Synopsis:

Dr. Jason Keeler will provide an update on how the Maritime to Inland Transitions Towards ENvironments for Convection Initiation (MITTEN-CI) Campaign from summer 2024 and the In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail In the Plains (ICECHIP) Campaign from summer 2025 went and what he's currently working on at Central Michigan University.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Jason Keeler (he/him/his) is an Associate Professor of Meteorology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Central Michigan University (CMU), and has been a faculty member of CMU’s Institute for Great Lakes Research since 2018.

He joined the faculty at CMU following postdoctoral studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his research focused on the use of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) to study severe thunderstorm environments. Before this, he earned his graduate degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he investigated the thermodynamics and kinematic processes driving convection in winter storms, as well as the interactions between urban heat islands and lake-breeze circulations.

Dr. Keeler’s research blends aspects of atmospheric boundary layer and mesoscale dynamics, with a particular emphasis on destabilization and evolution of convection, integrating field-based observations with numerical modeling approaches. Since joining CMU, he has involved more than 70 students in field research and founded the Student Training for Observational Research in Meteorology (STORM) program to provide hands-on research experiences for undergraduates.

In recognition of his contributions to the meteorological research community, Dr. Keeler received an Editors’ Award from the American Meteorological Society in 2019 for “multiple, high-quality, informative reviews.” His dedication to education was honored with the 2025 CMU College of Science and Engineering Award for Outstanding Teaching.