As a 7th grade student, Cassandra Santamaria was one of only 6 students from Coachella Valley to be selected to go to the prestigious "Tech Trek" girls science camp. At the camp, Cassandra fell in love with geology, a topic that fascinates her due to its shear breadth and the fact that it is the study of the very planet we all live on.
But scientific excellence is nothing new to Cassandra. She has been on two previous JASON missions, Disappearing Wetlands and the Mysteries of Earth and Mars, and now she is a student Argonaut for Operation: Monster Storms. Extremely well organized and an excellent communicator,
Cassandra has become an extremely valuable member of the Monster Storms team.
Enhancing her communication skills even more is the fact that Cassandra is fluent in both English and Spanish. Having lived in Mexico for 5 years, Cassandra has a unique mix of skills that enables her to help non-English speaking students within her school, and she is also a volunteer mathematics tutor.
In addition to her accomplishments in science and mathematics, Cassandra also plays tennis and the violin.
In her own words:
On her Monster Storm Experience:Overall, this has been a great experience I will never forget! I had so much fun, and I learned so much about storms, weather, and shipwrecks. I have made new friends who will always stay in my heart and had a phenomenal time that I will always remember. I am very thankful for being selected as a Student Argonaut for the 2006 Operation, for being a role model for so many students, and for being able to visit so many new places. I am extremely surprised and happy!
Thoughts on Shirley Murillo
Today, we worked with Shirley Murillo. I was very impatient to meet her after reading her biography from the JASON curriculum. She is a research meteorologist and she is the top female hurricane researcher in the world! She was truly amazing. She makes you realize that meteorology isn’t just a man’s career; the number of women getting involved in meteorology is rapidly increasing. IAnd she was very nice. You could tell by the way she talked about weather and hurricanes that she really loves meteorology. You can see that she is fascinated by flying in hurricane planes, using Doppler radar, receiving hurricane and weather information from all of the hurricane research tools, working with other scientists, and watching hurricanes at landfall. She also explained how the Doppler radar works, why you have to wear flight suits, and what it feels like to be in a flight suit for more than nine hours!
Coolest Fact
I think that the coolest fact was learning that two thirds of a hurricane is ice and snow. Most people are oblivious of this fact, and I was one of them. Also, learning about the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and looking at pictures from the eye of the hurricane were fascinating! Well, actually, everything was fascinating! Another thing I thought was cool was when we took the weather collections and had finished collecting the dew point, we all looked at the results, and saw that the micro climates had affected the dew point and temperature.
This was a phenomenal experience!