James graduated from Ohio University during the 2025 Spring with a degree in Geography – Meteorology through the Honors Tutorial College. He is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and was an active member of OUCAMS, having served as an officer during the spring of 2023. James was also a member of the University of Illinois’ First Annual Radar Institute and has produced a thesis alongside Dr. Jana Houser as a Research Assistant investigating the limitations of Doppler Radar in detection of tornadoes and the issuance of warnings, which has been submitted to the Journal of Operational Meteorology for publication. He is additionally Upper-Air Certified through the National Weather Service, having served as a volunteer during the summer of 2024, and has conducted research through NWS Wilmington on the seasonal and spatial reliance on TDWRs for issuing severe storm and tornado warnings. Furthermore, James has served as a Teaching Assistant and Supplemental Instructor for GEOG 3010 (Introduction to Meteorology) for two semesters, and has previously served as a Teaching Assistant and Embedded Tutor for GEOG 3031 (Observations in Meteorology) for one semester. James has also provided video forecasts through Ohio University’s The Post TV.
Mesoscale and radar meteorology interest him the most, but above all, he thrives on sharing that passion with others and hopes to obtain a PhD in meteorology so he can continue teaching as a professor and researcher. He will be pursuing a master’s degree at Iowa State University. Outside of school, James likes making art, playing Rock Band, boxing, and going on sunset walks. He also loves hot chocolate and baking soft pretzels.
Chris is a senior majoring in Aviation Flight with minors in Aviation Management and Meteorology. He has had a passion for airplanes and weather since he was a little kid and has always dreamed of flying for an airline someday. He loves watching severe weather and tornadoes and even went storm chasing in Oklahoma and Texas last spring. Chris is a member of the Ohio University Sailing Team and the Precision Flight Team, both activities that rely on accurate weather forecasting. In his free time, Chris enjoys watching college football, geocaching, and photography.
Olivia Snoddy is from Yellow Springs, Ohio and is majoring in Geography – Meteorology. Olivia first became interested with a career in weather after discussing with some officers in the Air Force during the annual Air Force ROTC career day. Ever since then, she has loved weather and has grown to love storms and other serious weather events. Olivia enjoys traveling, meeting new people, and hanging out with friends and family.
Donnie is currently a Sophomore at Ohio University and is studying Geography- Meteorology with a certificate in Geographic Information Science and is a participant in OU’s Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (OUCAMS). He hails from North Ridgeville, Ohio, which is in the West Cleveland area. In his free time, he’s an avid ice skater and weightlifter, he also loves camping and exploring new places to hammock!
Colby is a lifelong Ohio resident and a senior student in meteorology. He is also serving as Treasurer for a second year for the Ohio University Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. His focus is in fire weather, and he hopes someday to become an incident meteorologist (IMET) with the National Weather Service. Colby also enjoys severe weather, aviation, playing guitar, and singing.
Ben Price is a current graduate student at Ohio University researching the relationship between terrain and tornado structure. Born and raised in Livonia, Michigan, he moved to Norman, Oklahoma in 2017 to study Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. In 2021, he graduated from the program with a Bachelor’s in Meteorology and subsequently got accepted into Ohio University’s graduate program. While in Oklahoma, he conducted several research projects as a part of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), now known as the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO). This research included the development, analysis, and quality-control of Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor (MRMS) products such as azimuthal shear and was presented at the AMS Conferences in 2020 and 2021. When not completing schoolwork, Ben indulges himself in many different creative outlets such as writing code, books, and music, and playing video games with friends.
Erin Ashley is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a senior majoring in Broadcast Meteorology. She is the Lead Forecaster for WOUB Public Media, the PBS-affiliate news station for Southeast Ohio, where she broadcasts weather conditions and constructs environmental news packages. Erin is interested in how weather impacts society and how weather awareness has changed over time. She plans to work for a news station upon graduation. In her free time, Erin critiques movies, roots for the Cincinnati Bengals, and be with friends.
Cam is a senior Geography-Meteorology student, with a minor in Mathematics and a Certificate in Geographic Information Sciences. He hails from Vandalia, Ohio, but has lived all over the country! Cam is a quality control analyst and a student technician at the Kansas Mesonet, and is serving as Scalia Laboratory’s Weather Observer for the second year. Cam is also the president of Ohio University’s Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society, and a forecaster for WOUB’s NewsWatch. In his free time, Cam is an avid birdwatcher and animal lover and is a huge fan of the Detroit Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings.
Ashlee Ziegler graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2024 with a B.S. in Meteorology with honors, a Mathematics minor, and a GIS Certificate. At Ohio University, Ashlee became involved in OUCAMS during her freshman year and took on leadership responsibilities during her sophomore and junior years. OUCAMs allowed her to learn about all of the opportunities and paths meteorology offered, as well as make some incredible friends! In addition to OUCAMs, Ashlee became Scalia’s Lead Forecaster her senior year (2024), providing several daily forecasts a week and in-depth technical discussions.
Ashlee was selected as an Ernest F. Hollings Scholar and interned at NWS Nashville the summer between her junior and senior years. There, she worked on mapping the vulnerable populations for the Nashville CWA and performed many NWS duties, like assisting in forecast discussions and assisting in storm surveys after a severe weather event! She is still in constant contact with her supervisors and can’t recommend making connections enough! The following year, Ashlee was able to present her work at the 101st AMS conference in Baltimore.
One of Ashlee’s proudest accomplishments was the completion of her Honors Thesis under Dr. Fogt. Ashlee studied the meteorological conditions surrounding the journey of the Endurance, a ship that became stuck in Weddell pack ice and eventually sank after several months in the early 20th century. Fortunately, the entire Endurance crew was able to survive and be rescued after a few men left on a small lifeboat to South Georgia to receive help. This experience, though challenging, taught her a lot.
Ashlee is currently pursuing a Master’s in Atmospheric Science at Ohio State University, where she will study tornadoes under Dr. Jana Houser.
Adam is from Cleveland, Ohio and is a senior pursuing a major in meteorology and a minor in mathematics. He is involved in OUCAMS and is the current Webmaster for Scalia lab. Adam is extremely passionate about severe weather and radar meteorology, and hopes to work in forecasting or radar analysis after graduation. In his free time, Adam likes to listen to music, hike, and take pictures.
