Dr. Josh Eachus is the chief meteorologist at WBRZ News 2 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He broadcasts weekday mornings from 5-9am and 12-1pm. Josh received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in December 2017. Josh’s research and expertise are in effective communication of weather, especially during high impact events such as hurricanes, floods and tornadoes. Josh has been chosen to recommend best practices to field leaders at meteorological conferences around the United States, including the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. In 2014, Josh facilitated the Gulf Coast’s first Integrated Warning Team—an effort focused on improving forecast clarity that joins Emergency Managers, Media and the National Weather Service. Josh holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and a master’s degree in sports management from California University of Pennsylvania. Applying diverse educational experiences, Josh enjoys the challenge of analyzing weather messages from multiple user viewpoints. Recognizing the ongoing effort to improve weather communication, Josh is the creator and manager of thewxsocial.com. Contact him via Twitter or at jeachus@wbrz.com!
Gary Szatkowski graduated from St. Louis University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology. Gary has worked for the National Weather Service since 1980, serving at prior duty stations in San Juan, PR, Oklahoma City, OK, and Washington, DC. Since 1997, Gary has been the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service Office in Mt. Holly, NJ. He is a member of the American Meteorological Society & the National Weather Association. Gary has been recognized as a ‘Hurricane Sandy Hero’ by the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper and received the Weather Hero Award for 2012 from the Weather Research Center for his work during Hurricane Sandy.
Jonathan Jennings is the Project Meteorologist for the West Texas Weather Modification Association. He is in charge of weather modification/rain enhancement operations across a 10-million-acre area of West Central Texas and Far West Texas. During his time in San Angelo, TX, Jonathan has been featured in Scientific American as well on National Geographic and the British Broadcasting Company. Jonathan has also been put in charge of Government Relations where he works closely with local and state officials. During his young career, Jonathan has also been active in research and development. He published a paper in collaboration with the Southwest Research Institute and also has helped develop and test flares used in weather modification operations. Although not directly involved in the social science/communication of meteorology, Jonathan has a unique position as an outsider watching how the media and government agencies communicate with the public in both severe and non-severe weather events.
Mark Fox earned his meteorology degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1989, after growing up fascinated by the weather in north central Oklahoma. Mark has experience across the entire integrated warning team, starting his career working for a private meteorology company in college. He then worked for ten years as a broadcast meteorologist, mostly a KFDX-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas before moving to the National Weather Service in 1999. Since moving to the NWS, he has worked in the Fort Worth, Amarillo, and Lubbock offices, and served four years at Southern Region Headquarters as the Regional Training Officer. In 2009, he became the Warning & Coordination Meteorologist at WFO Dallas/Fort Worth.
Dr. Susan Jasko currently serves as a member of the AMS executive committee and as a councilor. She also serves as a member of the AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange advisory board. Her work within the weather enterprise includes serving on two NWS service assessment teams, membership in the Pittsburgh Integrated Warning Team, co-planner on various conference sessions, a Center for Advanced Public Safety Research Fellow (University of Alabama), guest on WeatherBrains and WeatherGeeks, and a facilitator of IWT launches. Teaching a range of applied communication courses at California University of PA in the Communication Studies Department, she often advises Earth Science students about communication and social science course options and consults on student research projects. Dr. Jasko is keenly interested in several aspects of the larger weather enterprise, including the communication dimensions of weather warnings and other forecast messages, the organizational and enterprise-wide coordination challenges, and in the communication of weather and scientific information within the larger social/political sphere. Her interest in organizational communication means she is never bored participating in meetings of all kinds.
Dr. Laura Myers holds a social science doctorate from Florida State University, and her research, publication and training areas include disaster management and planning, weather enterprise applications, and weather warning improvement research. Dr. Myers has received over $600,000 in Department of Homeland Security grants to develop and create a model for regional emergency planning, with emphasis on the social science aspects of partnership planning between the National Weather Service and their weather enterprise partners including emergency management, broadcast meteorology, and end-users of their products. Through these grants, Dr. Myers works with the National Weather Service providing social science research for severe weather warning improvement and risk communication projects, including National Weather Service extreme weather service assessments. She has conducted multiple studies on high impact weather events including the 2011 tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama and the 2014 Snowmageddon events in Georgia and Alabama. The research produced by Dr. Myers highlights the weather warning process and how the weather enterprise functions to provide warnings during weather events. Dr. Myers is developing a social science training program for meteorologists, emergency managers, and other weather enterprise partners to learn how to conduct and interpret human behavior research.
