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.