Mike Bettes
Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Background: Field expert and on-camera meteorologist for The Weather Channel; winner of 2001 Emmy Award for a series on tornado chasing in the plains

Dr. Greg Forbes
Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Background: Studied under Dr. T. Theodore Fujita (creator of the Fujita scale); authored several books on meteorology

Howie Bluestein
Professor of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma
Background: A pioneer in scientific field measurements of tornadoes and other severe weather phenomena, with more than three decades of experience

Don Burgess
Special Projects Associate, University of Oklahoma/CIMMS*
Background: Retired federal research meteorologist with numerous contributions to the understanding of severe thunderstorms and radar meteorology
*Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies

David Dowell
Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Background: Mobile Doppler radar studies of tornado winds; numerical cloud-scale modeling

Paul Markowski
Associate Professor of Meteorology, Penn State University
Background: Expert on rear-flank downdrafts in supercells

Erik Rasmussen
Chief Scientist and President, Rasmussen Systems
Background: Planned and directed the first VORTEX project

Yvette Richardson
Associate Professor of Meteorology, Penn State University
Background: Co-Team Leader in first VORTEX project; radar studies of severe thunderstorms

Lou Wicker
Research Scientist, NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)
Background: Computer simulation of tornadoes; worked on some of the first deployments of instruments near severe storms

Josh Wurman
President, Center for Severe Weather Research
Background: Designed the “Doppler On Wheels” (DOW) mobile radars to observe tornadoes, hurricanes and other phenomena from close range