| Employee Spotlight: Allen Zahrai | ||
As a child, his room used to look like a junkyard of old televisions, radios, and other electronic devices. The first thing he took apart--when he was eight years old--was an old radio. He wanted to see how each part worked, but he couldn't put it back together. Allen still loves to tinker, and in his spare time he works on cars, motorcycles and his computers to relax. Allen has been in Oklahoma for 31 years, after planning to stay only one. Transferring from George Washington University to OU because it was a cheaper place to take care of prerequisite courses, Allen fell in love with Oklahoma. He got his B.S. and M.S. from OU in Electrical Engineering, and a few years later got his M.S. in Computer Science. As a graduate student, Allen worked on a project for NASA designing an acoustic profiler to examine the boundary layer for launch pads. The project required regular consultation with Dick Doviak, who was Allen's introduction to NSSL. Allen was initially hired at NSSL to work on a digital signal processor for NSSL's first Doppler radar. Allen helped develop color raster scan displays and other techniques that were developed at that time to replace black and white displays. These display techniques and color schemes were transferred to the WSR-88D. Allen also helped convert the Cimarron radar to a dual-polarization radar, bringing it online in the early 1990's. He considers this his biggest success, and the Department of Commerce awarded Allen the Bronze Medal for his work. Switching jobs, Allen worked for the Operational Support Facility for five years as a system engineer to improve and enhance the capabilities of the WSR-88D. He returned to NSSL in 1996 to lead a group that was redesigning the 88D Open System Platform. His next goal is to implement dual-polarization in the 88D. Allen loves his work, and says, "It is rewarding. The people at NSSL
are talented and likeable, and the work is challenging. It feels like
what I do serves the public. When I see a warning issued by the NWS
because of something they saw on radar, I feel like I have contributed
in some small way." Being a public servant is important to Allen, and
so is his granddaughter. In his free time Allen says his favorite thing
to do is play with her and her toys. |
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By
Susan Cobb|
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