Kimberly E. Klockow McClain, Ph.D.
NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory
E: kim.klockow@noaa.gov
P: 405-325-0805
Primary Education
Ph.D. Human Geography, August 2013, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
M.S. Professional Meteorology, August 2008, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
B.S. with Honors in Economics, 2006, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
B.S. in Synoptic Meteorology, 2006, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
Minors and specialty areas: German, Communication, Psychology
Professional Experience
03/27/17 – Present Research Scientist and Behavioral Insights Unit Team Lead, NSSL, Norman, Oklahoma
Duties and responsibilities: My position was created to develop a formal social scientific research portfolio at NSSL/CIMMS, and includes both scientific leadership and research components.
Scientific Research: I lead and conduct basic and applied social science research focused on weather and climate risk, especially informed decision-making to support warning response, and issues in the communication of forecast uncertainty. I communicate results of research routinely through peer-reviewed publications, invited and submitted presentations, and through weekly participation in a public-facing weather podcast (WeatherBrains).
Scientific Leadership: I devise and execute strategic planning for social science research; lead the NSSL Behavioral Insights Unit, including the provision of grant support for multiple postdocs and graduate students; manage multiple grants as PI or Co-PI; assist CIWRO/NSSL program teams in identifying and including relevant research from the social, behavioral and economic sciences in their weather research programs; coordinate our research programs with operational needs – including through the Hazardous Weather Testbed; work with National Weather Service forecasters, emergency managers and broadcasters to transition research results into operations; and mentor/advise students and postdocs with multidisciplinary career interests.
09/01/14 – 03/24/17 UCAR Project Scientist I and Policy Advisor, Visiting Scientist Program, NOAA/OAR/OWAQ, Silver Spring, Maryland
Duties and responsibilities: In the NOAA OAR Office of Weather and Air Quality, I worked to develop a strategy for integrating social and behavioral science research into meteorological research and applications. Integrative activities included coordination with the National Science Foundation, the National Academies of Science, congressional committees, the American Meteorological Society Policy Program, partner academic institutions, the AAAS and other NOAA line offices, including the National Weather Service. In addition to these tasks, I conducted self-directed social and behavioral science research on tornado risk perception and warning response, published research results, and gave numerous presentations on research and policy for social science integration.
09/01/13 – 08/31/14 AMS/UCAR Congressional Science Fellow, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
Duties and responsibilities: Legislative fellow in the office of a U.S. Senator. Performed duties typical of a legislative assistant, including bill language preparation, comparative policy analysis, constituent requests, drafting of talking points, hearing planning, multi-agency engagement, and engagement with other senate and house offices to develop and promote policy objectives. Portfolio focused most extensively on natural hazards mitigation and financing, water infrastructure, control and cleanup of environmental pollution, offshore oil & gas drilling, and fisheries management.
08/01/09 –08/31/13 Doctoral Research Assistant, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
Duties and responsibilities: Used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods from psychology and human geography to study risk perception and decision-making for severe weather. Projects included evaluations of risk cartography in support of effective forecast uncertainty communication, spatio-temporal risk perception and decision making in warnings, and cultural analyses of climate change beliefs.
Organizer of several cross-disciplinary and multi-organization research projects, including a community-centered tornado resilience project involving the National Weather Service, local emergency management, and academic researchers and students from three different departments.
Instructor for World Regional Geography.
08/15/06 – 07/31/09 Graduate Research Assistant, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, Norman, Oklahoma
Duties and responsibilities: Applied qualitative and quantitative economic methods to study the impact of the Oklahoma Mesonet on agricultural risk decision-making.
Instructor for Introductory Meteorology & Climatology course.
08/15/04 – 05/15/06 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Physics Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
Duties and responsibilities: Instructor for recitation sections of Introductory Calculus-Based Physics for Scientists and Engineers.
05/27/04 – 08/03/04 Undergraduate Researcher, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program, Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms, Norman, Oklahoma
Duties and responsibilities: Conducted original research investigating patterns of consumption change caused by tornado impacts on local communities.
Conference Presentations
6th Conference on Weather Warnings and Communications, 2022, Milwaukee, WI
“Exploring Dissemination: Making Threats-in-Motion work for NWS and its Partners.” – Oral Presentation
102nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2022, Virtual.
