John A. Knox

Photo:
Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor
Associate Director and Undergraduate Coordinator for ATSC Program

Contact info

Email:
johnknox@uga.edu
Office:
Geog-Geol Bldg, 210 Field Street, Athens, Georgia 30602, Room 139
Phone Number:
706-542-2118
Research Interests:

Physical geography, specifically dynamics of weather and climate, geoscience education, atmospheric hazards, meteorological applications of social media data

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=k3mBeMEAAAAJ
CV:
John Knox CV Jan 20 2025.pdf (443.56 KB)

I study the wind: why it blows, where it blows, what it blows around, and how to protect people from it.  This subject is called atmospheric dynamics, and I teach the core courses in this subject in our atmospheric sciences major.  I also teach a wide variety of classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Like my own professors in college at UAB, I put students first, and devote much of my time to teaching, academic advising, student organization advising, and mentoring.

Education:
  • Ph.D. (1996), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Atmospheric sciences
  • B.S. (1988), UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Mathematics
Grants:

Extramural and Intramural Grants (28; Total activity: $6.77 million; To UGA: $1,210,119)

Since 2020:

WRF in the GEOG 1112 Curriculum.  UGA Franklin College Teaching Enhancement and Innovation Grant.  $3000; Funded 8/23-5/24.

Creation of Student-Run, On-Campus Numerical Weather Forecasting Model.  UGA Student Technology Fee One-Time Funding Allocation.  $43,000; Funded 1/23-4/25.

Developing new storm design criteria for natural hazards planning research and practice (co-PI); 2021 (UGA) Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant.  $135,052; ($43,894 to Knox); Funded 1/22-6/23.

AV Equipment for AthensGAWeather/North Geography Weather Authority Broadcast Studio.  UGA Student Technology Fee One-Time Funding Allocation.  $2,644; Funded 1/22-4/22.

Weather and Climate Software License for Teaching and Forecasting Applications.  UGA Learning Technologies Grant.  $13,500; Funded 7/21-6/22.

Hidden Figures in the Atmospheric Sciences.  UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Innovation in Multicultural Curriculum Grant. $2000; Funded 12/20-5/21.

Of note:

National/International Research Awards:

  • Fellow, American Meteorological Society, 2020
  • T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award, National Weather Association, 2010
  • Highly commend, Royal Meteorological Society‘s IBM Award for Meteorological Innovation That Matters international competition, 2009

Campus/System/Regional/National Teaching Awards:

  • University System of Georgia Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award, 2024
  • Edward N. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award, American Meteorological Society, 2020
  • Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Geography, 2020 (first-ever geography professor selected)
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, SouthEastern Division of the American Association of Geographers (SEDAAG), 2016
  • "Best 300 Professors" selection, The Princeton Review, 2012 (only geographer in U.S. selected)  http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/three-uga-professors-named-among-the-nations-best-by-princeton-review/
  • Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, UGA, 2013  http://columns.uga.edu/news/article/award-winners-early-career-faculty-members-recognized-for-excellence/
  • Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award, UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, 2011
  • UGA Student Government Association Professor Recognition Award, 2005, 2010, 2011
  • Who‘s Who Among America‘s Teachers, 2004
  • UW-Madison Wahl Meteorology Teaching Award, 1994
  • UW-Madison Teaching Fellow, 1994-95

National Educational Publication Awards:

  • William Henry Fox Talbot Prize for Visual Excellence in a College Textbook, Society of Academic Authors, 2003
  • APEX Grand Award for Publication Excellence in Writing, Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 2007

Institutional Outreach and Service Awards and Nominations:

  • NASA/GISS Best Popular Science Award, 1997
  • UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Advisor Award nominee, 2005, 2008, 2010

National Weather Forecasting Awards:

  • "Final Four" forecaster, WxChallenge national weather forecasting contest tournament, 2011
  • 1st-place trophy for best faculty forecast for New Orleans, LA, WxChallenge contest, 2012
  • 2nd-place trophy for best faculty forecast for Providence, RI, WxChallenge contest, 2012

