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Kelsey Ennis

Graduate Research Assistant 

Email:

kelsey.ennis@colostate.edu

Date of Birth:

October 26th 2000

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About me/ My Story

Welcome to my site! I am currently working as a Graduate Research Assistant at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. I am pursuing a Master's degree in Atmospheric Science, advised by Dr. Libby Barnes and co-advised by Dr. Eric Maloney. 

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Originally I am from, East Windsor, a small town in New Jersey just outside of Princeton. I grew up there my whole life and I loved it. We were close to Manhattan, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and not a far drive to the infamous Jersey shore. I was fortunate to have grown up there, the memories I made are irreplaceable. 

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In 2019, I moved to Daytona Beach, Florida for undergraduate. I attended Embry Riddle Aeronautical University where I pursued a Bachelor's of Science in Meteorology and minored in applied mathematics. During my time there I was involved in undergraduate research, tutoring for the meteorology department, Tri Sigma Sorority, Vice President in Senior Class Council, and I worked for the university's Campus Safety Administration. I graduated in May 2023 and was awarded: Meteorology Student of the Year by the Meteorology dept., President of the Year by Fraternity & Sorority life, and ERAU's most prestigious undergraduate award, the John C. Adams, Jr. Community Service Award. The community service award is presented to one graduating senior per year in recognition of all the time and efforts the student has given to the university and the local community during their time at ERAU, it was an honour to have been recognized. 

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I fell in love with the chaotic nature of the atmosphere when I was 3 years old. On what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, my family was greeted with the alarming news that a storm was meandering in the Atlantic. Hurricane Jeanne would make landfall on the East coast of Florida on September 26th, 2004. 

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With little time to prep and two young kids, my parents got the supplies they could and we hunkered down and rode out the storm in the city of Cocoa Beach, located on the 'Space Coast'. This is my earliest memory from my childhood. When I think back to it I remember the look of fear on both my parents' faces when they announced it was coming. I can still hear the screams of the wind and the sound of the rain striking the windows with incredible force. After the storm passed, the aftermath was unbelievable. I remember going to the beach entrance but the swath of sand that separated the beachfront and ocean,was gone.

 

I looked at my Mom and the only words I could say were, "this won't happen again, I am going to be the one to get it right." And just like that, on September 28th, 2004 a meteorologist was born. Hurricane Jeanne sparked a flame in me that grew larger over the years and now shines brighter than the sun. After many years of hard work, my passion has turned into my career. ​

 

 

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EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE

June 2023-Present

Graduate Research Assistant

Colorado State University

  • Working on an Masters in Atmospheric Science in the Barnes research group. 

  • My research focuses on understanding temperature prediction skill during extremes (i.e., heat waves) for NCEP's dynamical S2S model the NOAA Unified Forecast System (UFS GEFS) and various AI weather prediction models (i.e., Pangu) over North America. 

April 2022-May 2023

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Undergraduate Research Assistant

  • Worked on a funded NOAA Climate Program Office project on Southeast U.S. heat stress trends.

  • Created heat stress climatologies and trend analyses using R and Python coding programs.                             

  •  Investigated the physical mechanisms responsible for Southeast U.S. heat stress trends and their impacts on human health. 

  • Presented my results at the 2023 American Meteorological Annual Meeting. 

  • Prepared manuscript for Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (Summer 2023).

June 2022-August 2022

Internship

Munich Reinsurance

  • Statistical modeling of stochastic events to estimate losses due to catastrophes (perils).

  • Responsibilities included using computer applications such as R Studio and SQL Server Management to produce accurate loss budgets for MRSI specialty insurance branches.

  • Mapped & tracked real time perils (i.e., SCS, wildfire, etc.) as they occurred using ArcGIS to estimate losses & amount of claims.

