Texas Tech University

History of the Atmospheric Science Group

1950s

Meteorology taught in the Dept. of Geology. Studies of dust storms (Warn et al.)

1969

Donald R. Haragan (Ph.D, Univ. of Texas-Austin) joins Dept. of Geosciences; introduces B.S. curriculum in meteorology

1970

Lubbock tornado 11 May ; 28 people killed; most destructive U.S. tornado to that time.

Institute for Disaster Research founded; headquartered in Dept. of Civil Engineering, headed by Joseph E. Minor

1972

Donald R. Haragan (Ph.D. Texas) becomes Chair of Geosciences

1973

Richard E. Peterson (Ph.D. Missouri) joins the faculty

1974

First B.S. graduate in meteorology: Stephen Jones

Owen Rhea added to staff for one year

1975

Gerald M. Jurica (Ph.D. Arizona) joins the faculty

M.S. in Atmospheric Science approved

1976

Atmospheric Science Group moves to the 12th floor of the Business Administration tower

1978

First M.S. graduates: Dean R. Metcalf and Shew-Yi Chi.

Colleen A. Leary (Ph.D. Washington) joins the faculty.

1984

Chia-Bo Chang (Ph.D. Florida State University) joins the faculty

1987-88

First Ph.D. graduates: Eric Pani and Ed Rappaport

1989

Wind Engineering Research Center formed; combines the resources and talents of both the Atmospheric Science Group, and Civil Engineering.

1990

Dr. Richard Peterson becomes Chair of Geosciences

1997

Texas Tech University becomes a member of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

Arthur L. Doggett (Ph.D. Texas Tech University) joins the faculty

1998

The Wind Engineering Mobile Instrumented Tower Experiment (WEMITE) is initiated: The goal of which is to deploy a 10-meter tall instrumented steel tower into the path of a landfalling tropical cyclone. In August, the new tower is successfully deployed near Corpus Christi for Tropical Storm Charley. It is followed up by three successful hurricane deployments in August and September.

2000

Texas Tech University joins the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Texas A&M University and the University of Oklahoma in building two mobile Doppler radars, dubbed SMART-Rs (Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radars). The

West Texas Mesonet is formed. This mesonet will provide at least one instrumented 10-meter tower for meteorological observations in each of the West Texas counties centered around Lubbock. The headquarters is established at the old Reese Air Force Base, now converted into several academic and development centers collectively called the Reese Technology Center.

2001

John L. Schroeder (Ph.D. Texas Tech University) joins the faculty Thomas Gill (Ph.D. California-Davis) named a joint research assistant professor

Dr. Donald R.Haragan steps down as President of the University

Dr. Gerald M. Jurica passed away

Wind Science and Engineering Research Center (WISE) was formed

2002

Section 4 ContentDr. Donald R. Haragan named Interim-President of Texas Tech University until August, 2003

2003

Dee Chaney resigns position as secretary

Debbie Walker joins staff as business assistant

Dr. Arthur L. Doggett resigns

Loren Phillips (NWS ret.) hired to teach undergraduate meteorology

2004

Thomas Gill leaves to become an Associate Professor at the University of Texas - El Paso

Christopher Weiss (Ph.D. Oklahoma) joins the faculty

Dr. Richard Peterson steps down as Chair of Geosciences

2005

Sukanta Basu (Ph.D. Minnesota) joins the faculty

2006

Million dollar grant jointly awarded to ATMO and Wind Engineering to fund development of two Ka-Band Mobile radars

2007

Dr. Richard Peterson retires

Kyle Wiens (Ph.D., Colorado State) joins the faculty

2009

Dr. Chia-bo Chang retires

Dr. Brian Ancell (Ph.D. University of Washington) hired as new faculty member

2010

Dr. Sukanta Basu leaves the ATMO group to take a teaching/research position at North Carolina State University

Dr. Kyle Wiens leaves the ATMO group to take a job with the Air Force Research Laboratory's space weather center.

Eric Bruning (Ph.D. Oklahoma) joins the faculty

Song-Lak Kang (Ph.D. Penn State) joins the faculty

Dr. John Schroeder becomes the new Director of the Wind Science and Engineering (WiSE) Researh Center at Texas Tech

2012

Dr. John Schroeder promoted to full Professor; Dr. Colleen Leary retires

2013

Jennifer Vanos (Ph.D., University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada) joins the faculty

Johannes Dahl (Ph.D., Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany) joins the faculty

Loren Phillips retires

Justin Weaver (NWS Meteorologist in Charge) and Steve Cobb (NWS Science & Operations Officer) hired to teach undergraduate meteorology classes

2014

John Schroder steps down as the Director of the National Wind Institute (NWI) to pursue research and technology development opportunities

2016

Dr. Jenni Vanos leaves to assume a position at UC San Diego, CA

2017

Karin Ardon-Dryer  (Ph.D., Department of Geophysics, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Porter School of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University)  joins the faculty

Song-Lak Kang resigns

2018

Sand-dip Pal (Ph.D., University Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany) joins the faculty

Steve Cobb leaves to assume position with NWS office Tulsa, OK

Erin Shaw (M.S., Texas Tech University) hired to teach undergraduate meteorology classes

Dr. Chris Weiss promoted to full Professor

2019

Dr. John Schroeder appointed Senior Director of the National Wind Institute

2020

Jennifer Henderson (Ph.D., Virginia Tech) joins the faculty

March - COVID-19 forces the university to move to distant learning

2021

June - university resumes face-to-face and hybrid classes

August - university resumes face-to-face classes