Jason Dunion has been a research meteorologist at CIMAS for the past 10 years. Jason earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire in geography and geology in 1992. For the next 3 years, he worked as a supported living coordinator in Norwich, Connecticut and Miami, Florida while also completing his graduate school pre-requisite courses. His supporting living work involved helping people with developmental disabilities transition out of facilities and group homes to live independently in the community. He later earned his master’s degree in atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in atmospheric science at the University at Albany-SUNY. Jason specializes in satellite remote sensing of hurricanes and has led the development of several new satellite products for monitoring tropical cyclones and Saharan dust storms as well as a scheme for predicting tropical cyclone genesis. He has served as director of the NOAA/AOML/Hurricane Research Division’s Hurricane Field Program, acted as chief scientist on several Hurricane Hunter research missions using NOAA’s G-IV high altitude jet and P-3 Orions, and has flown on over 50 Hurricane Hunter flights. He is also a member of the NOAA and NASA science teams that are studying Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes with high altitude drone aircraft and Office of Naval Research teams studying tropical cyclone rapid intensification and hurricane outflow layers.
When Jason was 8-years old, he had a mini weather station and would record himself making forecasts for hurricanes and blizzards that were affecting his hometown in New England. He was constantly asking "who, what, where, when and why" questions, which earned him the childhood nickname of "Whootie Owl". That nickname probably still fits him to this day, as he enjoys trying to figure out the puzzles and mysteries that Mother Nature always seems to bring. He sees similarities between his hurricane research and social work careers and likes to think that both have involved trying to help people in some small way. Jason has worked extensively with the National Geographic JASON Project to bring STEM curriculum into classrooms by bringing students together with real-life scientists. He also enjoys visiting schools to talk with students and looks at it as a chance to spark some of that “Whootie Owl” wonder for science and Mother Nature.
Published July 19, 2021
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