I am a fifth year graduate student in the Mathematics PhD program at the University of Arizona. I study discrete differential geometry, a branch of mathematics with applications in areas like computer graphics, engineering, and animation.

My fellowship project, "Geometry in Context," involves creating a series of short films that can be used as teaching aids in high school geometry classrooms. Each films will illustrate an important concept from geometry and is accompanied by a collection of in-class activities designed to help connect the mathematical ideas from the films to topics in engineering and the space sciences.

Isela is working with the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona to bring the world of optics to the different troops in the area. As the outreach coordinator for Women in Optics (WiO), Isela has a passion for introducing people to the study of optics and light. Through the partnership with the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, Isela will work with the College of Optical Science and WiO to showcase the optical science museum and further develop the optical science demo kits.

Fall 2015 Update

Isela Howlett is a 4th year PhD student in the College of Optical Sciences. Her outreach work will reach several K-12 institutions across southern Arizona. Isela will begin a partnership with Girl Power in Science and Engineering at Amphi Middle School and with the newly founded Andrada Polytechnic High School STEM club. Additionally, she will work with Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and Women in Optics (WiO) to provide educational demonstrations to schools that are part of the 21st Century grant program for "at risk" students.

My interest in communicating atmospheric science to the non-scientific community has led me to my current research work at the University of Arizona, which focuses on the societal impacts of landfalling tropical cyclones. I am approaching this subject with a global perspective and attempting to address the combination of factors within communities, which determine their vulnerability to the impacts of tropical cyclones as well as their resilience in the aftermath. In partnership with the National Weather Service, I will be working with J.J. Brost (Science Operations Officer) here in the Tucson office to develop a series of three teaching modules designed for middle and high school students which will explore the risks of high impact, low frequency weather events on communities and the methods by which decisions are made to reduce the vulnerabilities of communities to the associated risks.

The modules will use hurricanes as an example of such high impact events. The modules will culminate in students participating in a board game which J.J. Brost and I designed to address the question of communication and comprehension of vulnerabilities with respect to rare but inevitable extreme weather events and the ability to make critical decisions based on probabilistic uncertainty forecasting. Using the Tucson Flood of 1983, which was the result of extremely high precipitation amounts caused by the remnants of tropical storm Octave as an example of a rare but inevitable extreme meteorological event, the students are placed in the role of a city planner, making decisions on mitigation strategies for several different locations within their town. The modules can provide an approachable way of investigating the process of planning for high impact/ low frequency events and investigate any bias involved in the decision making process due to lack of personal experience with such an event.