VALPARAISO, Ind. -– Stephanie Dunten of Lafayette was among the student poster presenters at Valparaiso University’s seventh annual Great Lakes Meteorology Conference on March 28.

The conference, organized by meteorology students in VU’s Northwest Indiana National Weather Association (NWA) chapter, included a variety of presentations on meteorological topics with a focus on weather affecting the Great Lakes region.

Stephanie Dunten of Lafayette stands beside the poster she presented at Valparaiso University's 7th Annual Great Lakes Meteorology Conference on March 28, 2009.

Dunten, daughter of David and Jeannie Dunten, is a senior meteorology major. She presented a poster describing her research of a tornado that swept through Nappanee in October 2007.

She studied the weather conditions during the tornado storm outbreak. During her research, she compared data from the National Weather Service’s radar station in North Webster to that collected by Valparaiso University’s Doppler radar to determine if different characteristics of the storm structure were observed.

Several other presenters spoke on a variety of topics, including building construction and storm damage, high winds in the Ohio Valley caused by remnants of Hurricane Ike last September, climate change and cold air masses over the North American Sub-Arctic region, micro-scale weather processes that influence the intensity of lake effect snowstorms and the prediction of tornadoes. In addition, interactive exercises on lake effect snow and severe weather were led by Valpo meteorology students and faculty.

The conference annually draws approximately 100 professional meteorologists and meteorology students from throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond. For more information about Valpo’s Department of Geography and Meteorology and NWA chapter, visit valpo.edu/geomet.