Cooperative Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Convective Storms in Development

The National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration are supporting an initiative to research and solve challenges posed by severe convective storms. Under the initiative, the Cooperative Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Convective Storms is being proposed by Northern Illinois University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with key industry members.

Stephen Bennett, chief scientist at Demex Group, a data and analytics company, will lead the Industry Advisory Board for the recently founded center. Bennett’s role at Demex includes creating the models that power the company’s parametric reinsurance products.

The center seeks to promote cooperation among government organizations, academic institutions and business leaders in convective storm research to improve public safety and weather forecasting.

The center’s goals include:

• Conducting comprehensive research by exploring the meteorological, climatic, socioeconomic, and environmental aspects of convective storms.
• Developing state-of-the-art methodologies that assess the risks and exposure to convective storms, including their potential for property damage, casualties, disruptions to critical infrastructure, and insured losses.
• Working with industry partners, governments, and local communities to translate research findings into actionable strategies.
• Fostering technological innovation by leveraging emerging technologies, such as advanced modeling, data analytics, and remote sensing, to create new forecasts, climate projections, and detection algorithms.
• Training future scientists and educating the public.