The Difficult Quest to Unravel the Secrets of the Tornado

Bill Gallus has always been obsessed with the weather. Raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a place known for its infamous floods, his fascination evolved from a weather diary as a first grader to researching severe storms as an Iowa State meteorology professor and storm chaser. Gallus was on the team that pioneered development of Iowa State's tornado simulator, the first of its kind to create a moving tornado large enough to simulate the effects of a twister on different types of structures. His research has been funded by NSF and NOAA and is paving the way for better understanding of tornado interactions with the ground, which can improve structural design and building safety. Gallus joined the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences in 1995 after completing a PhD at Colorado State University and a postdoctoral position at the National Center for Environmental Prediction. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean's Lecture Series.

This talk will be given in memory of Tim Samaras, an engineer, scientist, and storm chaser who collaborated over nine years with Iowa State. Tim was killed while deploying instruments in an Oklahoma tornado on May 31.