flux Climatology development using an Atmospheric-Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) model. Working in collaboration with Dr. George Diak (Senior Scientist, CIMSS), Dr. John Norman (Professor, UW Department of Soil Sciences, and Dr. Martha Anderson (Research Scientist, UW Department of Soil Sciences). [Co-Investigator since May 2000; Program Manager since September 2001]
   
   
9. Surface Energy Applications for Convective Initiation Studies and Numerical Modeling. Working in collaboration with Dr. Ken Davis (Assistant Professor, Penn State Univ.) and Dr. Dave Stauffer Professor, Penn State Univ.). [CIMSS Principal Investigator since January 2002]
   
   
10. Advanced Satellite Aviation Products (ASAP) Report Study Development for the Processing of satellite data for Aviation-related Products. Working in collaboration with NASA, NOAA and several CIMSS scientists. Coordinated by John Murray (NASA Langley Research Center). Project initiation date: October 2002. [Since July 2001; Principal Investigator since May 2003]
    
    
11. Implications of Field-scale Heterogeneity in Surface Moisture and Vegetation cover from Land-Atmosphere Modeling and Remote Sensing Perspectives. Work in support of the Soil Moisture Field Experiment (SMEX02) for NASA’s Land Surface Hydrology Pro­gram Soil Moisture Mission (EX-4a) and the Global Water and Energy Cycle (GWEC) Research Program. In collaboration with the USDA, UW Soil Sciences, Utah State Univ., Texas A & M, and the Univ. of Virginia. [Co-Investigator since November 2001]
    
    
12. Precision Agricultural Applications and Meteorological Support for the NASA-funding Regional Earth Science Applications Centers (RESAC) at UW, the University of Min­nesota and Michigan State University. Working in collaboration with Dr. George Diak (Senior Scientist, CIMSS), Dr. John Norman (Professor, UW Department of Soil Sciences), Dr. John Foley (Professor, UW Department of Climate, People and the Environment), and Dr. S. Thomas Gower (Professor, UW Department of Forestry). [October 1998–September 2001]
    
    
13. Developing improved Tropical Storm Genesis indicators based on satellite-derived fields and basic research. Working in collaboration with Dr. Chris Velden (Scientist, UW­CIMSS). [Since January 2003; enhanced in 2010.]
    
    
14. Short-term Prediction, Nowcasting and Data Assimilation studies. Working in collab­oration with Dr. William Lapenta (NASA MSFC), Gary Jedlovec (NASA MSFC) and the NWS WFO Huntsville Science Operations Officer (Tom Bradshaw, Chris Darden) on ways to integrate satellite assimilation and nowcasting research to meet NWS needs. Involves Graduate students within UAH. [January 2004–Present]
    
    
15. National Weather Service Southern Region on efforts to transition of research products in short-term prediction to the local Huntsville WFO, as well as to other offices. Work with Morristown WFO to transition products into the AvnFPS for aviation safety forecasting. Involves Graduate students within UAH. [January 2004–2008]
    
    
16. WAAY-TV Channel 31 Huntsville. Development and transition of research products in short-term prediction to this local television station. Work with Brad Huffines (WAAY) to develop weather-related stories that may be presented on Channel 31 and/or CNN News. Involves Graduate students within UAH. [January 2004–January 2008]
    
    
17. The SIAM-SERVIR and CATHALAC. City of Knowledge, Panama. Work toward to transition of short-term prediction research to Mesoamerica. Collaborate with Drs. Dan Irwin and Tom Sever (NASA MSFC) [December 2005–Present]
    
    
18. NASA ROSES Convective Induced Turbulence. Development of new research towards enhancing the ability to detect convectively-induced turbulence (CIT), using satellite assets for detection. Development of ”interest fields” for CIT. Collaborations with the NCAR and the Univ. Wisconsin–CIMSS, specifically Robert Sharman, John WIlliams, and Wayne Feltz. [January 2006–August 2009]
    
