William Tollefson

 

 

EDUCATION
 

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
M.S. in Geography (Climatology Specialization), Thesis: Effect of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Conditions on Agricultural Spray Drift, GPA 4.0, 2011-2013      

     
Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi
B.S. in Geoscience (Operational Meteorology Concentration), Suma Cum Laude, GPA 3.839, 2007-2011    

 

 

TEACHING

 

East Tennessee State University

Lecturer, Spring 2018 - Present 

I teach online and traditional classroom courses in Geographic Information Systems (data analysis), Cartography (visual communication with GIS), and Earth Science: weather and climate, landforms and processes. (See Classes Page for more details about courses I teach.)

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Adjunct Faculty, Fall 2014 - Fall 2017 

I taught online and traditional classroom courses in Geographic Information Systems (data analysis), Cartography (visual communication with GIS), and Earth Science: weather and climate, landforms and processes. (See Classes Page for details about courses I teach.)

 

Tutor, Fall 2014 - Fall 2016

I worked with the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Services to provide tutoring to student athletes in various subjects including Earth Sciences, World/Regional Geography, Calculus, and U.S. History.

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Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (Carinthia, Austria)

Visiting Lecturer, Spring 2016

I provided hands-on lab experience covering hazard mitigation planning (HMP), emergency management mapping, spatial interpolation, and network analysis applications for HMP.

 

Louisiana State University

Instructor, Summer 2013

Taught Physical Geography 2050, The Atmosphere, produced and presented lectures, maintained class Moodle page, produced and graded course homework and exams, met with students for individual learning in office hours.

 

Teaching Assistant, Summer 2012-Spring 2013

Teaching assistant for Physical Geography 2050 and 2051,The Atmosphere and Land and Water Surfaces. Assisted students with learning during office hours each week, attended lectures to assist in keeping order in lecture hall, maintained class Moodle pages, and updated online class forums where students could post questions about course material.

 

 

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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East Tennessee State University

GIS Coordinator, GADS Lab, Spring 2016-Present

As the GIS Coordinator for the Geoinformatics And Disaster Science (GADS) Lab at ETSU I collect, create, manage, analyze, and visualize geospatial data pertaining to jurisdictions for which we prepare FEMA compliant Hazard Mitigation Plans.

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Louisiana State University
Research Assistant, Fall 2013
Produced a list of researchers at LSU who could work with and receive funding from the Climate Science Center; transcribed historical weather records into digital format to be uploaded to National Climate Data Center archives.

Research Assistant Fall 2011-Spring 2012
Worked with faculty and staff of the LSU AgCenter and Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department to develop and begin a research project addressing pesticide dispersion under differing weather conditions.

Western Kentucky University
REU Student Summer 2010
Created warm season precipitation climatology for the Green River watershed in central Kentucky, as a part of an interdisciplinary research group studying the effects of landuse on pollution in the Green River and the Mammoth Cave system. 

Vanderbilt University
Laboratory Technician, Pediatric Infectious Diseases; Summers 2007-2009
Used cloning to create mutant variants of Reovirus; created stocks of Reovirus structural proteins for crystallization, grew and purified Reovirus strains, provided general laboratory maintenance.

Laboratory Technician, Gastroenterology, Summer 2006
Conducted experiments to determine effects of solar radiation on Rota virus, including field experiments and in-lab assays.   

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

Karl W. Boehme, Katharina Hammer, William C. Tollefson, Takeshi Kobayashi, Terence S. Dermody. "Nonstructural Protein σ1s Mediates Reovirus-Induced Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis."  Journal of Virology, September 2013.

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Publications in Preparation
Harris, J.B., T.A. Joyner, W.C. Tollefson, M. Heart, and G. Bartlett. EPRI: Modification of the priority risk index to conform with emergency management accreditation program standards for institutes of higher education. For: Journal of Natural Hazards Spring 2018. 

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Technical Publications in Preparation

Harris, J.B., W.C. Tollefson, and T.A. Joyner. Tufts University Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment – 2017.
 

Harris, J.B., W.C. Tollefson, and T.A. Joyner. Tufts University Multi-Campus Hazard Mitigation Plan - 2017.
 

Harris, J.B., W.C. Tollefson, T.A. Joyner, and A. Worley. East Tennessee State University Campus Hazard Mitigation Plan - 2018.
 

 

 

CONFERENCES & PRESENTATIONS
  

Best Practices in Higher Education Emergency Management Conference 2017. Integrating Hazard Mitigation Planning with Higher Education. Harris, Joyner, Tollefson, and Worley

 

Southeastern Association of Vertebrate Paleontology (SeAVP) Annual Meeting 2017. Developing a State Climate Office in Tennessee: Using Geospatial and Paleo Data to Better Understand the Past. Tollefson, Joyner, and Samuels.  

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Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG) 2017. "Risk Assessments and Mapping for Universities: Hazard Mitigation in Higher Education." Joyner, Tollefson, Harris, Worley.

