Emily Lenhardt
I’m currently a first year PhD student at the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology. I received my B.S. in Meteorology and B.A. in Mathematics here in 2019, defended my M.S. thesis in 2021, and haven’t left yet! I currently work in the (CL)2EAR group studying remote sensing of CCN and aerosol-cloud interactions.
Quick links
Located in Norman, Oklahoma, the School of Meteorology is housed in the National Weather Center
Read about current research updates here!
about
How did I get here? Great question.
Unlike a lot of meteorologists in Oklahoma, I don’t have a tornado-sighting origin story. I grew up loving science, math, and drawing the weekly forecast on my dry erase board / family newspaper.
I have undergraduate research experience ranging from winter weather to social science applications, and now my focus is on remote sensing of CCN and aerosol-cloud interactions. There are a lot of incredible people who’ve given me these opportunities – I’m really appreciative of the whole story of how I’ve gotten here.
In my spare time I like to run, paint, take walks, take pictures of the sunset, help with the kids at church, and rack up a concerning amount of yearly minutes spent listening to Spotify.
Undergraduate research assistant: 2017-2019
Analyzed vertical profiles of temperature leading up to, during, and after winter weather events in Oklahoma
NOAA Hollings intern: 2018
Created science, safety, and educational content to reach the public and work towards the goal of a Weather-Ready Nation
Center for risk and crisis management: 2019
Coded National Weather Service Twitter messages in order to study the ways by which forecast probability and uncertainty are communicated; Analyzed survey data to understand public interpretation of forecast probability and uncertainty
M.S. Meteorology: 2019-2021
Thesis title: Relationships Between Lidar Aerosol Extinction and Backscatter Coefficients and Cloud Condensation Nuclei Number Concentrations During the NASA ORACLES Campaign
