By Avi Judd
“I need a forecast in two minutes. What do you have?”
Wyatt Crutcher is used to being put on the spot by his meteorology professor, Joshua Durkee. A storm encroaches his campus’ football game. High lightning proximity, six miles from the stadium. Within moments Crutcher assesses the impending storm and relays the key information back to Durkee, his mentor. As part of Western Kentucky University’s (WKU) Disaster Science Operation Center (DSOC), this high-pressure scenario is routine for the meteorology major from Clinton, Illinois.
WKU’s extracurriculars and emergency management certificate led Crutcher to choose the university as his new home away from home. Crutcher has immersed himself in a multitude of roles at WKU as an emergency manager for the DSOC, the president of WKU’s chapter of the American Meteorological Society/National Weather Association (AMS/NWA), and most recently as one of CLIMBS’ newest undergraduate researchers. Crutcher will work under Project 7 which seeks to Integrate Artificial Intelligence for Adaptative Emergency Management.
The project is a blend of two fields Crutcher was already engaged in: disaster detection and damage assessment.
“I instantly knew this was something I had to do,” said Crutcher when recalling the moment he learned of the position from CLIMBS researcher and WKU professor, Zachary Suriano. “We’re taking raw storm data and looking at individual counties across Kentucky to see which ones are being impacted the most.”
Data surrounding a storm, such as damage costs and casualty counts, allows him to evaluate whether each county’s Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA), the federal guideline for disaster preparation, proved effective.
“Not every county is up to standard,” said Crutcher. “It’s important that we find where these gaps are as soon as possible in order to reduce disaster risks from natural hazards.”
Through collaborative efforts, Crutcher and researchers from WKU, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Louisville aim to intertwine risk and weather forecasting models through machine learning and AI to discover weather patterns that will allow for faster disaster detection and ultimately increased warning time for affected communities.
CLIMBS allows Crutcher to experience this real-world, impactful research as an undergraduate. Another benefit he highlighted is working with his mentors, professors Joshua Durkee and David Oliver.
“Not only do they challenge me to become a lot better personally, but also academically,” said Crutcher.
Looking forward, Crutcher is deciding between enrolling in a master’s program in homeland security at WKU or delving straight into the emergency management workforce.
Although he sifts through disaster outcomes regularly, Crutcher never fears the coming storms. They will continue. Instead, Wyatt Crutcher tries to lean on what he learned from his mentors: “It’s best to not approach it as the storms could be the problems, but maybe the protocols, maybe how people respond to it, maybe the plans, that’s really what needs to be looked at.”
