Spotlight on: Dave Schultz

Separating work and play is difficult for Dave Schultz. There just is not enough time in the day for all the things he wants to do. The white board in his office lists 10 or so projects in blue ink, meaning he is working on them -- not to mention the list in black of 30 other ideas he wants to pursue in the future. He has a 17-foot kayak in the stairwell of his apartment (the only place it will fit), an 11-stairwell of his apartment (the only place it will fit), an 11- foot whitewater kayak on his balcony, four bicycles, camping gear, and an eclectic CD and LP collection (about 1600 titles). His favorite place is Zion National Park in Utah, and he wants to develop a project to understand the strong canyon winds that can persist there throughout the night.

Dave grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania where he spent much of his time in the outdoors. His innate curiosity coupled with ample opportunity for observation sparked an interest in the natural sciences, especially the weather. He completed a Bachelor's degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, specializing in geology, and a Master's degree in atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He then moved to Albany, NY to pursue doctoral studies at State University of New York (SUNY). At SUNY, he attended a short course on convection taught by Chuck Doswell. After discovering that he and Dave had a common interest in cyclone/frontal structure, Chuck invited Dave to apply for a National Research Council post-doc at NSSL, directed towards understanding cyclone/frontal structure of the western U.S. Dave completed his post-doc in 1998 and has been with NSSL/CIMMS ever since.

Dave specializes in synoptic and mesoscale weather systems, specifically the structure and evolution of low pressure systems and fronts. His current research interests include the structure of cold fronts, the dynamics of mammatus, a climatology of drizzle, and the role of numerical weather prediction in forecasting. Dave was co-chief of the Intermountain Precipitation Experiment in 2000, an investigation of the structure, evolution, dynamics, microphysics, and precipitation associated with orographic precipitation and lake-effect snowbands in northern Utah. That experience paved the way for his participation as a forecaster at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, UT. Dave also enjoys interacting with students, whether it is with the graduate students he advises or the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. He feels it is his way to give back to those teachers and colleagues who gave him valuable advice through the years.

Dave's mission is to answer weather questions. He is satisfied when his research contributes to improvements in understanding and forecasting weather systems: "By understanding past weather events, we pave the way to prevent future weather forecast failures." But his ultimate meteorological conundrum is: "Does it really rain more on weekends?"