About Dorian

My name is Dorian Burnette (I go by the handle "Jay" on T.V. and on radio). I am a professional meteorologist who has become more focused on historical meteorology/climatology in graduate school. This field requires rigorous archival work and statistical techniques to retrieve the best weather observations and make them compatible with the modern record. The results have broad applications to other disciplines such as: archaeology, ecology, geology, history, and paleoclimatology. Therefore, my doctorate degree has a strong interdisciplinary focus to not only have the necessary mathematical and computer programming background necessary for such work, but also to be able to integrate the results into other disciplines. I also continue to have strong interests in various areas of operational meteorology that stem from my professional work (see "Professional Experience" below), and includes storm chasing with my own students and other colleagues in the Plains. I do get out too and enjoy running, swimming, playing golf and basketball, and spending time with friends and family.

Education:

Graduate Advisors:

J.S. Aber (Chair, M.S.), S.K. Boss, M.K. Cleaveland, R. McCoy, C.J. Mock, R.O. Sleezer, D.W. Stahle (Chair, Ph.D.), E. West

Professional Affiliations:

• American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• American Meteorological Society (AMS, Full Member)
• AMS/NWA High Plains Chapter
• AMS/NWA Wichita (Southcentral Kansas) Chapter--former President and Webmaster
• Association of American Geographers (AAG)
• International Commission on the History of Meteorology (ICHM)
• National Weather Association (NWA)
• Sigma Xi
• The American Quaternary Association (AMQUA)
• The Planetary Society

Ph.D. Dissertation:

Burnette, D.J., 2008: 19th Century Meteorology and Climatology in Kansas. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Arkansas, expected completion date: 1 August 2008

M.S. Thesis:

Burnette, D.J., 2002: Meteorological Reconstruction of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. M.S. Thesis, Emporia State University, 105 pp.

Publications:

• Burnette, D.J., D.W. Stahle, and C.J. Mock, 2008: Warming in Kansas: 1828-2007. Journal of Climate, in press pending revisons
• Dodds, S.F., D.J. Burnette, and C.J. Mock, 2008: Drought to Deluge: Synoptic Climate in 1860. Book chapter, “Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in the United States", Springer, in co-author review
• Stahle, D.W., M.K. Cleaveland, F.K. Fye, M.D. Therrell, H. Grissino-Mayer, R.D. Griffin, and D.J. Burnette, 2008: Winter and summer precipitation reconstructions over New Mexico for 2100 years. Journal of Climate, in co-author review
• Burnette, D.J., D.W. Stahle, and C.J. Mock, 2008: Growing season precipitation in Kansas. Geophysical Research Letters, in preparation

Grants:

• Stahle, D.W. (PI) and D.J. Burnette (Co-PI), "Doctoral Dissertation Research: 19th Century Meteorology and Climatology in Kansas", National Science Foundation, Geography and Regional Science Program, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, August 2006 – January 2008, $7,032.

Awards:

• Certificate of Achievement for Outstanding Presentation, Graduate Student Paper Competition, High Plains AMS/NWA Chapter, 2007.
• Earth Science Club (Lanier) Award of Excellence, Emporia State University, 2002.
• Lightning Award for redesign of company intranet, WeatherData, Inc., November 2002.
• Nominated for Board of Trustees Excellence in Teaching Award, Wichita State University, 2002.
• Nominated for Academy for Effective Teaching Award, Wichita State University, 2002.

Invited Presentations:

• Burnette, D.J., 2008: Screening, correction, and analysis of a new 180-year daily temperature record for Kansas. Paper presented and abstract published, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, "Climate History II: Thermal Climate History," Boston, MA.
• Burnette, D.J., 2008: Recovery, screening, and correction of instrumental climate records in the Great Plains. Paper presented at "Historical Climate Change Reconstruction in the Great Plains" workshop, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
• Burnette, D.J., 2008: A new daily temperature record for Kansas, 1 July 1828-31 August 2007. Presented to the Department of Geology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS.
• Burnette, D.J., 2008: A new daily temperature record for Kansas, 1 July 1828-31 August 2007. Presented to the University of Arkansas Sigma Xi Chapter, Fayetteville, AR.
• Burnette, D.J., 2008: The value of historical climate data to archaeology and ecology. Paper presented and abstract published, Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, "Recent Research in Archaeobiology and Historical Ecology," Albuquerque, NM.
• Stahle, D., E. Cook, J. Villanueva-Diaz, F. Fye, D. Burnette, and R. Seager, 2008: Drought in Mexico: 1944-2008. Paper presented and abstract published, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, "Climate History V: Drought Histories," Boston, MA.
• Stahle, D., E. Cook, J. Villanueva-Diaz, F. Fye, D. Burnette, and R. Seager, 2008: Drought in Mexico: 1994-2008. Paper presented at mexican climate meeting, Ensenada, Mexico.
• Burnette, D.J., 2007: Screening, correction, and analysis of a new 180-year daily temperature record for Kansas. Presented to the Departments of Physical Sciences, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS.
• Burnette, D.J., 2007: Historical Meteorology/Climatology. Presented to a Climate Change Seminar class, Departments of Physical Sciences, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS.