Selected National Academic Awards and Honors:

  • U.S. Presidential Scholar, 1983
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellow, 1988
  • Rhodes Scholar Finalist, 1988
  • Phi Kappa Phi National Fellow, 1988

Research Projects

  1. Clear-air turbulence forecasting
  2. Geoscience education research at the pre-college and college levels
  3. Wind-related hazards at the ground (e.g., windblown bounce houses)
  4. Tornado debris research
  5. Inertial instability and its role in weather and climate
  6. Hyperthermia and its effects on athletes
  7. Extreme climate indices 
Courses Regularly Taught:
GEOG 1112
GEOG 4/6121
Selected Publications:

Since 2020:

Martinez, C. J., D. Das, E. F. Bloomfield, J. D. Abraham, J. A. Knox, R. Simmonds, D. C. Hilderbrand, J. Giovannettone, A. M. Gouw, and A. RoyChowdhury, 2024: Bridging the COSMOS: How the Inclusion of and Collaboration with Faith-Based Understandings and Indigenous Knowledges Can Transform the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise.  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 105, E1734-E1754.

Knox, P., J. Knox, E. Pauline, C. Scarborough, and H. Stuckey, 2024: The weather and climate of Wormsloe and surrounding areas. Chapter 2 of Social Roots: Lowcountry Foodways, Reconnecting the Landscape, ed. Sarah V. Ross.  UGA Press, pp. 26-39.

Preece, J. R., T. L. Mote, J. Cohen, L. J. Wachowicz, J. A. Knox, M. Tedesco, and G. J. Kooperman, 2023: Summer atmospheric circulation over Greenland in response to Arctic amplification and diminished spring snow cover.  Nature Communications, 14, 3759. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39466-6

Knox, J. A., 2023: Atmospheric Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Recipients: Trends, Early Career Earnings, and Student Debt, 2015–19.  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, E99-E106.  https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0162.1

Knox, J. A., T. E. Gill, C. A. Williamsberg, J. M. Smith, L. V. Boggs, A. W. Black, and H. E. Skypek, 2022: Wind-related bounce house accidents: Meteorological, regulatory, and outreach contexts.  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, E2323-E2340.  https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0160.1  Estimated potential audience reach of media coverage of article: > 500 million people

Harvey, V. L., and J. Knox, lead authors, 2022: Upper Stratosphere and Lower Mesosphere.  Chapter 11 of SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison (S-RIP) Final Report, Masatomo Fujiwara, Gloria L. Manney, Lesley J. Gray, and Jonathon S. Wright (Eds.), SPARC Report No. 10, WCRP-6/2021, doi: 10.17874/800dee57d13, available at www.sparc-climate.org/publications/sparc-reports. 

Fujiwara, M., G. L. Manney, L. J. Gray, J. S. Wright, J. Anstey, T. Birner, S. Davis, E. P. Gerber, V. L. Harvey, M. I. Hegglin, C. R. Homeyer, J. A. Knox, K. Kruger, A. Lambert, C. S. Long, P. Martineau, B. M. Monge-Sanz, M. L. Santee, S. Tegtmeier, S. Chabrillat, D. G. H. Tan, D. R. Jackson, S. Polavarapu, G. P. Compo, R. Dragani, W. Ebisuzaki, Y. Harada, C. Kobayashi, K. Wargan, and J. S. Whitaker, 2021: Introduction. Chapter 1 of SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison (S-RIP) Final Report, Masatomo Fujiwara, Gloria L. Manney, Lesley J. Gray, and Jonathon S. Wright (Eds.), SPARC Report No. 10, WCRP-6/2021, doi: 10.17874/800dee57d13, available at www.sparc-climate.org/publications/sparc-reports.

