August 1998

Everybody needs a niche: How two SOARS protégés found theirs

Finding one's calling can be a matter of trial and error, the result of a systematic search, or a happy product of synchronicity. There's a little of each in the hunt that protégés undertake for research topics in the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program. (See the last issue of Staff Notes Monthly for an introduction to SOARS, now in its third summer at UCAR.)

Roger Pielke, Jr., and Naressa Cofield.

Before each summer's group of protégés arrives in Boulder, the project gives them a head start by making tentative matches with NCAR or UOP scientists in their general fields of interest. Some returning students pick up where they left off with a previous summer's science mentor. For new protégés, their first summer may be the first chance they've had to evaluate an assigned research project in the light of their own goals and interests. For Naressa Cofield, the initial choice of science mentor was a perfect fit. Another newcomer, Cherelle Blazer, undertook a search to find the right science mentor for herself.

Naressa leaped into the NCAR research setting after only two years of undergraduate work at Alabama A&M University. There, she's carrying two majors: chemistry and biology. That would seem to point her toward ACD, which is hosting several protégés this year. However, Naressa's biological specialty is ecotoxicology, the impacts of environmental change on life and society. So SOARS matched Naressa with Roger Pielke, Jr. (ESIG).

Roger was out of town the week Naressa arrived in Boulder, but in her introductory packet she found that Roger had a topic in mind for her: the relationship betwen floods and society. "My initial thought was, 'Floods? What am I going to do on floods?' I had no idea." By the time Roger returned, the topic had captured her interest--a good thing, since the protégés have only two months to mount an investigation and present their results at the SOARS Colloquium.

"Now I'm going back and doing another search for 1992-97 to get the five most current measurement techniques." With the computational help of Mary Downton, Naressa will assemble a unified data base for precipitation across various regions and types of measurement. The ultimate goal: "We're going to be looking at the correlation between trends in precipitation and trends in damaging floods."

Naressa's project has dovetailed nicely with her college coursework thus far, she says: "Everything I've learned at school has been useful. I'm getting the opportunity to put two years of coursework to practical application." Working with Roger, she adds, has been "a wonderful experience. He's a neat guy and his communication skills are excellent."

Cherelle and Naressa became fast friends when they arrived in Boulder, partly because both were initially assigned to work in ESIG. "But that project just didn't suit my background," says Cherelle, who graduates from Louisiana's Southern A&M University in December with a bachelor's degree in urban forestry science. "My community mentor [Beth Holland] mentioned that Steve [ATD] might need someone to work with him." However, she adds with a chuckle, "I found out that engineering wasn't my forte."

Then Cherelle's original ESIG mentor, John Magistro, suggested that she contact Alex Guenther in ACD. "I met with Alex and we hit it off immediately," says Cherelle.

Cherelle Blazer.

Growing her own grass samples, Cherelle is comparing old and new measurement techniques: traditional gas chromatography against a new continuous-measurement device designed by Eric Apel to detect formaldehyde and methyl bromine. Before the summer is out, she also hopes to use a new advanced gas chromatograph that works in conjunction with a sample preconcentrator being built by Dan Riemer.

Like the SOARS protégés themselves, the plants under Cherelle's watchful eye are developing on an accelerated schedule. She's simulating a growing season by putting plants under a heat lamp and increasing the daytime temperature every few days. The goal is to better understand the impact of heat flux on isoprene emissions.

Cherelle says her determination to find the right SOARS project has paid off. Upon arriving in ACD, "I hit the ground running. It's what I've been working on in school. I like to work with plants, and it's great to get the lab time in. As an undergrad, you don't have access to the kinds of instruments that I do here. I really love what I'm doing." •BH

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