“User dissemination requirements and policy concerns for Threats-in-Motion.” – Oral Presentation
“Building a Social Science Team in a NOAA Cooperative Institute and Laboratory.” – Oral Presentation
5th Global Summit of GADRI, 2021, Virtual
“Equitable Resilience: Addressing Social Justice in Disasters” – Invited presentation
Australian Bureau of Meteorology Annual R&D Workshop, 2021, Virtual
“Exploring Connections Between Probabilistic Hazard Information and Warnings.” – Invited presentation
Bridging Across Extreme Events Workshop, 2021, Virtual.
“Telling a Better Forecast Story: Improving Use of Multiple Reference Classes of Probabilistic Information.” – Invited presentation
101st American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2021, Virtual.
“NWS Severe Warning Philosophies across the CONUS: Implications for the Implementation of FACETs.” – Oral presentation
“Introduction to the CIMMS/NSSL Behavioral Insights Unit.” – Oral presentation
100th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2020, Boston, MA
“Estimating the Economic Impact of the Tornado Warning Improvement and Extension Program on Businesses” – Oral presentation
“Interoffice Collaboration: Current NWS Practice and Implications for a Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI) Future” – Oral presentation
“Putting Multiple Probabilistic Products before End Users: The 2019 HWT Emergency Manager Experiments” – Oral presentation
“Transitions from Research to Operations, Operations to Research, and Operations to Practice” – Invited panelist
“Back to the Future: A Community Discussion on Transitioning Social and Behavioral Science into the Next 100 Years” – Invited panelist
Atlanta Integrated Warning Team Meeting, Atlanta, GA
“Improving IWT Linkages to Manufactured Housing Communities in the Southeast” – Invited presentation
Birmingham Integrated Warning Team Meeting, Clanton, AL
“Improving IWT Linkages to Manufactured Housing Communities in the Southeast” – Oral presentation
In The Midst of Chaos 2019, Chicago, IL
“Improving Risk Communication for Tornado Threats” – Invited speaker
United Nations Systems and Non-State Actors Exploring New Ways of Cooperation, United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York
“Bolstering social scientific research and application to improve natural hazards resilience.” – Invited speaker
AMS Conference on Weather Warnings Communication 2019, San Diego, CA
“Probability of… What, Exactly? Establishing a Simple Ground Rule for the Communication of Forecast Uncertainty.” – Oral Presentation
Northern Indiana Integrated Warning Team Meeting 2019, North Webster, IN
“Improving Risk Communication for Tornado Threats” – Invited speaker
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 2019, Washington, DC
“Communicating Forecast Uncertainty for Lower-Numeracy Populations” – Oral presentation
National Weather Association Severe Storms and Radar Conference, 2019, Ames, IA
“Improving Risk Communication for Tornado Threats” – Invited speaker
99th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2019, Phoenix, AZ
“Community Update on FACETs Social Science Research” – Oral presentation
“Social Scientific Research and Transition Activities for Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI)” – Oral presentation
“Communicating Forecast Uncertainty for Lower-Numeracy Populations” – Oral presentation
“Catalyzing Innovation in Weather Science Internationally” – Invited panelist
CIMMS 40th Anniversary, 2018, Norman, OK
40 Years of Societal Applications in CIMMS – Invited speaker
Apple Inc., 2018, Palo Alto, CA
“Frontiers in Communicating Weather Risk” – Invited speaker
Norman Chamer of Commerce, 2018, Norman, OK
“Severe Weather Warnings and Society” – Invited speaker
98th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2018, Austin, TX
“Communicating Uncertainty: Progress and Outstanding Challenges in the NOAA Testbeds” – Oral Presentation
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 2017, Boston, MA
“A Closer Look at Perceived Tornado Behavior: Disentangling the Effects of Place Attachment and Local Climatology” – Oral presentation
97th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2017, Seattle, WA
“A Closer Look at Perceived Tornado Hot Spots and No-Go Zones: Disentangling the Effects of Place Attachment and Local Climatology” – Oral presentation
National Academies of Science Committee Meeting for Study Advancing Social and Behavioral Science Research and Application within the Weather Enterprise, 2016, Washington, DC – Oral Presentation (given jointly with John Cortinas and Jen Sprague)
Northern Illinois University Department of Geography Seminar Series, 2016, DeKalb, IL
“Severe weather warnings and society: A trip through the culture and policies of meteorology.” – Invited speaker
Iowa State University Department of Geological & Atmospheric Sciences Seminar Series, 2016, Ames, IA
“Severe weather warnings and society: A trip through the culture and policies of meteorology.” – Invited speaker
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 2016, San Francisco, CA
“Place Attachment and Tornado Risk Perception in the Oklahoma City Metro Area” –Oral Presentation (given jointly with Randy Peppler)
96th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2016, New Orleans, LA
