Contact Information
Biography
Dr. Trapp is a Professor and Head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before joining Illinois in 2014, he was a Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University from 2003-2014, and a research scientist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (through the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies) in Norman, Oklahoma from 1996-2003. Four years of his tenure with NSSL were spent as a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Dr. Trapp's research interests include the dynamics and observations of mesoscale convective systems, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes; mesoscale modeling and predictability.
Trapp received his B.S. degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, M.S. degree from Texas A&M University, and Ph.D. degree from the University of Oklahoma. He was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow.
Education
- Ph.D. in Meteorology, The University of Oklahoma, 1994
- M.S. in Meteorology, Texas A&M University, 1989
- B.S. in Agriculture/Atmospheric Science, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1985
External Links
Recent Publications
SCHUMACHER, RUSS. S., HENCE, DEANNA. A., NESBITT, STEPHEN. W., TRAPP, ROBERT. J., KOSIBA, KAREN. A., WURMAN, JOSHUA., SALIO, PAOLA., RUGNA, MARTIN., VARBLE, ADAM. C., & KELLY, NATHAN. R. (2021). Convective-storm environments in subtropical south america from high-frequency soundings during relampago-cacti. Monthly Weather Review, 149(5), 1439-1458. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-20-0293.1
Borque, P., Nesbitt, S. W., Trapp, R. J., Lasher-Trapp, S., & Oue, M. (2020). Observational Study of the Thermodynamics and Morphological Characteristics of a Midlatitude Continental Cold Pool Event. Monthly Weather Review, 148(2), 719-737. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0068.1
Carroll-Smith, D., Trapp, R. J., & Done, J. M. (2020). Exploring inland tropical cyclone rainfall and tornadoes under future climate conditions through a case study of hurricane ivan. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 60(1), 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0090.1
Liu, X., Zhou, K., Lan, Y. U., Mao, X. U., & Trapp, R. J. (2020). On the construction principle of conceptual models for severe convective weather forecasting operations in China. Weather and Forecasting, 35(1), 299-308. https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-19-0026.1
Miller, D. E., Wang, Z., Trapp, R. J., & Harnos, D. S. (2020). Hybrid Prediction of Weekly Tornado Activity Out to Week 3: Utilizing Weather Regimes. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(9), [e2020GL087253]. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087253
