Remembering Wendy Wagner
The Department of Atmospheric Sciences and many others at the University of Utah are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Wendy Wagner after a battle with ovarian cancer. Wendy had a lasting impact on our program and anyone who had the good fortune to know her at the U. Wendy was a two time Olympian in cross country skiing. She walked into my office after returning home from the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, Italy with an intense desire to "get off the hamster wheel" and do something new in mountain meteorology and snow science. Talk about energy! During this period, Dave Hanscom who had known Wendy for years through The Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA) and Utah racing scene, sent me a note saying that she would do great things for our program. He was right. While in our graduate program, Wendy worked with Prof. John Horel to develop techniques to measure snow along cross-country ski racing courses. She then used a physics-based snowpack model to simulate ...