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EDUCATION

EDUCATION

2023-2025

Master's Degree

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

Masters of Science in Atmospheric Science

Graduate Research Assistant in the Barnes Research Group

Colorado State FORTCAST Board Secretary

  • Start: June 2023​

  • Finish: June 2025

2019-2023

EMBRY RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY

Bachelor of Science in Meteorology                                                      Minor: Applied Mathematics

GPA: 3.71; Major GPA: 3.82

  • Awarded the Presidential Scholarship and Women of Excellence Award

  • Graduated Magna Cum laude

  • Awarded sorority and fraternity life President of the year for outstanding leadership and initiative. 

  • Awarded Outstanding Meteorology Student of the Year awarded to one graduating meteorology senior a year.  

  • Awarded the prestigious John C. Adams Community Service at my Spring 2023 graduation, it is awarded to one graduating senior a year at Spring graduation. 

Bachelor's Degree

2015-2019

High School Diploma

HIGHTSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL

  • Yearbook Committee Lead

  • English Tutor

  • Peer Advisor/Mentor

  • Drama Club member

  • Lifeguard Instructor assistant

PUBLICATIONS

Cruel Summer (and Autumn): Humid Heat Trends, Extremes, and Mechanisms in the Southeast United States

Publication date: 18 March 2025

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8837

Authors: Kelsey. E. Ennis,  Shawn M. Milrad, Desiree A. Knight, Kathy D. Dello, Lily Raye, Kyle R. Wodzicki

This study employs an established wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) estimation formula and high-resolution reanalysis data to develop a custom gridded WBGT dataset for the Southeast. Summer and autumn WBGT (humid heat) trends and extremes are elucidated for 1950–2023. Overall, trends in average and extreme (90th percentile) WBGT are larger and more widely statistically significant at night and during summer. Autumn WBGT increases are largest and most significant in the Florida Peninsula and near the Gulf Coast, where the heat content of the adjacent water peaks in September. Furthermore, there are large increases in the frequency and duration of summer night-time extremes; regions near the Gulf and in Florida are experiencing nearly three additional extreme summer nights per decade, and extreme events are approximately one night longer per decade. A quantification of WBGT components shows that moisture (dewpoint) increases exceed temperature increases and are the largest contributors to WBGT across most of the Southeast, except in parts of the Appalachian and Piedmont regions where temperature changes dominate.

Man, it's a hot one: Trends and Extremes in Florida Autumn Heat Stress

Publication date: 04 March 2024

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8415

Authors: Kelsey. E. Ennis & Shawn M. Milrad

This study uses WBGT to examine heat stress trends and extremes during climatological autumn from the 1950s to 2022 at eight Florida cities. Results show that average autumn heat stress has increased significantly throughout much of Florida. Daytime heat stress increases were larger than their night-time counterparts in northern Florida, while the opposite was true in central and southern Florida. Extreme autumn heat stress events also increased in intensity and frequency. Results show that heat stress in Florida is no longer just a summer hazard and poses a particular threat to coastal areas in early autumn when ocean heat content is still near its climatological peak.

Heat Stress Metrics, Trends, and Extremes in the Southeastern United States

Publication date: 29 July 2024

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0009.1

Authors: Kyle R. Wodzicki, Kelsey E. Ennis, Desiree A. Knight, Shawn M. Milrad, Kathie D.
Dello, Corey Davis,a Sean Heuser, Blaine Thomas, and Lily Raye

This study evaluates several WBGT estimation formulas for the southeastern United States using North Carolina ECONet and U.S. Military measurement campaign data as verification. The estimation algorithm with the smallest mean absolute error was subsequently chosen to evaluate summer WBGT trends and extremes at 39 ASOS stations with long continuous (1950–2023) data records. Trend results showed that summer WBGT has increased throughout much of the southeastern U.S., with larger increases at night than during the day. Although there were some surprisingly large WBGT trends at higher elevation locations far from coastlines. Increases in the intensity and frequency of extreme  WBGT's were particularly stark in large coastal urban centers. Some locations have experienced more than two additional extreme heat stress days and nights per decade since 1950, with an exponential escalation in the number of extreme summer nights during the most recent decade.

SKILLS

High Performance Computing (HPC)

Data Analysis

Deep Learning Emulators

Python Programming Language 

Risk Communication Methods/Techniques

Machine Learning Techniques (ML)

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