The website of Perry Samson, professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences, features a large headline running across the top of the screen: “Science is a contact sport.”
Samson, as part of his work as a researcher and lecturer for the university, occasionally takes a group of his students out to stand nearly face-to-face with tornadoes, collecting data and images right as they’re happening.
Photo by Scott Soderberg, U-M Photo Services.
“It’s a great deal of excitement to go into the field,” he says. “It’s like stalking wild beasts in the hope that the knowledge gained will improve our ability to forecast their behavior. ”
And yes, he’s had some contact. In 2008 one particular twister actually bounced the rental car he was driving across a highway in Kansas.
It’s all in the name of collecting good data, though, which Samson says he and his students got that day.
“My brother and sister are also meteorologists,” he says. “The family joke is if one of us dies prematurely, the others get the rights to their last photo.”
Those data, as well as the stories he can tell, have benefitted his lectures, both in terms of what it contributes to the course as well as in engaging students.
“I can’t take all students out to see tornadoes,” he says, adding that the video and pictures he takes fascinate his students. “What warm-blooded human wouldn’t be interested?”
In the ’90s some of his students, with Samson’s guidance, took a project from his class and turned it into Weather Underground, now one of the Internet’s top weather sites.
What moment in the classroom or lab stands out as the most memorable?
One year for Halloween, I asked students to come dressed as their favorite weather phenomenon. One student walked to the front of the room and opened up his coat to revel only a pair of green briefs. He said he was the green flash (a weather term).
If you were selling Ann Arbor to a faculty colleague, how would you describe what it has to offer?
It’s a great place to raise children, and home to excellent cultural events.
What is your favorite spot on campus?
Espresso Royale — often meeting students there.
What inspires you?
The outdoors. I believe my inspiration comes from nature while hiking, biking or cross-country skiing, though it might just be hyperventilation.
What are you currently reading?
In my spare time, I do enjoy sappy poetry.
Who had the greatest influence on your career path?
Mrs. Monahan, my sixth grade teacher who pointed me towards science and encouraged exploration of the outdoors.
But not all of Samson’s research deals directly with weather. He’s also the CEO and co-founder of LectureTools, an online software that enables instructors to gauge how well their students are engaging with lecture material by providing feedback in real-time. Samson said that students in his classes use LectureTools to ask more questions than they ever have before.
“That tells me that all these years I’ve probably been confusing in class and never knew it,” he says. “For better or worse, now I am far more likely to know when a student is confused.”
The challenge, though, is trying to get more instructors to buy into it. He said there are three choices that lecturers must make when it comes to handling student laptop computers: ignore them, ban them or utilize them.
“I’m trying to come up with enough evidence to convince my colleagues to believe that laptops can be an asset, even in large classes,” he says, referring to the student-teacher interactivity that LectureTools provides.
Samson has been working at U-M since 1979. In 1995 he was awarded an Arthur Thurnau Professorship, a prestigious honor by the university. And last year, he was named a Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year.
He resides in Ann Arbor with his wife Deborah, and bikes daily to work most of the year. This decision, like many of his stories, originated in a classroom.
After giving a lecture on climate change, “it occurred to me I should put my body where my mouth was, and lead by example,” he says.
The weekly Spotlight features faculty and staff members at the university. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