    
19. Enhanced ALEXI Development and Research. Perform new research related to the use of the ALEXI model in soil moisture data assimilation, soil moisture monitoring, for drought/plant stress monitoring, and for water management. Also involves research to develop the ALEXI model for use over Europe, and to help assess stream and river flows via drought monitoring. In collaboration with the USDA (Drs. Martha Anderson and Wade Crow), and others in the European research community. [January 2006– Present]
    
    
20. NASA ROSES Aviation Safety Research. Development of new research towards maxi­mizing the use of satellite towards nowcasting convection, rainfall and lightning on the 1-4 km scale. Collaborations with the MIT-Lincoln Labs, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. [2006–Present]
    
    
21. Advanced Satellite Aviation Products (ASAP) Development and Transition. A sub­component of ASAP to transition the SATCAST convective initiation algorithm into the Corridor Integrated Weather System, the 0-2 hr nowcasting component of the Consolidated Storm Prediction Algorithm (CoSPA). Involves collaboration with sev­eral members of the Convective Weather Product Development Team at MIT-Lincoln Laboratory, including Marilyn Wolfson. [June 2007–Present]
    
    
22. The EUMETSAT–Darmstadt, Germany. Transition activities towards the develop­ment and improvement of a convective initiation algorithm for the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite. Also, proceeding on new development efforts for using data from the Meteorsat Third Generation (MTG) imager and hyperspectral sounder. Involves staff at EUMETSAT, and at the Institute for Meteorology and Water Man­agement (IMWM) in Krawkow, Poland. [June 2007–December 2008]
    
    
23. The EUMETSAT–Darmstadt, Germany. Member of the EUMETSAT Convective Working Group. Involves ongoing collaboration with EUMETSAT staff members Mar­ianne Koenig and Volker Gaertner to enhance the use of SEVIRI data in the SATCAST algorithm for 0-1 hr convective initiation nowcasting. Collaborations occur with many in the European convective weather forecasting and nowcasting communities. [Jan­uary 2008–Present]
    
    
24. The Nooly Project–Jerusalem, Israel. Private sector venture towards the incorporation of the convective and lightning initiation algorithm within a cell-phone based alert ser­vice. Currently in development and discussion, at UAH and with Nooly. [December 2007–Present]
    
    
25. NASA Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Research. Basic research to assess the impact of changing land-use on nearby highly biologically diverse areas in Central American. Use a variety of remote-sensing datasets to perform analysis to detect trends caused by human activities. In collaboration with the UAHuntsville Department of Biology. [December 2008–Present]
    
    
26. NOAA Algorithm Working Group (AWG). Perform transition activities of SATCAST convective initiation nowcasting algorithm into the NOAA Algorithm Set in support of the forthcoming GOES-R satellite. Involves collaboration with many NOAA AWG personnel. [March 2008–Present]
    
    
27. National Science Foundation. Basic research to study relationships between dual­polarimetric radar, geostationary satellite, and lightning mapping array data. [August 2008–Present]
    
    
28. NOAA GOES-R Risk Reduction. Basic research to develop new algorithms to diagnose the intensity of ongoing convective storms, using proxy Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) data. Proxy datasets include lightning mapping array data. [August 2008–Present]

Interests & Volunteer Activities(back to top)

Dr. John R. Mecikalski has been actively involved in the American Meteorological So­ciety (AMS) since joining in 1983. In addition to submitting papers to AMS, Royal Me­teorological Society and American Geophysical Union (AGU) journals (see above), he has been called to review papers for the AMS journals Journal of Applied Meteorology, Monthly Weather Review, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Weather and Forecasting, Water Resources Research, Int. J. Climatology, Remote. Sens. Environ., J. Geophys. Res., and the International J. of Climatology. John has also been an active member of the AGU since 1994, and the Royal Meteorological Society since 2002.

Dr. Mecikalski has been asked to serve as a proposal reviewer for several NASA and NSF funding opportunities since 1999.

Dr. Mecikalski is serving on the program committee of the Atmospheric and Environmen­tal Remote Sensing Data Processing and Utilization component of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), from 2004 to 2006. In 2007, John was nominated to the Tech­nical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and in January 2008 to the American Meteorological Society’s Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology (ARAM) component.

Personal Data(back to top)