Dr. T. Connor Nelson is a Project Scientist in the Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS) at UCAR and is part of the NOAA Quantitative Observing System Assessment Program (QOSAP). In this capacity, he is leading the development of a next generation observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) capability for the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) model. The goal of his research is to use OSSEs to examine the impact of various observational data and platforms on operational hurricane forecasts. While his primary research interest is tropical cyclones and atmospheric modeling, his other research interests include: mesoscale meteorology, deep convection processes (including convection initiation), observational techniques and analyses, statistical analyses, and satellite meteorology.
He received his B.S. in Meteorology–Geography in 2013 from Ohio University, his M.S. in Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences in 2015 from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University at Albany, State University of New York in 2019. He completed his postdoctoral appointment at the University of Colorado–Boulder in 2021. Prior to joining QOSAP, he was a research scientist at Colorado State University–CIRA, where he served as the Satellite Liaison between the National Weather Service (NWS) and the GOES program at the NWS Operations Proving Ground until 2023.