Chosen over 55 other proposals, OU graduate student Zac Flamig was selected to participate in an upcoming Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program with NASA.

“I was extremely excited,” Flamig said by e-mail. “When the FedEx envelope arrived I nearly ran into Dr. Gourley’s office to show him the award letter.”

Flamig’s research will be conducted with the help of advisers Jonathan Gourley, associate professor of meteorology, and Yang Hong, associate professor of civil engineering and environmental sciences.

“This fellowship is a strong indication of the burgeoning relationship the National Weather Center has with NASA,” Gourley said in a press release. “Both centers are at the forefront of remote sensing of precipitation from ground and space. Flamig, who already received a fellowship as an undergraduate from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, is perfectly suited to lead this research endeavor.”

Flamig credits Hong with encouraging him to apply for the fellowship, because he thought it would be a good fit for him.

“I would like to thank Dr. Gourley, Dr. Hong, as well as the wide range of scientists and staff at the National Severe Storms Laboratory that I have worked with over the past three and a half years,” Flamig said. “Their direct encouragement and support has led me to where I am today, and for that I am very grateful.”

Flamig’s proposal mainly looks at rainfall totals and includes the use of ground based sensors to verify and validate measurements of rainfall taken by satellite based sensors, he said.

“More precisely,” Flamig said, “the proposal offers two strategies for comparing rainfall measurements and then looks to see how the differences between ground and spaced based rainfall products impacts components of hydrologic modeling such as flood prediction.”

Flamig said his research will show the utility of using spaced based rainfall estimates for flood monitoring and prediction.

“The United States is very lucky to have a dense network of ground based sensors which can be used to validate measurements taken by the satellites across a large area,” Flamig said. “If the spaced based measurements are comparing well with ground observations across the United States then it supports using spaced based measurements for studies and operational systems in other parts of the world where dense ground observations are unavailable.”

Using satellites to help with flash flood prediction is a big part of what he hopes his research can accomplish. Flamig referred to the flooding that occurred in Arkansas in mid June that killed up to 20 people, as a reminder of how dangerous flash floods can be.

“Additionally there is a bold vision to utilize the system put in place for conducting the hydrologic comparison portion of the proposal for flash flood prediction across the contiguous United States,” Flamig said. “There is a hope that this system can eventually be used to better predict flash flooding and help eliminate tragedies like that which occurred in Arkansas a few weeks ago.”

Flamig said the prestigious fellowship would give him support for traveling to conferences in and out of the country.

“Being able to attend these conferences will allow me to collaborate with and be exposed to ideas from well know researchers across the world,” Flamig said. “Beyond the immediate effects of the support this fellowship offers it will also kick-start my career by allowing me to focus at this time on research questions that I find fascinating.”

Flamig is the second OU graduate student to be selected for this fellowship program. In 2008, Sadiq Khan was selected to the program.