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WPO Interns

 

Current Interns

 

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Steve Elliott is a Science and Technology Policy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is placed at WPO. He studies the social organization, economics, and reasoning strategies of research, with a particular focus on topics related to data governance.

Prior to joining NOAA, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology at Arizona State University, where he studied the development of new STEM education research communities funded through the Broadening Participation portfolio of the National Science Foundation. He also contributed to award-winning and university-wide institutional analyses related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Earlier he received a PhD in biology with a focus on evolutionary theory. He also helped lead a large open access science outreach publication about the history of biology, for which he and his team garnered a career achievement award in teaching and outreach from the History of Science Society. Steve earlier earned degrees in philosophy and in journalism and mass communication.

Sam Ephraim is a 2021 William M. Lapenta Intern at NOAA’s Weather Program Office (WPO). He is a rising senior at the University of Michigan majoring in Climate & Meteorology with a concentration in meteorology along with Computer Science.

Prior to interning at NOAA, Sam was a part of the Large-Scale Dynamics and General Circulation research group with professor Ángel F. Adames-Corraliza. He studied the role of thermal variations on precipitation intensity in the MJO and presented his work at the 2020 AMS Conference. Sam is currently on a Multidisciplinary Design Team at the University of Michigan where he is collaborating with a team of other students and Honda to develop a navigation system that incorporates current and forecasted weather hazards.

Outside of school, Sam loves to apply his weather knowledge while enjoying his favorite hobby, sailing. He is on the University of Michigan Sailing Team and has served on the executive board as the treasurer since the beginning of 2020.

Contact Samuel.

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Michael Michaud is a 2021 summer intern with the William M. Lapenta Internship program. He is working with NOAA’s Weather Program Office (WPO) to better understand the community aspect of community modeling from a social science perspective with the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC).

Michael enjoys interdisciplinary science and holds a BS in Atmospheric Science from Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University - Lyndon) and an MEd in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Utah. He is currently a PhD student in the Disaster Science and Management program at the University of Delaware. With backgrounds in both the physical and social sciences, he is passionate about integrating knowledge from the social, behavioral, and economic sciences into the Weather Enterprise.

Contact Michael.

Alexus Moore is a Pathways intern at NOAA's Weather Program Office (WPO). She is working on designing a social science knowledge transfer google site, as well as writing value stories, and creating website content. Alexus is an upcoming second-year graduate student at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and chose advertising as her field of study since it incorporates many of her natural skills and hobbies, such as drawing, writing, and creating video content. 

Upon graduation, she will seek out careers in government public affairs. Alexus has been known to run outside versus inside when thunder sounds, and one day dreams of chasing a tornado. 

Contact Alexus.

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Renee Richardson is a Sea Grant Knauss fellow in the 2021 class of the NOAA Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program. Renee serves as the Weather Observations Fellow where she supports the hurricane supplementals and the weather observations program under Dr. Mark Vincent’s mentorship. Renee is a Ph.D. candidate at Florida State University and will receive her doctoral degree in meteorology in 2021.

For her dissertation, Renee is investigating sea spray effects on hurricane intensification. Renee received a B.Sc. in marine science with a concentration in atmosphere/ocean dynamics from Coastal Carolina University. Outside of learning all things hurricanes, Renee is either off on an adventure with her two dogs, surfing, or baking way too many treats.

Contact Renee.

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