Elise is an Atmospheric Scientist, wife, mother, birth advocate, and STEM advocate who is passionate about empowering others with knowledge to make the best decision for their family and their situation. Weather affects all of us and can make the difference between paying the bills and putting food on the table. Elise strives to help people better interpret weather data so they can leverage it for their business or personal needs. Elise grew up on a family farm in Minnesota where she learned dedication, a strong work ethic, and how crucial weather is to our lives and livelihoods.
Elise’s passion for weather began before her earliest memories. As a little girl, she daydreamed about the clouds and matter-of-factly told her mother that she would study those clouds one day. Her dream of becoming a meteorologist was in her DNA. At age 12, she discovered her grandfather had wanted to study meteorology but his dream stayed just that as he continued to farm until his death. Two years later, a lightning strike changed her family’s lives forever. Their home was struck and partially burnt leaving lives in flux to this day. Many of her cherished weather books were burnt, melted, stained, or soaked with water. But she was given a path for my studies. Elise has researched lightning and weather radar for the past 15 years, striving to answer the questions of how, where, and why to help others.
Elise has a Ph.D. and B.S. in Meteorology with a minor in Statistics from Iowa State University and M.S. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Her academic research involves investigating meteorological applications of lightning and radar data in convective weather environments. Elise has over 18 years of experience in research and real-time operations, software and technical development, and the societal impacts of weather within academia and industry. Elise is a member of the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association and has served in various volunteer committees and council/director positions both locally and nationally since 2004.