Personnel
John Schroeder, PhD - Principal Investigator
Dr. Schroeder is the principal investigator for the Texas Tech Hurricanes at Landfall (TTUHAL) Project as well as the founder of the TTUHRT program. Dr. Schroeder is also the Director of the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla, a MS in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech, and a PhD in Wind Engineering from TTU. Dr. Schroeder was the designer of the original WEMITE #1 ruggedized instrument tower. His primary research interests include boundary layer flows in a variety of conditions. Dr. Schroeder is one of the most well regarded experts on hurricane winds at landfall. His work has been published in numerous peer reviewed scientific journals.
Email: John.Schroeder@ttu.edu Phone: 806.742.2813
Jerry Guynes, P.E. - Radar Engineer
Jerry Guynes came to Texas Tech in 2006 to design and build Texas Tech's new Ka Band pulse compression radar systems. Guynes is an alumni of Texas A&M with a background in electrical engineering. He is one of the world's top weather radar engineers. He has also designed and built the SMART-Radars which Texas Tech has been a partner in as well as contributed to the design of the new NOAA Mobile Dual-Polarization X-Band system.
Email: jerry.guynes@ttu.edu
Rich Krupar - Field Coordinator
Rich Krupar is another new addition to TTUHRT. Rich is a PhD student in Wind Science and Engineering and holds a BS in Atmospheric Science from Valparaiso University. He is a native of Elyria, Ohio. Krupar was a member of the 2010 TTU VORTEX 2 team where he was responsible for StickNet deployments and also drove TTUKA-2. Krupar's research interests lie in the use of StickNet and WSR-88D data to develop surface adjustment techniques for Doppler velocity data from land falling tropical cyclones.
Email: rich.krupar@ttu.edu Phone: 806.885.4644
Ian Giammanco, PhD - Research Associate
Ian Giammanco is the webmaster for the TTUHAL project and served as field coordinator from 2005-2010. He is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and holds a BS in Atmospheric Science from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and a MS in Atmospheric Science and PhD in Wind Science and Engineering from Texas Tech. He became involved in the TTUHAL project in 2003 and has not missed a deployment since. His doctoral research focused on characterizing low-level wind maxima in the hurricane boundary layer and their impact at landfall. His research interest encompass hurricane boundary layer characteristics and hurricane vertical wind profiles. He has also interned at NOAA Hurricane Research Division, working with the H*Wind suface wind field analysis system and GPS dropwindsonde data under the direction of Dr. Mark Powell. Ian is a technician licensed Ham radio operator (W5WWX).
Email: ian.giammanco@ttu.edu Phone: 806.885.4644 ext. 236
Brian Hirth, PhD - Research Associate
Brian Hirth became involved in the TTUHAL project during the 2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season as a member of the SMART-Radar deployment team. Hirth is a native of Columbia Station, Ohio. Brian holds a BS in Meteorology from Valparaiso University and a MS and PhD in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech. Brian was a principal investigator and the field coordinator for Projects WIRL 2004 and 2005, which examined the thermodynamic and kinematic structure of Rear Flank Downdrafts in tornadic and non-tornadic supercell thunderstorms. His doctoral research involved the use SMART-Radar data to study the coastal transition zone in the hurricane boundary layer at landfall. He also developed the data acquisition scripts used on the Stick-Net platforms. Brian is also a research associate and the webmaster for the West Texas Mesonet.
Email: brian.hirth@ttu.edu Phone: 806.885.4644
Tanya Brown, PhD - Research Associate
Dr. Tanya Brown has been a part of TTUHRT since 2008. She is currently a faculty associate in the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center and a full-time research engineer for the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety . She is an expert in wind damage and has participated in numerous post-event damage surveys. Her primary research work at TTU focused on using remote sensing techniques to determine damage states.
Email: tanya.brown@ttu.edu Phone: 806.885.4644
Pat Skinner, MS- Research Associate
Pat Skinner joined TTUHRT in 2010. Pat holds a BS in meteorology from the University of Northern Colorado and a MS in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech University. He is currently a PhD student in Wind Science and Engineering. Pat's responsibilities include navigating and operating TTUKA radar systems as well as processing data from the radar platforms. His research interests include fine-scale measurements of thunderstorm boundaries.
Email: patrick.skinner@ttu.edu Phone: 806.885.4644
Scott Gunter - Research Associate
Scott Gunter joined TUHRT in 2010. Scott holds a BS in Meteorology from Mississippi State University and a MS in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech. His Master's research focused on a dual-Doppler analysis of hurricane rainbands during the landfall of Hurricane France (2004) using SMART-Radar data. Scott is a primary radar operator for TTUKA radars. He is currently a PhD student in Atmospheric Sciences and his research focuses on dual-Doppler analyses of thunderstorm outflow events using the TTUKA radars.
Email: scott.gunter@ttu.edu Phone: 806.885.4644
Listed are the primary personnel currently involved in the day to day operation and management of the Texas Tech Hurricanes at Landfall Project. There have been numerous people since the project began which have contributed to TTUHRT and the Hurricanes at Landfall Project. Thanks to all who have made all instrument deployments safe and scientifically rewarding while contributing to our understanding of hurricane winds at landfall.
