by Susan Cobb

J.T. Johnson is still amazed how he got here--"Things just seemed to happen the right way." Mike Eilts, SRAD Chief, hired him when he was a sophomore in college to work on a variety of projects including researching downbursts and microbursts. But being hired wasn't the amazing thing: It was how he ended up in Oklahoma in the first place.

J.T. grew up watching the weather from the outfield of his high school baseball team in Arkansas. "I had a lot of time to stand around," he says. When he graduated, he thought he might pursue meteorology, but the job potential seemed uncertain. J.T. had spent a little time at the NWS in Little Rock, AR, but he admits he didn't have a feel for research. But, first things first, he needed to find a school. He decided to attend Henderson State University to work on the basics while continuing to check out colleges that offered meteorology. J.T. had not even considered coming to OU until his dad, while teaching a week-long course in Norman, investigated the meteorology program. His dad insisted that he take a look the next week. J.T. says, "I was sold in 10 minutes." He transferred to OU after his first semester and earned his B.S. and M.S., working at NSSL the entire time. NSSL hired him full time in 1992.

A career-defining experience and a "crowning success," J.T. says, was his participation in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. He moved his family to Atlanta and spent 20 months helping set up the Olympic Weather Support Office (OWSO) and providing expertise on NSSL's Warning Decision Support System (WDSS). He was also able to help with hardware, software, and forecaster training for the OWSO. J.T. loved being involved in everything from defining what new variable needed to be added to the database to how many people need to be on shift to cover storms. "It was the ideal situation for my left-brain, organized personality -- I helped define the goals, develop a strategy, work on the project for 20 months, finish the project, and claim that it was a success."

His experiences in Atlanta helped J.T. better define his career goals: to further develop the relationship between research and operations. As a result, one of his current roles is to dialogue with the weather service community to find out what their needs are from a severe weather warning perspective. With that information he helps direct or redirect research strategies and tool development at NSSL. J.T.'s second role is in the broad area of applications development. The development of NSSL systems, such as WDSS and WATADS and development of applications for AWIPS are under his management. A third role is to find out how people are using the tools that NSSL has developed and determine what can be done to improve them.

About his life away from the lab J.T. says, "I don't relax--I feel like I have to get a lot out of life." He describes himself as in constant motion. He likes to spend as much time as he can with his wife, Lori, and their two sons Ryan (3 1/2) and Kyle (1 1/2). J.T.'s other activities include Bible study, maintaining a web page for his church, playing softball, and skiing. He sees himself as a "pretty positive person" and likes to "find good in everything." Amazed as he is at the process, it is evident to J.T. that he met the right people at the right time and ended up in the right place.