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I am very proud to be a part of the

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work that's being done here at Dryden

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with all the different flight research,

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as well as, the role that I feel like

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meteorology plays in all of this.

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My name's Franzeska Houtas and I'm a

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meteorologist at NASA Dryden.

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We forecast for specifically not only the

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type of aircraft but exactly where they're

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going to be flying.  We give them what we

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call pinpoint forecast.

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We cover projects from X-48 which is a

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small UAV.  Then we get things as large as

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the 747 SOFIA project, which flies all the

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way up to northern California, across the

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Pacific, half way to Hawaii and back within

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eight or nine hours which requires looking

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at...uh...if they are going to encounter

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any clouds or turbulence and things of that

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nature, as well as, the conditions when they

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get back.  We do a lot of work with the F-18s

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and the F-15s as well...uhm...a lot of the

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supersonics projects.

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Being a pilot myself, has definitely given me a

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better understanding of what the pilots are

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looking for.

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What I really like about being at Dryden

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is that every day is different and every

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project is different and...we not only get

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to do the operational side of meteorology, but

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we also get to do some of the research side

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and the data analysis and things like that.

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Where the turbulence is, but sometimes there's

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little signals...this right here...

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So it was fifth grade science class that

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initially got me interested in meteorology.

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It's always fun to go and work with the kids

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from various levels...from elementary schools

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on up to high schools.

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It's one of those things that goes

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relates back to

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how I got into meteorology and

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how it was just one little thing that got me

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interested.  So to me, it's showing them what

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I love and if even one of them happens to get

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even remotely interested in...not just meteorology,