Professor Sonia Lasher-Trapp
Purdue University Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Jen Bewley Ph.D. Candidate
I am a Pennsylvania native, growing up in West Grove, PA which is located in extreme southeastern PA not too far from Philly. I spent most of my childhood fascinated with science, especially Meteorology. After completing a book report about thunderstorms in fourth grade, I decided that I wanted to be a Meteorologist. I spent most of my free time reading books about weather and watching The Weather Channel. Once I graduated from high school in 2001, I made the long trip to Melbourne, FL where I started my college experience at Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech). At Florida Tech I worked on an undergraduate research project involving the evaluation of coastal Florida wind energy using tower data from the Kennedy Space Center, and I also had the opportunity to work on several different research projects involving the sea breeze. I graduated from Florida Tech in May 2005 with a BS in Meteorology.
I both joined the Cloud Microphysics Group and started my graduate education in August 2005. I am very excited to have the opportunity to work on my PhD here at Purdue because I will finally have the chance to research cumulus clouds (my favorite cloud type). My research involves utilizing both numerical modeling and observational analysis techniques to investigate the effects of entrainment and mixing on droplet populations in trade wind cumuli. The observational data used for this study were collected during the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field campaign, off the coast of Antigua during December 2004- January 2005. Once my graduate experience at Purdue is complete, I hope to get a job at NASA where I can either continue doing research or work on launch forecasts.
Outside of class I enjoy shopping, spending time at the beach (or pool), snorkeling, and taking pictures of clouds. I also love to travel, go to Meteorology conferences, and go to baseball games, preferably to watch the Phillies because I love the Phillie Phanatic!