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Association of American Geographers (AAG) 2017. GIS in hazard mitigation planning:  The synergistic intersection of interdisciplinary research. Tollefson, Joyner, Harris, Archer, Deegan, Jones, Rose, O’Brien, & Worley

 

SEDAAG 2016. "Extreme Rainfall Climatology for the Tri-Cities Region of Tennessee." Tollefson, W., A. Joyner, and J. Harris.
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SEDAAG 2016. "Hazard Mitigation Planning Meets Higher Education."  Harris J., A. Joyner, W. Tollefson, A. Worley, J. Archer, H. Deegan, N. Jones, and K. Rose.
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SEDAAG 2016. "Efforts to Increase Climatology Curriculum and Establish a State Climate Office at ETSU." Joyner, A., W. Tollefson, J. Harris, and K. Blazzard.
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November Quarterly Meeting of Knoxville Chapter of the American Meteorological Society 2016. "Efforts to Increase Climatology Curriculum and Establish a State Climate Office at ETSU." Joyner, A. and W. Tollefson.
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November Quarterly Meeting of Northeast Tennessee Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) 2016. "Hazard Mitigation Planning: An Opportunity for ETSU." Joyner, A., J. Harris, and W. Tollefson.
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Tennessee Climate Office Webinar 2016. "Preliminary Discussion on the Development of the Tennessee Climate Office" Joyner, A.  and W. Tollefson; includes stakeholders from NWS offices (all four serving TN), NOAA NCEI, NOAA Regional Headquarters, AASC, SC and KY State Climatologists, SRCC representatives

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AAG 2016. "Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for Project-based Teaching and Community-wide Geospatial Services: An Overview of the Impact of Drone Technology at East Tennessee State University." Tollefson W., A. Joyner, E. Ernenwein, M. Bradbun, S. Roark, A. Poole, C. Cannon, C. Staton, S. Vernon

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SEDAAG 2015. "A spatial exploration of tornado return periods and clustering in Tennessee." Bradburn, M., A. Joyner, and W. Tollefson.

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AAG 2015. "Identifying Tornado Hazard Zones and Associated Intensity Return Periods in the Southeast USA." Bradburn, M., A. Joyner, I. Luffman, W. Tollefson.

 

AAG 2013. "Assessing the Utility of Pasquill Stability Types for Modeling Pesticide Dispersion." Tollefson W., R. Rohli

 

American Meteorological Socety (AMS) 2011. "A Convective Climatology of Storms Over the Green River Watershed." Tollefson W., C. Hunt, and J. Durkee

 

Attended: 

ESRI User Conference 2017

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ESRI Education GIS Conference 2017

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American Association of State Climatologists (AASC) Annual Meeting 2017.

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Southeast Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (SE FOSS4G) 2017.

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Eastern Tennessee Geographic Information Council (E-TNGIC) 2016

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Tennessee Geographic Information Council (TNGIC) 2016 Conference

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Southeastern Division of the AAG (SEDAAG) 2015

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E-TNGIC 2015

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Southeast Severe Storms Symposium 2011

 

 

FELLOWSHIPS and GRANTS
 

Funded:

Tufts University Multi-Campus Hazard Mitigation Plan, Co-Investigator. (Fall 2016) Funded for $65,000.

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East Tennessee State University Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, Senior Personnel. (Spring 2016). Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program via FEMA & TEMA (PDMC-PL-04-TN-2015-003) Funded for $175,000.

Summer 2010. National Science Foundation, Research Experience for Undergraduates.  Funded for $5,00 plus room and board          (EAR 1004655).

Spring 2012: Louisiana State University Graduate School and Departmental Travel Grants. Funded for $600

Spring 2011: Mississippi State Geoscience Departmental Travel Grant. Funded for $830.  
 

Applied For:

Little Tennessee Native Fish Conservation Area, Conservation Web Map (Fall 2016), Principal Investigator. One Year; $32,000.

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North Neck Hazard Mitigation Plan, (Fall 2016), Co-Investigator. Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program via FEMA.

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Polk County Hazard Mitigation Plan, (Fall 2016), Co-Investigator. Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program via FEMA.

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ETSU RDC Interdisciplinary Grant. Exploring a Significant Biodiversity Hotspot: Development of a Comprehensive High Resolution Environmental Dataset for Roan Mountain (Spring 2015). Co-Investigator. One year; $49,500.

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PROFESIONAL SERVICE:

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• ETSU Department of Geosciences 2018 Recruitment and Outreach Coordinator.

• SEDAAG 2018 Johnson City local arrangements committee member (2016-present): worked with Drs Joyner and Luffman on arranging locations, facilities, and field trips for ETSU/Johnson City’s bid to host the SEDAAG 2018 annual meeting.  

• Mapping Month Drone Day at the ETSU Farmer’s Market (2017): Presented information about the Department of Geoscience and our use of UAS (drones) in mapping projects, and lead flight demonstrations. 

• Mapping Month Kickoff at Founders Park (2017): Lead a public presentation of Flood mitigation projects at ETSU and in downtown Johnson City at the kickoff event for Mapping Month.

• ETSU Geosciences Club Mapping Party (Spring 2017): Lead students in digitizing and updating the open street map for ETSU campus.

• International Storytelling Center Mapping Projects (Fall 2016- Ongoing): Working with the International Storytelling Center on several mapping projects to produce web-based mapping services.

• National Storytelling Festival (2015): Provided UAS video for promotional materials and documentary about the National Storytelling Festival and International Storytelling Center.

• Campus Activity Roundup (2015): Geosciences Club faculty representative and UAS (drone) demonstration.

• Girl Scouts Celebrate Earth Day (2015): Volunteer and climate science coordinator.

• GIS Day @ Gray Fossil Site Museum (2015): Volunteer.

• International Astronomy Day @ BREC Highland Road Park Observatory (2013): Southern Regional Climate Center table volunteer.

• Weekly Research Colloquia (Topics in Climatology) (2013): Speaker.

• Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (2013): Mangrove and marsh grass planting volunteer at Lafitte and Elmer’s Island.

• Climatology Student Group Professional Development (weekly 2012-2013): Participant.