“Identifying NOAA Priorities for Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences” –Oral Presentation
96th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2016, New Orleans, LA
“Place Attachment and Tornado Risk Perception in the Oklahoma City Metro Area” –Oral Presentation (given jointly with Randy Peppler)
University of Maryland Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Science Seminar Series, 2015, College Park, MD
“Severe weather warnings and society: A trip through the culture and policies of meteorology.” – Invited speaker
American Meteorological Society Summer Community Meeting, 2015, Raleigh, NC
“Risk Perception and User Response.” – Invited panelist
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 2015, Chicago, IL
“Place Attachment and Tornado Risk Perception” – Oral Presentation (given jointly with Randy Peppler)
95th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2015, Phoenix, AZ
“Using policy to communicate weather and climate risk: Reforms of the National Flood Insurance Program.” – Invited speaker
“The Societal Applications Symposium: Ten Years of Growth, and Predictions for the Next Ten Years” – Core Science Keynote Address (given jointly with Dr. Randy Peppler and Dr. Gina Eosco)
AGU Science Policy Conference, 2014, Washington, DC
“Under water: Policies to avoid a perfect storm.” – Invited panelist
Ohio University’s 5th Annual Meteorology Symposium, 2014, Athens, OH
“Communicating uncertainty in severe weather warnings.” – Invited speaker
94th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2014, Atlanta, GA
“The effect of warning design on subjective risk estimates”– Oral Presentation
“A tour of the federal policy landscape for the AMS community” – Invited speaker & panelist
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 2013, Los Angeles, CA
“Representations of risk space and decision-making in tornado warnings.” – Oral Presentation
93rd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2013, Austin, TX
“Representations of risk space and decision-making in tornado warnings.” – Oral Presentation
“Tornado stories in Central Oklahoma – Town Hall meetings to help understand local knowledge and beliefs.” – Oral Presentation (given jointly with R.A. Peppler)
Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, 2012, San Francisco, CA
“Representations of risk space and decision-making in tornado warnings.” – Oral Presentation
Lake Tahoe Science Conference, 2012, Incline Village, NV
“Seeing the world through a lens: How do people form opinions on climate change?”
–Invited Speaker & Panelist
2012 Integrated Warning Team Annual Meeting, Kansas City, MO.
“Tornado warning response: Theory, case studies, and thoughts on the upcoming Central Region Experiment” – Invited Speaker
2012 Warn-on-Forecast Workshop, Norman, OK.
“Future of Severe and High-Impact Weather Warnings” – Panelist
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 2012, New York City, NY
“Accessing and understanding tornado warnings: The April 27, 2011 outbreak” – Oral Presentation
92nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2012, New Orleans, LA
“How forecast and warning information did, and did not, shape response in the April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak.”– Oral Presentation
National Weather Association Annual Meeting, 2011, Birmingham, AL.
“Preliminary Look at Public Perceptions of and Responses to Warnings in the 27 April 2011 Tornado Outbreak.” – Oral Presentation
Conference on Weather Warnings Communication, 2011, Oklahoma City, OK
“Decision-making based on warning design: How individuals infer uncertainty and choose to respond” – Oral Presentation
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 2011, Seattle, WA
“Seeing the world through a political lens: The connection between weather and climate change perceptions and beliefs” – Oral Presentation
91st American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2011, Seattle, WA
“Space and spatiality in warnings: a new way to evaluate warning comprehension” – Poster Presentation
*Award for best student poster presentation in POLICY symposium
Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, 2010, Salt Lake City, UT
Enhancing Communication in Cross-Disciplinary Research (ECCDR) Workshop, 2010, Coeur d’Alene, ID
“Developing a New Generation of Cross-Disciplinary Researchers: An Interactive Panel Session to Address Common Pitfalls and Challenges.” – Panel organizer and moderator
“Spatial risk perception in dynamic hazard events” – Poster Presentation
90th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2010, Atlanta, GA
“Seeing the world through a political lens: the connection between weather and climate change perceptions and beliefs.” – Oral Presentation
89th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2009, Phoenix, AZ
“Estimating the economic benefits of the Oklahoma Mesonet to Agricultural Producers in the state of Oklahoma.” – Oral Presentation
“Experiencing the weather: Public perceptions of climate change” – Poster Presentation
88th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2008, New Orleans, LA
“Estimating the economic benefits of the Oklahoma Mesonet to the state of Oklahoma.” – Poster Presentation
