The URECA website regularly features students’ perspectives on research and/or creative activities. This month’s featured student is Danny Caputi, who graduated magna cum laude this past December with a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric sciences.
While at Stony Brook, Caputi did meteorology research under the mentorship of Professor Brian Colle from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) — most recently on an independent research project using observational rainfall and wind data to model predictions for damage. He is the recipient of the Petra M. Udelhofen Scholarship, awarded annually to an undergraduate in atmospheric sciences/meteorology; and the Timothy Magnussen Memorial Scholarship, given annually to a senior in atmospheric sciences.
Caputi also was engaged in independent research in philosophy at Stony Brook this past year under the direction of Professor Harvey Cormier, and will be presenting a paper, “The Essence of the Self: A Mathematical Model to help us Cheat Death,” at an upcoming interdisciplinary meeting, “Toward a Science of Consciousness,” in Tucson, Arizona, in April. He has received a URECA travel grant to support this conference presentation, as he did two years ago when he presented “The Extraordinary Nature of Consciousness” at the SUNY Oneonta Philosophy Conference (April 2012).
As Vice President of the Meteorology Club for the past two years, Caputi posted weather alerts and provided weather-related educational data for SBUWeather on Facebook; and TVSTORMWATCH, a website he designed to predict school closings. Most notably, he initiated and worked to bring to light — together with a team of people from the Health Sciences Center, SoMAS and the Meteorology Club — the Top of the Brook project: installing a web camera and weather station on the rooftop of the Health Sciences Center. Caputi was also active in the summer 2013 Doppler Radar for Education and Mesoscale Studies (DREAMS) project, a week-long series of research missions with a Doppler on Wheels.
Caputi plans to pursue a PhD in atmospheric sciences starting this fall.
Click here for the full interview/feature.
Click here for past Researchers of the Month.
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