President: Jenna Warner
This is Jenna’s fourth year on the OWL board, and her fifth year at OU. She began as a meteorology major, and just recently switched to pursue a BS in Environmental Sustainability with hopes to pursue law school for Environmental Law. She previously served as the Deputy of Broadcast Media(2017-2018), the Director of Broadcast Media(2018-2019), and most recently Vice President(2019-2020). During her time at OWL she has established a well-working broadcast room within the lab with the help of Shawn Riley and Jordan Overton, she has presented OWL organization transformations at the 2019 AMS conference in Phoenix, AZ, and more. This year she is very excited to achieve more goals in the name of the Weather Lab, and extend its reach.
Vice President: Joel Kirschenman
This is Joel's first year on the OWL board. He has been an OWL member since 2018. Originally from Livermore CA, he served 10 years in the United States Air Force. During that time, he was stationed in Utah, South Korea, Italy, Mississippi, and Germany. He started as an avionics technician before retraining into the weather career field. As a weather forecaster, he created airfield forecasts, aviation weather products, and issued watches, warnings, and advisories for military personnel across Europe. In 2018 he moved to Norman to attend the University of Oklahoma to pursue a degree in meteorology. He looks forward to bringing his forecasting experience to the Oklahoma Weather Lab and continue to keep it an exemplary organization.
Secretary/Treasurer: McKinsey Whitaker
McKinsey has been an OWL member since 2016, and this will be her second year serving on the OWL board. She was previously OWL’s Vice President for the 2018-2019 school year, and also led the Friday evening shift during that time. Along with Bradley Weber, McKinsey developed and launched the Weekend Weather Podcast that is filmed every Friday shift. Her passions with OWL include expanding social media presence and knowledge about the importance of weather communication in every field of Meteorology. In addition to McKinsey’s involvement with OWL, she was also a National Weather Center tour guide from Fall 2017 to Spring 2019. Her main duties were to teach the public about all that the National Weather Center has to offer for students, faculty, and employees alike. She’s also a proud Starbucks barista and has ridiculously extensive and hardly useful coffee knowledge. Her plans after graduation include getting a Master’s degree in Emergency Management and working for private sector agencies or FEMA.
Director of Development: Victor Alvarez
This is Victors first year on the OWL board. As Director of Development, Victor will maintain and build upon the OWL website and lead the Hub of OWL Operational Technology (HOOT). Before becoming Director of Development, Victor assisted the previous Director of Development, Joshua Schank, with building the attendance page, designing the new HOOT/OWL website backgrounds, and beginning work on new website projects for the 2020-2021 semester. Victor has many goals set for the 2020-2021 semester including the restoration of the OWL-WRF model, operational use of a new forecasting & model page, the successful maintenance of the OWL website, among other goals. His career plans after graduating include working in the operational meteorology sector with a focus on short-term forecasting and developing forecasting tools. Outside of meteorology, Victor enjoys photography and music.
Deputy Director of Development: Bruce Pollock
Bruce has been an OWL member since 2018, and this will be his second year serving on the OWL board. He was previously OWL's Historian and the Thursday night shift leader. His passion for OWL resides in helping others understand the importance of communication in every aspect of Meteorology. Bruce is also an Oklahoma Mesonet Operator helping the Mesonet day to day operations and learning more about meteorological instruments. His plans for after graduation include the possibility of grad school with a goal of being an employee of the National Weather Service.
Development Historian: Cameron Graves
Cameron has been an OWL member since 2018. This will be his first year on the board. He transferred from Indiana University to OU for Meteorology in 2018. He works as a student operator and quality assurance technician for the Oklahoma Mesonet. He is a member in the Pride of Oklahoma where he plays mellophone. He's very excited to be apart of the board his senior year to help continue this vital organization for students.
Director of Broadcast Media: Nash Rhodes
Nash Rhodes is from Nashville, Tennessee and has been a member of The Oklahoma Weather Lab since 2016. He formerly worked as a part-time weather anchor at WNKY-TV in Southern Kentucky, and recently partnered with Radarscope in the creation of cinematic Doppler radar explainer videos. Apart from majoring in meteorlogy, he is double minoring in broadcast meteorology and entrepreneurial studies. This year, he is also serving as OU Nightly’s Senior Weather Producer. OWL has had a huge impact on his development as a broadcaster and forecaster, and Nash’s goal is to ensure that OWL will continue to be a stellar resource for its members!
Co-Deputy Director of Broadcast Media: Emma Landeros
Emma has been an OWL member since 2018, and this will be her second year serving on the OWL board as a Co-Deputy Director of broadcast media. She is very excited for the year and hopes to continue posting on the OWL socials, making flyers, and updating the socials about current weather. Emma transferred to OU in 2018 from Rogers State University hoping to pursue her B.S. in Meteorology. In 2019 she changed her major to a B.S. in GIS with a minor in Broadcast journalism. Emma hopes to continue increasing her skills in forecasting with OU Nightly and OWL briefs as well as further improving her Spanish with Spanish briefs.
Co-Deputy Director of Broadcast Media: Juliana Mejia
Juliana is a junior Meteorology student and serves OWL as Co-Deputy Director of Broadcast. She represents OU as a Campus Tour Guide and is a member of the OU Rock Climbing Team. Juliana also enjoys practicing her forecasting and weather broadcast skills through OU Nightly and OWL weather briefs.
Director of Operations: Claire Doyle
Claire is excited to be serving her first year on the OWL board as Director of Operations! She will be working to ensure lab operations run smoothly by setting up shifts, assisting shift leaders with any needs, and being an advocate for members of the organization. Claire has previously been involved with OWL through morning shifts and morning weather briefs for OU Nightly. From Ohio, she found her way to OU to pursue a lifelong dream of studying meteorology, and hopes to continue onto graduate school after completing her undergraduate degree!
Director of Training: Riley Bynum
I am a junior meteorology major and am pursuing a minor in both math and hydrological science. This is my first year on the board and hope that my addition will allow OWL to continue running at its best. I am also a shift leader for Wednesday evening. I intend to go to graduate school in order to further my understanding in Operational Meteorology.
Director of Shifts: Joseph Rotondo
This is Joseph's first year serving on the OWL board. As Director of Shifts, Joseph's duties include working with shift leaders to make sure daily shift operations run smoothly, and help solve minor technical issues shift leaders may come across during normal operations. Joseph works as an undergraduate research assistant in the Center for Autonomous Sensing and Sampling. After graduation Joseph plans to attend graduate school to further his understanding of operational meteorology.
Director of Outreach: Mikayla Smith
Mikayla has been an OWL member since 2018. This is her 3rd year with OWL and first year as a member of the board as the Director of Outreach. She is in her 3rd year at you studying meteorology with a double minor in both math and broadcast. Mikayla also is heavily involved with OU Nightly where she has been a weather assistant, weather briefer and recently added weather anchor. She is excited to see what all can be accomplished for OWL and the school of Meteorology this 2020-2021 school year.
Deputy Director of Outreach: Colton Williams
My name is Colton Williams and this is my first year on the OWL Board! I am currently pursuing a degree in Meteorology with a minor in Broadcast Meteorology. My goals for this year are to continue and deepen my involvement with OWL, whether that be through Outreach or OU Nightly, as well as continue to get to know other students in the Lab and the School of Meteorology.