Contributed Presentations:

• Burnette, D.J., 2007: A new daily temperature record for Kansas, 1 July 1828-28 February 2007. Paper presented and abstract published, High Plains American Meteorological Society/National Weather Association Chapter Conference, Hastings, NE.
• Burnette, D.J., 2007: A new daily temperature record for Kansas. Paper presented and abstract published, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, "Climate Reconstructions from Land to Sea," San Francisco, CA.
• Mock, C.J., D.O. Mayes, D.J. Burnette, and M. Chenoweth, 2004: Meteorological aspects of the Lewis and Clark journals in the Northern Plains as compared to other historical extremes in the last 200 years. Presented at the Center for Great Plains Studies Symposium, "The Nature of Lewis and Clark on the Great Plains," Lied Conference Center, Nebraska City, NE.
• Burnette, D.J., 2002: Meteorological reconstruction of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Presented at the American Meteorological Society/National Weather Association Wichita Chapter, Wichita, KS.
• Burnette, D.J., 1997: Case study: upslope flow yielding severe thunderstorm event (25 June 1997). Presented at the Mississippi State University Summer Workshop, Starkville, MS.

Research Interests:

• Instrumental and Documentary Climate Variability and Change
• Case Studies of Weather Events
• Severe Weather
• Weather and Climate Prediction
• Use of Computer Technology in Science
• Tree-Rings
• Land Use/Land Cover Change

Classes and Short Courses Taught:

• Astronomy
• Calculus
• Climatology
• Earth Science and the Environment
• Environmental Geology Lab
• General Geology Lab
• Honors General Geology Lab
• Introduction to Earth Science
• Introduction to Earth Science Lab
• Meteorology
• Research Methods
• Severe Weather
• Trigonometry
• Visual Basic.NET Programming
• Weather Forecasting

Skills:

• Building Personal Computers (Intel-based and AMD-based systems)
• Geographic Information Systems Software: ArcGIS (ESRI Certificate in ArcGIS I) and Idrisi
• Programming Languages: Basic, C, C++, HTML, Javascript, NS Basic, SAS, Visual Basic, Visual Basic.NET, Visual C++, and Visual C++.NET
• Tree-Ring Lab Software: ARSTAN and COFECHA
• Other Software: Digital Atmosphere, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, Microsoft Office, and Photoshop

Academic Experience:

• Graduate Assistant, Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Fayetteville, AR, August 2003-Present.
• Instructor, Upward Bound Math-Science Program, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, Summer 1999-Summer 2007.
• Lecturer, Department of Physical Science, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, January 2003-May 2003.
• Lecturer, Department of Geology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, January 1999-May 2002.
• Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Physical Science, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, August 2000-December 2001.
• Presenter, K-12 Teacher’s Earth Science Conference Update, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, July 2001.
• Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Physical Science, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, August 1999-May 2000.
• Paper Grader, Department of Physics, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, August 1997-August 1998.

Professional Experience:

• Storm Warning Meteorologist and Shift Leader, WeatherData Services, Inc., Wichita, KS, Summer 2006, 2007.
• Storm Warning Meteorologist and Shift Leader, WeatherData, Inc., Wichita, KS, July 2002-July 2003.
• Back Up and Severe Weather Meteorologist, KSNW-TV, Wichita, KS, September 1998-July 2003.
• Storm Warning Meteorologist, WeatherData, Inc., Wichita, KS, March 1999-July 2002.
• FOX Weekend Meteorologist, KSNW-TV/KSAS-TV, Wichita, KS, May 1998-September 1998.
• Meteorological Internship, KSNW-TV, Wichita, KS, January 1994-May 1998.

Committees:

• Student Representative, Environmental Dynamics Program Steering Committee, Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Fayetteville, AR, December 2005-October 2007.

E-Mail Addresses:

Last Update: 5 May 2008