Before becoming Associate Provost at Plymouth State University, Lourdes Avilés was a professor of meteorology for two decades, during which she taught a large number of courses, engaged in various topics of research, and wrote books on atmospheric phenomena. She was also department chair and director of the Computational, Applied, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences (CAMPS) Academic Unit at Plymouth State University. Dr. Avilés holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Atmospheric Sciences and Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, respectively. Dr. Avilés is a trustee for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), currently the Vice Chair of the board, and has served in a variety of UCAR and AMS committees, including the (formerly named) AMS Board on Women and Minorities, the AMS Board on Higher Education, and chairing the AMS History Committee. She is also currently an academic ambassador for the AMS Committee on Hispanic and Latinx Advancement (CHALA). She was recently chosen as an AMS Fellow. Additionally, she is a trustee of “the home of the worst weather,” the Mount Washington Observatory in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Dr. Avilés has done research in tropical meteorology, air quality, and historical meteorology, as well as the interdisciplinary connections of atmospheric phenomena.  She wrote an AMS-published book about the science and history of the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 that won the 2013 Atmospheric Science Librarians History Choice award, and for the past few years has been working on an introductory-level textbook about the Optics of the Atmosphere (blue skies, rainbows, halos, auroras, etc.). She has given a large number of presentations for general and technical audiences on these topics. She is happy to chat and write about general meteorology, hurricanes, severe weather safety, the physics of the atmosphere, the science of snowflakes, the science of fall colors, the many optical effects in the atmosphere, and any other atmospheric phenomenon, and enjoys sharing fascinating information with audiences of all levels.