“To travel or not to travel? The case of AMS 2007: A risk assessment case with a weather salient community.” – Poster Presentation
Purdue Climate Change and Impacts Conference, 2006, West Lafayette, IN
“The economic impacts of tornadoes: linking changes in financial distress to changes in consumption” – Oral Presentation
Third Annual Great Lakes Meteorology Conference, 2005, Valparaiso, IN
“The economic impacts of tornadoes: A broad analysis of post-event consumption” – Oral Presentation
85th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2005, San Diego, CA
“The economic impacts of tornadoes: A broad analysis of post-event consumption” – Oral Presentation
Honors, Awards, and Professional Service
2023
- Associate Editor, Weather, Climate and Society
- Member, World Meteorological Organization’s HiWeather Value Chain Project
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-USA Program
- AMS Planning Commission, Incoming Commissioner
- WeatherBrains podcast co-host
- Mentor/committee member – three MS students: geography, communication, anthropology
2022
- Associate Editor, Weather, Climate and Society
- Member, World Meteorological Organization’s HiWeather Value Chain Project
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-USA Program
- AMS Planning Commission
- WeatherBrains podcast co-host
- Mentor/committee member – four MS students: geography, communication, sociology
2021
- Associate Editor, Weather, Climate and Society
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-USA Program
- AMS Councilor
- Co-chair, AMS Societal Impacts Board
- AMS Planning Commission
- WeatherBrains podcast co-host
- Mentor/committee member – four MS students: geography, communication, emergency management
2020
- Associate Editor, Weather, Climate and Society
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-Southeast Program
- AMS Councilor
- Co-chair, AMS Societal Impacts Board
- AMS Planning Commission
- WeatherBrains podcast co-host
- Mentor/committee member – four MS students: geography, communication, emergency management
2019
- Editor’s Award for Weather, Climate and Society
- Associate Editor, Weather, Climate and Society
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-Southeast Program
- AMS Councilor
- AMS Centennial Committee
- Co-chair, AMS Societal Impacts Board
- AMS Planning Commission
- WeatherBrains podcast co-host
- Mentor – two MS geography and emergency management students
2018
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-Southeast Program
- AMS Centennial Committee
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- AMS Planning Commission
- WeatherBrains podcast co-host
- Capstone mentor – 10 undergraduate meteorology and geography students
2017
- National Weather Service Service Assessment Team – Hurricane Harvey
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-Southeast Program
- AMS Centennial Committee
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- AMS Planning Commission
2016
- Member, Science Steering Committee, VORTEX-Southeast Program
- Co-Organizer, NOAA Social Science Learning Series
- Co-Organizer, NOAA/OAR Social Science Network
- Co-Chair for Conference, 97th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting
- Chair for Planning, Presidential Special Symposium on Individual, Social and Cultural Observations in Weather and Climate Contexts, 97th AMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA
- AMS Centennial Committee
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
2015
- Invited participant, AMS Centennial Vision Planning Meeting, Boston, MA
- Co-Organizer, “Advancing Social and Behavioral Science Research and Application within the Weather Enterprise.” National Academies of Science Scoping Meeting
- Mentor, “Evaluating the literature: Do Americans understand the watch, warning, advisory system?” Zainab Ali, NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions Scholar.
- Organizing committee member and invited speaker, Living with Extreme Weather Workshop, Norman, OK
- Moderator, 15th Presidential Forum: Will weather change forever – Anticipating meteorology in 2040”
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- Co-Chair for Planning, Ninth Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research, 96th AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA
- AMS Membership Committee
2014
- Continued service in U.S. Senate in the office of Senator Jeff Merkley
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- Co-Chair for Planning, Ninth Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research, 95th AMS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ
- AMS Membership Committee
- 2014 Severe Local Storms Conference Program Committee
- Invited participant: World Meteorological Organization THORPEX Legacy Planning Meeting
- Invited participant and facilitator: 2014 NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Workshop
- Invited participant: American Geophysical Union Science Policy Conference
2013
- AMS/UCAR Congressional Science Fellowship, administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Legislative Fellow in the office of Senator Jeff Merkley.
- Charles Standley Memorial Award, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma. April 2013.
