Renee McPherson

Associate Director, Oklahoma Climatological Survey

(405) 325-2541,

Education

  • Ph.D. Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 2003
  • M.S. Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 1991
  • B.S. Mathematics and Meteorology with Honors, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987

Grants & Awards

  • 2005 Special Award to the Oklahoma Mesonet for “serving Oklahoma and the meteorological community by providing high-quality data and information used to protect lives, reduce costs, facilitate cutting-edge research, and educate the next generation,” American Meteorological Society (AMS)
  • 2004 Douglas Lilly Award for Best Ph.D. Publication, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma
  • 2003 Summer Policy Colloquium of the American Meteorological Society in Washington, D.C.
  • 2001 Innovations in American Government Award, Winner, Harvard University, as part of the OK-First Project
  • 2001 Finalist, Stockholm Challenge Award for technology innovation, as part of the OK-First Project team
  • 2000 Special Award to OCS for its “actions during the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak,” AMS
  • 1998 Results-Based Staff Development for the Middle Grades Consumer’s Guide, National Staff Develop. Council
  • 1986 Phi Beta Kappa, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 1986 Phi Kappa Phi, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Publications

  • McPherson, R. A., 2006: A review of vegetation–atmosphere interactions and their influences on mesoscale phenomena. Prog. Phys. Geog., submitted.
  • McPherson, R. A., and Coauthors, 2006: Statewide monitoring of the mesoscale environment: A technical update on the Oklahoma Mesonet. J. Ocean. Atmos. Tech., accepted.
  • McPherson, R. A., & D. J. Stensrud, 2005: Influences of a winter wheat belt on the evolution of the boundary layer. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 2178–2199.
  • McPherson, R. A., D. J. Stensrud, and K. C. Crawford, 2004: The impact of Oklahoma’s winter wheat belt on the mesoscale environment. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 405-421.
  • McPherson, R. A., & K. Crawford, 1996: The EARTHSTORM Project: Encouraging the use of real-time data from the Oklahoma Mesonet in K-12 classrooms. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 749-761.
  • McPherson, R. A., 1992: Predictability experiments of a numerically modeled supercell storm. CAPS Scientific Report No. 92-001, 128 pp.
  • Crawford, K. C., R. A. McPherson, & R. L. Elliott, 2002: The Oklahoma Mesonet: Ten Years Later. Preprints, 19th Int’l Conf. on Interactive Info. Processing Systems (IIPS) for Meteor., Ocean., & Hydro., AMS.
  • Fiebrich, C. A., D. L. Grimsley, R. A. McPherson, K. A. Kesler, and G. R. Essenberg, 2006: The value of routine site visits in managing and maintaining quality data from the Oklahoma Mesonet. J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 23, 406–416.
  • Kloesel, K., K. Crawford, R. McPherson, D. Morris, R. Jesuroga, & C. Subramaniam. 2000: Applying environ-mental data to aid decision-making during hazardous weather events. 2nd Symp. on Environ. Appl., AMS.

Professional Development & Synergistic Activities

  • Steering Committee, Oklahoma Mesonet, Co-Chair
  • Fellow, Sasaki Institute Policy Program, University of Oklahoma
  • Fellow, Cooperative Institute of Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, University of Oklahoma
  • Clarus Initiative Coordinating Committee (ICC), Federal Highway Administration
  • Undergraduate Studies Committee, University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology
  • Diversity Council, NSF Engineering Research Center (Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere)
  • Content Review Panel for Earth Science Certification Examination, State of Oklahoma
  • American Meteorological Society (AMS)
  • Central Oklahoma Chapter of the AMS/National Weather Assoc. (Chapter President, ‘98-‘99)
  • Association for Women Geoscientists