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The University of Oklahoma joins Kyoto University for international symposium in Japan

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma will partner with Kyoto University to present the International Symposium on Radar and Modeling Studies of the Atmosphere Nov. 10 to 13 in Kyoto, Japan.

The symposium is being organized by OU's College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and Atmospheric Radar Research Center in collaboration with Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute and Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere under a 2008 cooperative agreement between OU and Kyoto University.

"This symposium represents one of several efforts to better link research and graduate study between OU and Kyoto University in the common areas of weather radar and numerical modeling research," said John Snow, OU College of A&GS dean. "Kyoto has world-famous programs in these areas that are synergistic and complementary with similar programs at OU. We can learn a great deal from each other. This also will be an exceptional international experience for our graduate students."

Snow and Robert Palmer, director of the ARRC, will lead a delegation of more than 20 members from OU's weather-research community to Japan to attend the symposium. Ten of the members are graduate students in the OU schools of Meteorology and Electrical and Computer Engineering. All will be presenting papers at the symposium. Yoshi Sasaki, a founder of the OU meteorology programs 50 years ago, will deliver the keynote address at the symposium.

During the four-day program, information will be exchanged on a wide range of ongoing and future research at both institutions, including the latest weather radar and lidar technologies and assimilation of radar data into high-precision numerical prediction models. Symposium participants also will discuss the use of these high-tech tools in investigating hazardous weather and water situations and appropriate policy responses. Visit http://www.rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ku-ou-sympo/agenda.pdf for a complete agenda of symposium discussions.

The OU School of Meteorology is the largest undergraduate program in the nation, with more than 280 undergraduate and 110 graduate students. It is ranked No. 1 in the nation in mesoscale and severe storm research and is among the top seven of the nearly 100 institutions that grant degrees in atmospheric science. The school also offers the nation's only true interdisciplinary weather radar educational program between meteorology and engineering. For more information, visit http://weather.ou.edu/.

Established in 2004 and located on the OU Research Campus in the National Weather Center, the ARRC is an interdisciplinary center between OU's schools of Meteorology and Electrical and Computer Engineering and serves as a focal point for the university's strategic initiative in radar meteorology and engineering. It now includes 10 faculty members, more than 30 graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows, and has more than $5 million in active grants. For more information, visit http://arrc.ou.edu/ .

The DPRI was established in 1951. DPRI has acted as a leader of natural disaster science, promoting interdisciplinary studies in collaboration with universities and institutions in Japan. The mission of DPRI is to study the mechanisms of natural hazards, establish integrated methodologies for disaster reduction based on natural and social sciences, and educate graduate students in science, engineering and informatics. DPRI provides the public with scientific results and knowledge on natural hazards and advises national and local governments on disaster prevention strategies. For more information, visit http://www.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/web_e/index_e.html.

The RISH was established at Kyoto University on April 1, 2004, by combining and expanding two previously existing organizations, the Wood Research Institute and the Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere. Defining the regions vital to human existence as Humanosphere, RISH proposes its primary purposes as to assess and evaluate the current and future conditions of Humanosphere as well as to provide solutions to the problems which this Humanosphere is facing. For more information, visit http://www.rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp/English/.

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