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TTUHRT Director Dr. John Schroeder and scientists Dr. Ian Giammanco and Brian Hirth attended the 2nd American Association for Wind Engineering Workshop in Marco Island, Florida. Brian Hirth presented on his current doctoral research regarding the coastal transition zone observed during Hurricane Frances (2004) which employs a dual-Doppler wind field analysis using data collected by the SMART-Radars. His work is vital in evaluating how the wind field changes due to the change from an underlying ocean to land surface. Dr. Ian Giammanco presented a segment of his doctoral research work focusing on the use of WSR-88D radar data to derive vertical wind profiles of hurricanes at landfall.

. Tanya Brown inspects a StickNet probe following Tropical Storm Ida.
TTUHRT scientist and recent PhD graduate Dr. Tanya Brown has accepted a position as a research engineer at the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). IBHS is a corporate member of the Digital Hurricane Consortium. Dr. Brown will work at IBHS' new wind storm test facility in Chester County, South Carolina working to mitigate damage from natural hazards. Brown participated in TTUHRT deployments for Hurricanes Dolly, Gustav, and Ike as well as Tropical Storm Ida. She also handled media requests and maintained a deployment site database for TTUHRT. Dr. Brown was also a member of the TTU VORTEX 2 team in both 2009 and 2010. Her dissertation research focused on the use of remote sensing imagery to conduct damage surveys. She is an expert in wind damage and was a part of the first damage survey utilizing the new Enhanced Fujita tornado rating scale.
TTUHRT Director Dr. John Schroeder recently recieved a research grant from the Advanced Research Program through the State of Texas to implement real-time data communications on several StickNet probes. Implementation of the communications hardware as well as software updates will begin following the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Real-time data will likely be available beginning with the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season. StickNet probes will also be overhauled with new data acquisition enclosures and new instrument connectors to make the platform even more ruggedized.

. Visible satellite image of Hurricane Alex at 1745 UTC on June 30, 2010.
TTUHRT has begun preparation for the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season. 24 StickNet probes and TTUKA-1 and TTUKA-2 mobile Doppler radar systems will be available for deployment.
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