Past NIWeek Blogs

Drum Roll, Please: Severe-Storms Chaser to Deliver NIWeek 2011 Keynote

Get ready to be blown away, NIWeek attendees. This year’s closing keynote address will be delivered by Tim Samaras, acclaimed severe-storms researcher and star of the adrenaline-pumping Discovery Channel show “Storm Chasers.” An innovator in his field, Samaras uses NI LabVIEW software, NI CompactDAQ, and NI DIAdem to collect and analyze data from tornadoes across the fifty states. He and his team predict where a tornado will land, then drop several probes in its path to measure humidity, temperature, wind speed, direction, and static pressure. Samaras actually holds the Guinness World Record for measuring the lowest pressure within a tornado, and he is the only person to successfully collect video from inside a tornado. The data he gathers not only provides insight into how and why twisters form, but literally saves lives by predicting their future path.

The field coordinator for TWISTEX (Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in/near Tornados EXperiment), Samaras and his team of engineers and scientists use NI tools to study the near-surface internal tornado environment. In recognition of his research, the National Geographic Society awarded him the honor of Emerging Explorer in 2005. With 30 years of storm-tracking under his belt, Samaras regularly forgoes safety (and some might argue, sanity) to push boundaries in ways that are sure to inspire NIWeek attendees in their own projects.

Spoiler alert: everyone survives. Whew. But if this video clip keeps you on the edge of your seat, just imagine how exciting Samaras’ keynote will be.