Spring 2020 graduate Giorgio Sarro (Atmospheric Sciences) was awarded the American Meteorological Society’s Father James B. Macelwane Annual Award in Meteorology. This award, one of the most prestigious student research accolades in the atmospheric sciences, recognizes the most outstanding original research paper by an undergraduate student.
Sarro’s research focused on tropical storms and hurricanes that usually form and strengthen in the tropics, but sometimes gain energy from atmospheric conditions while moving northward toward land. This “extratropical transition,” can create devastating storms, such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“It can cause more damage,” Sarro said, “because the storm becomes bigger, waves can build more and there can be more precipitation.”
Sarro, whose work was featured in the 2020 UWM Research magazine, worked with Clark Evans, associate professor of mathematical sciences and atmospheric science program chair. Sarro will be starting doctoral studies at the University of Chicago this fall.