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- Co-Chair for Planning, Ninth Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research, 94th AMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA
- AMS Membership Committee
2012
- Invited speaker & panelist, Lake Tahoe Basin Science Conference: “Environmental Restoration in a Changing Climate.” Incline Village, NV, May 2012.
- Ralph and Margaret Olson Geography Award & Scholarship, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma. April 2012.
- Appearance as warning response expert on NOVA “Deadliest Tornadoes” program.
- Invited participant, NOAA Weather Ready Nation: Science Imperatives for Severe Thunderstorm Research. Birmingham, AL, April 2012
- Facilitator: Department of Energy Complex Flow Workshop. Boulder, CO, Jan. 2012.
- Invited Panelist, Warn-on-Forecast Workshop, “Future of Severe and High-Impact Weather Warnings”. Norman, OK 2012
- Organizer, “Working at the intersection of Geography and Atmospheric Science: Early career scholars” – Panel session at AAG Annual Meeting, New York City, NY, 2012
- Organizer and Panelist, “Communicating Across Disciplinary Boundaries: Atmospheric Sciences in Geography” – Panel session at AAG Annual meeting, New York City, NY, 2012
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- Co-Chair for Planning, Eighth Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research, 93rd AMS Annual Meeting, Austin, TX
- AMS Membership Committee
2011
- Invited participant: NOAA Weather Ready Nation “Vital Conversation”. Norman, OK, December 2011
- Invited participant: National Academies of Science workshop on Urban Meteorology. Woods Hole, MA, July 2011.
- AMS Societal Impacts Board
- AMS Membership Committee
- Chair, Subcommittee for Geographers
- Planner, Young Professionals Reception
- Planning Committee, Seventh Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research, 92nd AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA
- Award for best student poster presentation in AMS POLICY symposium, Seattle, Washington 2011.
- Panel co-organizer and facilitator: Town Hall Meeting to Study the 27 April 2011 Tornado Outbreak. National Weather Association Annual Meeting, Birmingham, AL.
- Mentor, Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program. Deriving Population
Exposure Fatality Rate Estimates for Tornado Outbreaks Using Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). Amber Cannon, OU NWC REU 2011 - Co-organizer, National Weather Center Benefit Bash, Proceeds benefiting:
Heart of Central Oklahoma Chapter of the American Red Cross ($2000)
2010
- AMS Membership Committee
- Subcommittee for Non-members
- Subcommittee for Young Professionals
- Co-Chair, AMS Student Conference Planning Committee
- Enhancing Communication in Cross-Disciplinary Research (ECCDR) Scholarship, 2010
- Mentor, Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program. Public Response to the 10 May 2010 Norman, Oklahoma Tornado. Sarah Stalker, REU 2010.
- Co-mentor for senior capstone project, “Flash Flood Risk Perception.” Kelsey
Mulder and Curtis MacDonald. University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology,
Norman, Oklahoma, 2010. - Co-organizer, National Weather Center Benefit Bash, Proceeds benefiting:
Heart of Central Oklahoma Chapter of the American Red Cross ($1600)
2009
- Travel grant sponsored by Joe Friday for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 89th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 2009
- Co-Chair, AMS Student Conference Planning Committee
- AMS Board of Higher Education Graduate Representative
- Mentor, Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program. A social perspective of warn on forecast: Ideal tornado warning lead time and the general public’s perceptions of weather risks. Stephanie Hoekstra, REU 2009.
- Co-organizer, National Weather Center Benefit Bash, Proceeds benefiting:
Victim of February 10, 2009 Lone Grove tornado ($750)
2008
- Invited participant and facilitator, Advanced Weather and Society*Integrated Studies Workshop. Norman, OK, September 2008.
- Invited participant, Societal Impacts Program’s Weather and Society Integrated Studies Workshop. Boulder, CO, August 2008
- Invited participant, American Meteorological Society Policy Colloquium. Washington, D.C., June 2008
- AMS Board of Higher Education Graduate Representative
- Co-Chair, AMS Student Conference Planning Committee
2007
- Session Chair, AMS Student Conference Planning Committee
2006
- American Meteorological Society Industry Fellowship, 2006 – 2007
- Outstanding Senior Award in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, 2006
- Best Student Presentation Award, Purdue Climate Change and Impacts Conference, 2006
- AMS Student Conference Planning Committee
2004-2006
- President, Purdue University Meteorological Association (2004 – 2006)
- Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Gamma Sigma, Pi Beta Phi, Golden Key
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