Staff Members

Charles E. Konrad II
Director & Professor
Carolina Hall 305
919-962-3873
konrad@unc.edu
Website

Charles, "Chip," Konrad, II, grew up in Roanoke, VA, where he spent lots of time following the weather, poring over maps, collecting rocks, and hiking the mountains. He earned a B.S. in Geophysics from Virginia Tech, an M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Georgia.

Chip became a professor at the University of North Carolina in 1993. His research focuses on the synoptic climatological characteristics of extreme weather and their impacts across the southeastern United States. He has much expertise across a wide range of areas in climatology and meteorology, including heavy precipitation, tornadoes, hurricanes, cold air outbreaks, heat waves, and winter weather.

Chip has published numerous research articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Monthly Weather Review, Weather and Forecasting, the International Journal of Climatology, Climate Research, and Applied Geography. He also co-authored on the Southeast Technical Report for the National Climate Assessment, and has served as the Director of the Southeast Regional Climate Center since 2010.

William G. Schmitz
Service Climatologist-Meteorologist
Albert & Gladys Coats Bldg 203
919-843-9721
wschmitz@email.unc.edu

William spent most of his youth in California near San Francisco. He moved to Vermont in the early 1990’s so that he could experience some real weather. When the March Super Storm of 1993, came plowing up the East Coast, it planted the passion and ambition for Weather/Climate that would drive William along his career path. In 1998 he obtained his Associates Degree in Physics, and subsequently transferred to Plymouth, NH where in 2001 he graduated with a Bachelors in Meteorology.

William's first job was with Aquila Inc., a Kansas City, MO, based energy company that was spinning up a Weather Derivative Desk. While in Kansas City, William was a Climate Data Analyst and managed a global database of weather data.

William then went on to Work with a small group called GuaranteedWeather and finally with the Southeast Regional Climate Center in 2005. Within the SERCC, William is the Service Climatologist and is responsible for climate research associated with the Southeastern U.S., and educating current and new users on how the SERCC can be of assistance to them.

Christopher Fuhrmann
Regional Climatologist

919-843-2704
fuhrman1@email.unc.edu

Originally from Connecticut, Chris moved to North Carolina in the mid-90s and has lived in the South ever since. He earned a B.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from UNC-Chapel Hill and an M.S. in Geography from the University of Georgia. Chris began his career at the SERCC before joining the faculty in the Geosciences Department at Mississippi State University. He also served as the Mississippi Assistant State Climatologist. Chris returned to the SERCC in the Fall of 2022 to direct the Center’s applied research program and lead various climate monitoring and outreach efforts in the region.

Chris’s research interests are in the fields of applied and synoptic climatology, where he studies the effects of weather and climate on society and the role of large-scale circulation features on the distribution and intensity of surface weather events. He is also interested in these relationships in the context of climate variability and change. Chris has published articles on tornado outbreaks, heat waves, winter weather, and the linkages between climate and various aspects of society, such as agriculture and public health. He was also a co-author on the Southeast region technical report used for the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment. When he’s not working, Chris enjoys playing chess with his son, Jackson, and singing country music songs with his daughter, Caroline.

Jordan James Clark
Graduate Research Associate
Albert & Gladys Coates Bldg
704-300-5702
jordan.clark@unc.edu

Jordan grew up in Shelby, North Carolina and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in geography, specializing in earth and environmental systems, and a bachelor’s degree in political science. From a young age, he quickly developed a fascination with weather, especially with observing and tracking severe weather events and winter storms. Following this pattern, as a current doctoral student in the Geography department at UNC-Chapel Hill and a research assistant for the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, CISA, his research is at the intersection of climate and public health. Specifically, he is focused exploring the utility of existing heat stress indices in modeling health outcomes and individual-level vulnerability to excessive heat.

