Living in Eugene, Oregon, Megan Taylor was tired of working in broadcast journalism. She still loved meteorology and wanted to stay in the field. Fortunately, someone told her to apply to the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies.
Taylor joined the OU CIMMS team in January 2012, moving closer to home in Kansas City, Missouri. She works at the National Weather Service Training Center as an OU CIMMS research associate.
“Television was not enough science for me,” Taylor said. “Someone said I should check out CIMMS. There were two openings – Hydro or AWIPS. I chose Hydro.”
She researches, writes and develops training for a variety of topics, including media training. Currently she is working on an extensive Impact-Based Decision Support Services training to be used by all NWS operational employees.
“We should look for training opportunities and take advantage of it,” Taylor said.
Taylor was the project manager for a public speaking video series that included 27 videos – each of which focuses on a specific component of public speaking. In 2018, she will be part of a public speaking coaching program which aims to provide individualized instruction on specific issues.