A small town on the border of Alabama and Georgia produces an unusually high number of students that pursue careers in science. Ranburne, Alabama, population 300, is the hometown of Christina Holt. Christina credits Mr. Jason Cole, her high school physics teacher, for creating opportunities for his students to shine and pushing them to do their best. After high school, she went on to attend the University of South Alabama, and completed her graduate work at Texas A&M. Just a few days after defending her PhD in 2014, she began her career in modeling at ESRL/GSD.
Christina’s major role in the DTC has been to support the HWRF model. She loves to work on a team that pushes research advances into operations, while also pushing computational boundaries forward. “Weather gives immediate feedback,” she says, “so we can ultimately make the forecast better in actual operations in a matter of months.” She works to keep lines of communications open with the end users at NCEP. Regular HWRF development meetings provide the opportunity to ask questions, learn about developers’ experiences and focus areas, and discuss the next steps.
Christina also serves as Chairperson of the CIRES Member’s Council; her goal is to build a strong connection between CIRES staff at DSRC and CIRES staff on campus. She pushes herself to face her fears – from emceeing the CIRES Rendezvous for the first time in front of hundreds to people, to rock climbing - “Let’s try it!” Christina has made the most of living in Colorado by learning to ski, hike, and storm chase, and loves her dogs “Toots” (like “Tootsie Roll”) and “Roscoe.”
Her favorite book is “Isaac’s Storm,” about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, but she also treasures her copy of “The Storm of the Century” by Al Roker about the same event. Her aunt and uncle chased down Mr. Roker on a recent national tour for an autographed copy – the only one he granted that day!