Dr. Gina Eosco is a senior social scientist and risk communication expert at Eastern Research Group (ERG) with 10 years of experience conducting stakeholder engagement activities, employing social science research and methodologies, as well as translating science into policy documents. There, she has worked with numerous scientific agencies such as the National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, and Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, she’s working with the NWS to evaluate their watch, warning advisory hazard simplification efforts, which includes examining the possibility of a new system or enhancing the current one. Prior to ERG, Dr. Eosco worked for the American Meteorological Society Policy Program in Washington, DC for 10 years. While at AMS, she worked with scientists in a variety of contexts including road weather, hazards and insurance, hurricanes and satellite policy, and global earth observations to name a few. Dr. Eosco earned her PhD in communication from Cornell University focusing on perceptions of risk and uncertainty to different weather graphics during tornado media coverage. Much of her research focuses on visual effects in the risk communication domain with a specific focus on hurricane graphics such as hurricane track and storm surge maps. She has a Master’s in Communication also from Cornell, and a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland.
Mike Johnson is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Memphis, TN. Growing up in Oklahoma, Mike always had an eye for the weather, and wanted to be a meteorologist for as long as he can remember. He graduated with a degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma in 2000. After a brief stint in the private sector, Mike began his career in the National Weather Service in 2003. He has served as a general forecaster at the NWS offices in Corpus Christi and Amarillo. In 2010, Mike moved into a Senior Forecaster role for the NWS in San Angelo, eventually settling into the same role at the NWS office in Memphis. Mike’s primary interests include severe convective weather and improving the communication of severe weather hazards.
Mike Nelson received his degree in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Mike began his weather career in 1976 at Weather Central, a Madison based weather consulting firm, specializing in forecasts for TV, radio, agribusiness, ski areas and utilities. In 1979, Nelson partnered with fellow meteorologist, Terry Kelly, in developing a computer weather graphics system for television. This pioneering system, called LIVELINE, eventually became the most widely used television weather graphics system! Weather Central – now an IBM company, continues to be widely used around the world. In 1985, they moved to St Louis, MO where Mike served as Chief Meteorologist for KMOV-TV until 1991. Mike and his family moved to Denver in 1991 and he has been forecasting the weather in Colorado for 25 years. He currently serves as Chief Meteorologist for KMGH-TV. Mike has authored two books on weather and climate, The Colorado Weather Almanac (2007) and The Colorado Weather Book (1999). He has also written numerous weather pamphlets and articles for magazines. Mike has won 18 Emmy awards for Weather Excellence. He is also a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award and a two-time winner of the Colorado Broadcaster of the Year award.
Melissa Huffman is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service forecast office in Houston, TX. Prior to coming to Houston in 2014, Melissa spent two years with the NWS office in Midland, TX. Melissa is fascinated with the role of weather in disaster communications and response and has been working with Integrated Warning Team initiatives across Texas since 2011. Melissa earned a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2010 and a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in Emergency Management from the University of North Texas in 2012.
Michael Lowry is a Hurricane Specialist and Storm Surge Expert for The Weather Channel. In 2012, Lowry shared his expertise with millions of viewers during Hurricane Sandy, providing in-depth analysis for the most impactful storm to strike the Northeast U.S. in 40 years. In addition to his on-air role, Lowry manages development of new tropical weather content, a passion that carries over from his time at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC), where he led the development of new National Weather Service storm surge products and services. Lowry began his career in Washington, D.C., as a tropical weather expert for the U.S. Department of Defense. From 2004-2007, he served as a meteorologist with the state of Florida Division of Emergency Management. Lowry holds a bachelor of science and master of science degree in meteorology from Florida State University. He is the recipient of the 2013 National Hurricane Conference Outstanding Achievement Award in Meteorology and was awarded the prestigious Reubin O’D. Askew award by his alma mater for outstanding professional contributions and personal commitment.
