NORMAN, Okla. – Lewiston High School graduate Corey Potvin, a senior meteorology and mathematics major at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt., was one of 10 students selected to participate in a summer research program at the Oklahoma Weather Center.

The program pairs undergraduate students with government and university weather researchers for 10 weeks to conduct research on a variety of topics, including severe weather, tornadoes, numerical weather prediction models and climatology.

Students present papers reporting the results of their research. Their experience is supplemented by tours, field trips and lectures, all designed to provide students the opportunity to judge whether or not they want to pursue a future career in research.

The students’ mentors, who are leading scientists in the field of meteorology, are from five of the organizations that make up the Oklahoma Weather Center, including NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, Storm Prediction Center, as well as OU’s Oklahoma Climatalogical Survey, School of Meteorology and Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies.

Potvin, son of Gisele Potvin and the late Keith Williams of Lewiston, worked with meso assistant forecaster Sarah Taylor and science and operations officer Steve Weiss from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center on a project examining the United States severe weather climatology. The project involves analyzing severe weather conditions for various seasons and regions of the country.

“This experience has given me the opportunity to observe the severe weather forecasting process and to make my own contribution to its improvement,” said Potvin.

Students apply for participation in the Research Experiences for Undergraduate program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms. The 10 participants were chosen from almost 100 applicants in the fields of meteorology, atmospheric science, physics, engineering, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, physical geography and other disciplines.