UA News

A group of business students at the University of Arizona is working with a local company, Global Atmospherics Inc., on a NASA proposal for lightning detection technology that may help predict severe storms with more accuracy than in the past.

This new technology involves an optical system placed on a geo-stationary satellite that will view North and South America, including the local oceans and seas. This optical system will be able to see 90 percent of the total lightning (cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground combined) that strikes over the Americas.

"NASA has a need for this technology because it has a policy of developing and transferring technology for the good of the public safety. The theory is, that with the data that this optical system will provide, weather organizations will be able to follow severe storms and predict storm events better than in the past," Tom Faulkner, business development director at Global Atmospherics, said.

The data will also be used where information on lightning is not available for research on storm event severity like hail, heavy rain, tornadoes, etc., Faulkner said.

This technological development that will help weather organizations observe lightning with better accuracy, however, is still in the research and development stage.

As part of a semester long project, the students, all pursuing master's degrees in business administration (MBA) at the UA, are working on the a project to determine the commercial feasibility of this new technology for NASA and Global Atmospherics, the world's largest manufacturer of lightning detection and location equipment. A commercial feasibility study includes investigating the market potential for a new product or comparing it to competing products and technologies that have already been developed.

The UA Eller College of Business and Public Administration has incorporated consulting projects like this one with local businesses as a central element of the two-year MBA program at the UA.

Dean Axelrod, a concurrent MBA and law degree student at the UA, is the coordinator and team leader for the four students working on the project. The students are weekend and evening MBA students, meaning they hold full time jobs while pursuing their MBA degrees.

Axelrod said that the project for the students not only involved learning about the business side of the proposal, but the scientific side as well.

"They had to learn how to conduct interviews with clients for this type of study, how to develop work plans and questionnaires, and they also had to learn about lightning and other technical information," Axelrod said.

Since the project began in September, the students essentially had two months to learn everything they needed to know to produce an interim report due on Oct. 31, Axelrod said. As part of a commercial feasibility study, interim reports give project partners a general idea of what the ultimate proposal will look like.

"The students worked incredibly fast considering that they had a limited understanding of what a feasibility study was. But with a lot of input from the business college, Global Atmospherics, and me, we were able to get them up to speed quickly. They have accomplished so much in so little time. They've done an amazing job," Axelrod said.

The study will end this Friday, Dec. 15, when the students will present their findings to Global Atmospherics and its partners in this project.

"They know what the deadline is. They're exhausted and under a lot of pressure, but still working incredibly hard. They've been able to come together as a team and that's something that's been gratifying for me," Axelrod said.

"I have no doubt that they're going to deliver a terrific report that's going to be of real value for Global Atmospherics and to the other partners involved in this project."