Oak Ridge National Laboratory:

Emergency Management Meteorology

(June 2025 - December 2025)

Collecting Meteorological Data

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has four weather towers and three wind cubes. These instruments continuously collect data for researchers at the lab to utilize. Throughout the course of my internship, I learned how to calibrate these instruments, collect information from them, and quality check the data they are producing.

Daily Forecasts

At the beginning of every work day, I would work with emergency management meteorologists Katie Ertell and Brandon Bonds to write a two-day forecast for the Oak Ridge Reservation. On an as-needed basis, we would also give severe weather safety briefings to laboratory leadership.

Emergency Response Exercises

Throughout the course of my internship, I had the opportunity to participate in multiple full-scale response exercises. These exercises gave me a behind-the-scenes look at an activated Emergency Operations Center as well as a better understanding of the jobs of paramedics, hazmat crews, and fire fighters.

Dispersion Modeling

Oak Ridge National Laboratory houses hundreds of different chemical and radiological materials. Whenever a researcher wants to bring in a new material, we use dispersion modeling softwares (NARAC, HotSpot, EPICode) to model the release of these materials under a variety of weather conditions. These outputs are then used to create Emergency Planning Hazards Assessments (EPHAs) for buildings. Throughout my internship, I used these results to update casebooks and revise emergency checklists.

I am so excited to be returning to this role in May 2026!