Fujiwara, M., G. L. Manney, L. J. Gray, J. S. Wright, J. Anstey, T. Birner, S. Davis, E. P. Gerber, V. L. Harvey, M. I. Hegglin, C. R. Homeyer, J. A. Knox, K. Kruger, A. Lambert, C. S. Long, P. Martineau, B. M. Monge-Sanz, M. L. Santee, S. Tegtmeier, S. Chabrillat, D. G. H. Tan, D. R. Jackson, S. Polavarapu, G. P. Compo, R. Dragani, W. Ebisuzaki, Y. Harada, C. Kobayashi, K. Wargan, and J. S. Whitaker, 2021: Synthesis Summary.  Chapter 12 of SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison (S-RIP) Final Report, Masatomo Fujiwara, Gloria L. Manney, Lesley J. Gray, and Jonathon S. Wright (Eds.), SPARC Report No. 10, WCRP-6/2021, doi: 10.17874/800dee57d13, available at www.sparc-climate.org/publications/sparc-reports.  

Pauline, E., J. A. Knox, L. Seymour, and A. J. Grundstein, 2021: Revising NCEI’s Climate Extremes Index and the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index to Analyze Climate Extremes Vulnerability across the United States.  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102, E84-E98.

 

 

 

Research Areas:
Earth, Environment, and Climate
Articles Featuring John A. Knox
GTU Professor poses with the new weather radar

UGA and GTU's New Weather Radar Could be a Game Changer

The University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology have recently purchased a new weather radar system that could significantly improve forecasting capabilities while simultaneously providing educational opportunities for students. “The…


Highlighting Hidden Figures: Atmospheric Scientists Create a New Paradigm for Diversity in STEM

UGA Atmospheric Sciences professors Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Dr. John Knox and students Chandler Countryman, Theresa Dixon, Katrina Ducre, P. J. Gudz, Shay Magahey, Killian McSweeney, Kelly Neighbour, Cam My Nguyen, R. Alex Pry, Jantilyn Sanders, Jada M.

Student stands in a UGA themed bounce house

Dr. John Knox's New Study Reveals 479 weather-related bounce house injuries, 28 deaths

Over a decade ago, Dr. John Knox saw a joke on Facebook comparing the phenomenon of runaway bounce houses to the scientific study of dust particles in the atmosphere. Several years and hundreds of hours of intensive, intricate research later, Dr. Knox now…

Will O'Neil providing a weather forecast for the Newnan tornado on March 25, 2021.

One year following the killer EF-4 Newnan tornado

March 25, 2022 marks one year after the killer EF-4 tornado tore through Newnan, GA. The AthensGaWeather broadcasting team, composed of Atmospheric Sciences undergraduates in the Geography department, was one of the many broadcasting studios to livestream…

Emily Wilson

Atmospheric Sciences alumna earns recognition for service in Operation Allies Welcome

Atmospheric Sciences alumna, Emily Wilson, was recently recognized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the "critical support [she] provided to Operation Allies Welcome", an initiative set forth by the DHS to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan…

(from left to right) Chase Fiveash, Kathryn Boyle, and Killian McSweeney

Three UGA students named Hollings Scholars

Three undergraduates in the Geography Department's Atmospheric Sciences Program have been awarded the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Congratulations to Kathryn Boyle, Chase…


Dr. John Knox receives teaching award

John Knox, an associate professor of geography in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers.

…


Article by Marshall Shephard and John Knox in the Washington Post

You heard about the diversity furor at the Academy Awards. Here's one you didn't hear about -- but should have


By impact, drought the worst seen

"By impact, drought the worst seen," reads a headline in today's Athens Banner-Herald. In a recently published trade article, one of the paper's authors, UGA geography professor John Knox, said "the smoking gun is pointing at population increases.


UGA professors to lead Weather Workshop for Bibb County teachers May 23-27

A team of science and educational experts led by a University of Georgia psychologist and atmospheric scientist will teach a group of Bibb County school teachers what they should teach their students about the science of weather and how to respond safely when…

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