JANUS Research Group Recognizes Hannah Vagasky with Energy Award

08/15/2025

JANUS Research Group (JANUS) is pleased to recognize Hannah Vagasky, Ph.D. with an Energy Award for her work leading one of the three AER/JANUS teams that participated in the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded ICECHIP (In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail in the Plains) field campaign in May and June 2025.

Hannah's work on this campaign included 46 travel days away from home. She supervised a team of people ranging from undergraduate students to senior scientists, deployed hail observation instrumentation in a total of 23 thunderstorms, and drove more than 15,000 miles.

Despite regularly deploying instrumentation immediately in advance of thunderstorms and having only six full down days during the campaign, Hannah's team remained safe and successful the entire time. Her efforts were instrumental in collecting terabytes of observation data and 26 boxes of hail for later analysis. She also successfully found, retrieved, and repaired a radar instrument that had been lofted by a tornado and deposited in a muddy cornfield.

For her tireless efforts in support of the ICECHIP field campaign, we are pleased to recognize Hannah with this Energy Award.