DEDICATION
To
Savannah, for your tireless support and encouragement (and English tutoring),
to
Timmy, for being my side-kick, from our one-bedroom apartment to the farm,
and
to
Jeremy, for sending me off every morning with a smile.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Like every campaign, great or small,
futile or destined, there is no single individual to whom credit for completion
of this dissertation is owed. Instead,
the chorus, sometimes cacophonic and sometimes harmonic, provided the
foundation, background, fuel, and (sometimes, though only when appropriate)
friction guiding its path. I beg the
reader’s patience, as a non-traditional student like myself owes much to
many. Among all of those below, however,
I am particularly grateful to the dedicated, my wife Savannah and sons Timmy
and Jeremy, and to my advisor of these past 4 ½ years, Nilton Rennó.
The passing phrase, “I think I’d
like to give a Doctoral program a try,” turned into a half-decade of research,
toil, failure, and success because of the encouragement and oft-drawn-upon
excitement of my wife, Savannah. Since
then, we’ve seen two Army deployments together, occupied five different places
we’ve called “home,” raised two fantastic boys, and built stability among the
chaos of it all, and none of it would have been possible without Savannah’s
love. At the many points where I wished
to quit, and the two or three moments when I was dedicated to doing so,
Savannah gave me what I needed to continue.
Usually it was a hopeful glance at the not-too-distant future, but at
the more difficult times, it was a harsh reminder of the consequences to the
boys of leaving that encouraged me to continue.
It is in deep gratitude of this, and acknowledging completion of this
degree as not an individual, but a family accomplishment, that I dedicate this
dissertation to her.
Of everyone to whom I owe thanks,
only one has been with me in person from the beginning to the end. Timmy and I began this trek together, in a
tiny, one-bedroom apartment, managing the stress of a full, graduate-level
course load while coping with Mommy’s deployment to Iraq. We carried on through the qualification exam
and candidacy, reminding each other along the way (though always by subtle
means) that there were more important things to worry about than a poor exam
grade or not getting a favorite toy at daycare.
Timmy’s love of family before toys, of hugs before cartoons, drove me
to, more than once, think, “what the hell am I doing?” before putting down my
lab book at home and sharing an episode of Spongebob.
Of course, this chapter (both
literally, the text, and figuratively, the past 5 years) would not be complete
without Jeremy, my smile-out-the-door every morning before braving rush-hour
traffic. Usually that smile comes from a
happy 2-year-old, excited that another day will bring him something new to
see. Sometimes, the smile is amusement
at a random antic to wear pajamas all day.
Either way, Jeremy’s hugs and kisses have a way of saying, “Don’t worry
about that poor paper review, you’ll figure it out and be just fine.” It’s this psychological safety net provided
by my two boys that I must admit I’ve relied upon many times, and I hope I
reciprocate.
Without a doubt, the most
significant professional influence in this dissertation and professional support
through the past 5 years has been from my advisor, Nilton Rennó. Nilton gave me a wide berth to plan, lead,
and conduct the ACI project, giving me his trust that, at the time, was in a
relatively unknown student. More than
the educational freedom and funding to grow into an independent research,
though, Nilton provided me what others could not- honest, unabashed (though always
constructive) criticism. Within my desk
drawer sit three finished, but unpublished papers from my early days within the
Ph.D. program. To each, Nilton opined,
“This will not be published.” As I
progressed through my research and wrote other papers that were (eventually)
published, I would take a glance through that drawer, and month by month, my
appreciation for Nilton’s candid opinions of my writing grew. Without his advice and counsel, this
dissertation would have taken much longer to finish, if it were ever to be
completed. Thank you, Nilton.
I’m deeply grateful for the
professional support I’ve been given from inside and outside academia. Thank you, ACI team, Steve Musko, Robb
Gillespie, Curt Cooper, and my driving buddy, Ron Rizor. Thank you, too, to my predecessors, Manish
Mehta and Jasper Kok, my Ann Arbor colleagues, Shaneen Braswell, Harvey
Elliott, German Martinez, and Eric Fisher, my Flint colleagues, Randy Repic and
Laura Binder, and a special thanks to Bill Kuhn, who listened patiently to my
gripes more than once. Thank you, Mark
Torregrossa, Glenn Willey, and Todd Borek for teaching me everything I know
about being a weatherman. And, of
course, I owe deep thanks to my doctoral committee, Frank Marsik, John Barker,
Marty Kaufman, and Nilton Rennó, for reading, commenting, and signing (since
these acknowledgements are published) my dissertation!
I would also like to acknowledge the
support I received through the past five years from the support staff in the
Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences department. Thank you, Margaret Reid, Marti Mood, Sandra
Pytlinski, Bryan White, and Katie Abdou!
I also owe thanks to the University of Michigan’s administrative staff
for their extraordinary efforts to speed along the paperwork allowing the ACI
project to be deployed to the field.
Thank you, Katie Abdou, Judith Kirkdorffer, and Timothy Slottow.
Any achievement in our family is a
family achievement, and in that theme, I would also like to thank my parents,
whom I relied upon frequently for emotional support and (quite often)
daycare. I never asked unless I really
needed it, but when I asked, you bent over backward to help me, Savannah,
Timmy, and Jeremy. Thank you, too, to my
parents-in-law, John and Laura, for supporting my family through the past 5
years, whether with babysitting, the lake house, or just an ear to hear
Savannah and me complain. I’m also very
grateful for the support my sister, Beth and her family gave to mine. Coincidence brought you to live near us, but
your kindness took care of us when we really needed a hand. Thank you, too, to my brother, Tom, and
sister, Kelly, to Bill, Adam, Sami and Laura, also my grandma, Arla, whose letters were a reminder that the world
doesn’t revolve around Ann Arbor, my grandpa, Ernie, my uncles, Mike, Dave,
Duane, Danny, Mike, and Dave and my aunts, Geri, Barb, Kathy, Annette, Pam, my
godfather, Brian, my godmother, Carol, my legion of cousins, nieces, and
nephews, and Mrs. Joan Metzger, for taking my side in every complaint I had.
I would also like to acknowledge the
patience and support I received from my military family. My doctoral studies were interrupted by a
12-month deployment to the middle-east, and through the support of my
commanders and soldiers, I was able to make the transition back to research
smoothly afterward. Thank you, Lt. Col.
Dawn Dancer, Majors Rob Frazer and John Hall, Captains Matt Sawyer, Arnold
Williams, Myron Bishop, Lieutenant Takura Nyamfukudza, Master Sergeant Tony
Saladine, Sergants First Class Derren Mazza and Colin Mullins, the soldiers of
the 126th Press Camp Headquarters, and my soldiers of 2nd
Platoon, B-Battery, 1/182nd Field Artillery.
Finally, I would like to thank my
friends and colleagues who have been my academic companions through all my
years at Michigan. Thank you, Mike
Boguth, Noelle Grulke, Bridget DeRosa, Nicole Shevsky, and Michael Jankowski!
