Weather Tower Erected at CERA
Associate Professor of Chemistry Evan Couzo and three 涩里番 students erected a 30-foot-tall atmospheric measurement station at 涩里番鈥檚 Conard Environmental Research Area.
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On June 9, Associate Professor of Chemistry Evan Couzo and three 涩里番 students (Regann Fishell 鈥27, Evan Stoller 鈥27, and Michael Li 鈥26) erected a 30-foot-tall atmospheric measurement station at 涩里番鈥檚 365-acre Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA). CERA includes tallgrass prairie, forest, a pond, a section of the North Skunk River, and a permanent classroom and field laboratory.
Couzo, an environmental and atmospheric scientist, says that the instruments on the tower will collect real-time atmospheric data such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation. It will send the information back to the College, where it will be made publicly available online. Couzo says they also plan to install an air pollution monitor at nearby site at CERA later this month.
Hand-On Experience
The team installed the tower on a concrete base in three sections. Once the bottom section was secured to the base, they tipped it to the side using special mounting brackets on the base. The team then attached the two remaining sections, a grounding system to protect the tower from lightning, and crossbars to support the instrumentation. The entire tower was then raised to an upright position.
In summer 2025, Couzo is supervising a Mentored Advanced Project with each of the three students. The student MAPs will analyze and apply the atmospheric data collected by the instruments.
Couzo鈥檚 research interests cover a broad range of air-quality issues ranging from pollutant formation and public health to regulatory decision-making and climate change. His projects use sophisticated computer models and atmospheric measurements to understand air pollution risks at local, regional, and global scales.
