An old management adage says that if you need some new task done NOW, ask someone who is already busy. Although she probably cringes to hear it, this applies well to Tara, with an exception: she would first offer to take it on. Her tireless approach to work follows pretty directly from a commitment to accept new challenges in new places. In practice, it has led to twists and turns along the way. After completing her Master’s degree at Colorado State University in aerosol/cloud interactions in marine stratus, her graduate work at Colorado State University was interrupted to act as a flight and support scientist in private industry, followed by taking part in every level (forecasting, modeling, data management, ground control, flight scientist and management) of weather modification field programs in the United Arab Emirates and Wyoming. Much of her field work was in airplanes (to which she credits having a strong stomach). Tara left NCAR briefly to participate in wind energy research in St. Paul, Minnesota but quickly returned to NCAR to join DTC with a focus on verification-related work (specifically with the MET package). She has been involved with extensive real-time and retrospective verification for the Hydrometeorological Testbed (HMT) and the Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT), most recently as the verification task lead. Her most enjoyable DTC experience, she says, has been teaching at workshops and tutorials, and her work on HWT verification, particularly on interpreting results, has been especially satisfying. Keeping up with Tara’s work life is easy, since much of the verification-related activity at DTC (MET tutorials, workshops, AMS meetings, and prediction exercises) has her fingerprint on it. Keeping track of her outside-of-work life is a different story. She continues her busy lifestyle by participating in her nine-year-old daughter’s school activities, sports and other activities, all of which somehow seem to take on a life of their own!
