Shirley Murillo is a research meteorologist at the Hurricane Research Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Miami, Florida. She studies wind field patterns in hurricanes. Shirley works with a computer program called H*Wind that produces maps of a storm’s wind speed and wind direction as the storm progresses. These maps are extremely valuable to emergency planners and hurricane forecasters in predicting where a storm is tracking and how it might impact human populations along the path of the storm.

 

As a middle school student, Shirley applied to attend a public magnet school in Miami called the MAST Academy, the Maritime and Science Technology Academy. This highly-selective and competitive school was her dream school.  To get to school each day Shirley had to leave her home very early in the morning and take two public buses across town in time for morning classes. Math was difficult for Shirley, but she stuck with it, built her skills and confidence, and now applies math every day in her research on hurricane winds.

 

Growing up in Miami, Shirley actually experienced many very mild hurricane seasons. But then Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1992 and changed her entire perspective. She saw the devastation and damage caused by this Category 5 hurricane and became even more fascinated by these monster storms. Shirley made it her goal to study these storms to help people survive and recover from them. While at the MAST Academy Shirley applied for and was accepted to a year-long internship at the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA. She completed the internship during her senior year, working alongside research meteorologists who were studying these monster storms.

 

Shirley completed her undergraduate work at Florida State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology. She is currently working on her master’s degree in meteorology through the University of Hawaii.

 

Shirley is a very valuable member of the Hurricane Research Division team at NOAA. Her wind field data combines observations from the hurricane hunter flights conducted by NOAA, NASA and even the Air Force. For additional insight to the strength and behavior of a storm, she can include data collected from buoys and ships on the ocean’s surface. One day a week Shirley works from the offices of the National Hurricane Center where she acts as liaison between the researchers and the hurricane forecasters.

 

Shirley’s advice to students is to take as much math and science as possible no matter how difficult the two subjects seem to be. With hard work and patience any student can excel.