Julia Cardwell
Graduate Research Associate
Albert & Gladys Coates Bldg 201-B
jmcard@email.unc.edu

Julia is originally from Maryland but has been in North Carolina since 2015. She attended Davidson College and worked at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality in Raleigh before starting a PhD in the Department of Geography at UNC in 2020, where she is advised by Dr. Konrad. Her research interests include extreme events and federal and state recovery efforts. She is currently working on her master's project which attempts to model the role of physical and social variables in predicting concentration of federal recovery aid after Hurricane Matthew and Florence within North Carolina.

Bryttani Wooten
Graduate Research Associate
Albert & Gladys Coates Bldg 201-B
bwooten@unc.edu

Bryttani is originally from Richmond, Virginia but graduated from Penn State University in 2021 with a B.S. in Meteorology and Atmospheric Science and a minor in Geography. Throughout her undergraduate career, Bryttani’s weather interests transformed into a more general interest in climate change and extreme weather events. In 2021 Bryttani joined SERCC and the UNC Department of Geography as a Masters + PhD student advised by Dr. Konrad and Dr. Danielle Purifoy. Her current research interests are the intersection of extreme weather and the health of Black mothers and babies in the Southeast United States..

Jonathan Marcus
Graduate Research Associate
Carolina Hall 317
jmarc@unc.edu

Jonathan originally hails from Huntsville, Alabama, where he encountered a great deal of severe weather in his youth. After the 4/27/2011 tornado outbreak, his interest in the weather transformed into a career goal, one where he could both help people and engage in science. Jonathan graduated from Florida State University in May of 2022 with a B.S. in Meteorology and a certificate in emergency management. Jonathan joined the SERCC and UNC Geography as graduate student in August of 2022, where his research interests lie at the intersection of extreme weather and disaster vulnerability in communities across the Southeastern United States. When he is not in Chapel Hill, Jonathan also works for the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, Indiana as a Pathways Meteorologist.

Valerie Scull
Undergraduate Research Assistant

vscull@unc.edu

Valerie grew up in Barnegat, New Jersey, along the Jersey Shore before moving to Chapel Hill in 2017. She is currently a sophomore undergraduate student at UNC, with a major in Environmental Studies, and minors in Public Policy and GIS. Growing up, when she wasn't staring at the clouds, she was always watching the Weather Channel and asking for meteorology books for her birthdays. Living through several major hurricanes and winter weather events, Valerie developed a fascination with severe weather and the after-effects of these storms. After taking weather and climate classes under Dr. Konrad and expressing interest in continuing work with him and his team, she was invited to join the SERCC as an undergraduate research assistant.

Alex Henson
Undergraduate Research Assistant

cliffah@ad.unc.edu

Alex was born in Champaign, Illinois, but has lived most of his life in High Point, North Carolina. When Alex was growing up he would always watch “Storm Chasers” with his younger siblings, which led to his interest in extreme weather and atmospheric sciences. After years of making weather projects and installing a personal weather station in his backyard Alex was accepted into Chapel Hill with a major in Geography, following a climatology pathway, and with a minor in Environmental Science. In the fall of 2022 Alex joined SERCC as an Undergraduate Research Assistant. When Alex is not at the Climate Center you may also find him at the Meantime Coffee Co. where he works as the CHRO.

Kiranmai Machiraju
Applications Programmer

kiranmai@unc.edu

Kiran Machiraju was born and raised in India. She moved to the United States by herself to pursue her Undergraduate degree. She graduated from Columbus State University with a Computer Science - Web Development major and a Mathematics minor. Throughout her academic years at Columbus State University, she worked for various departments as a student assistant and also served as a Senator for D. Abbott Turner College of Business at the Student Government Association. She was elected by her professors to be the Ambassador for the D. Abbott Turner College of Business, and she was also a part of the Dean's advisory council. One of her academic projects is being used as a reference for the students by her professor. And she did an independent study under the guidance of a professor regarding "Serverless Edge Computing".

Her father taught her the importance of book reading and introduced her to reading books of all genres at a very young age, and now she is an enthusiast at reading books. Apart from that, she loves to hike and dance as a hobby.