Grand Prize

MATTHEW HAUGLAND
University of Oklahoma
Advisor: Kenneth Crawford

Invention: "Uncoupled surface layer" model

When Matt Haugland was a child in San Jose, California, he remembers that his parents gave him a small thermometer that he used to measure the temperature in different spots around his yard.  Although the yard wasn’t large, Haugland was fascinated by the temperature differences in the different parts of his yard.  As he grew older, he became fascinated by the microclimates of the San Francisco Bay region and the reasons behind them. 

Consequently, Haugland hoped to own land for the purpose of researching the microclimates on it. In 1999, he transferred from school in San Jose to the University of Oklahoma in search of affordable land.  He bought a five-acre plot and installed several weather stations across it.  Through his research, based on weather observations from these stations, Haugland developed a weather forecasting technique that accurately predicts nighttime temperatures. 

As Haugland says, “I’m hoping that this model will help improve weather forecasts around the world.”   The implications of his work are broad, from helping farmers protect their crops from frost and freezing, to helping predict nighttime fog formation, the biggest weather-related cause of death in transportation. 

“The idea of innovation really motivates me,” comments Haugland.  “Growing up in Silicon Valley, I was surrounded by a culture of finding new ways of doing things.”  Even as a child, Haugland thought about working with the weather, as when he planted cacti in his yard in hopes they would turn the land into a desert.  Today, Haugland notes that he is often thinking about the way weather works and new ways of predicting it. 

Haugland, 26, has come a long way from when he was a youngster concentrating on his backyard experiments.  He is now hoping to run a successful business focused on microclimates and microscale weather forecasting.  Already, Haugland has received interest internationally for his work.

Haugland attended Leigh High School in San Jose, graduating in 1997.  After attending San Jose State University for two years, he transferred to the University of Oklahoma, receiving his bachelors degree in 2001, his masters degree in 2002, and his Ph.D. in May of 2006, all in meteorology.  His parents, James and Holly Haugland, continue to reside in the San Jose, California area.