Company Background

 

SPECinc OfficesSPEC was incorporated in 1979 and was originally a consulting company owned by Dr. Paul Lawson. In 1989, SPEC expanded its view and aggressively pursued the US Government Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, which offers funding on a competitive basis for new and innovative research proposals. Under funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR program, SPEC developed its first cloud particle probe, the high volume precipitation spectrometer (HVPS). Since that time the company has been awarded twenty-six SBIR Phase I awards, twenty SBIR Phase II awards, two STTR Phase I and Phase II awards, twenty-nine NASA National Research Announcement awards, eleven NSF grants and five DOE contracts, totaling over $40 million in funding.

SPEC now employs 14 people, including 3 Ph.D. scientists, graduate engineers, technicians and support staff.  The company occupies 9,000 square feet of office, lab and shop space. In 1998 the company instrumented a Learjet Model 25 for atmospheric research that was used as a test bed for Instrument Development and participation in major field programs. In 2018, SPEC retired the Model 25 and purchased a Learjet Model 35A, Learjet, transferring the research equipment from the Model 25. In 2012 the company was awarded FAA STC’s for installation of SPEC state-of-the-art cloud particle probes and supporting instruments on Super King Air 350 research aircraft for the Thai and Chinese governments. Since then SPEC has instrumented seven Super King Air 350 aircraft for atmospheric research, and is presently partnering with Weather Modification Incorporated (WMI) to instrument

The science underpinning instrument development and atmospheric research has always been the driving motivation for SPEC personnel. Our mission is to develop cutting-edge instrumentation that we take to the field to collect unprecedented data, which are then incorporated into peer-reviewed publications.

 

SPEC Personnel

Dr. R. Paul Lawson is President and Senior Scientist at SPEC. Dr. Lawson received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Science from the University of Wyoming. In 1999 he received the editor’s award from the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, in 2000 he was an invited speaker at the Gordon Conference on Climate and Radiation, from 1999- 2002 he was a member of the American Meteorological Society Advisory Committee on Cloud Physics. Dr. Lawson has been a member of several Science Teams from 1999 - 2012, including: NASA FIRE, NASA TRMM, NASA CRYSTAL-FACE, NASA MidCiX, NASA CR-AVE, NASA NAMMA, NASA TC4, DOE ARM, NASA MAPex, NASA ATTREX, NSF ICE-T, NSF/NASA DC3/SEAC4RS, NASA CAMP2Ex and ARCSIX Science Teams. He has been heavily involved in the development of instrumentation and analysis of meteorological data for more than three decades. Dr. Lawson is an airline transport rated pilot with over 6,000 total hours and 2,000 hours of atmospheric research. Dr. Lawson participated in the 2001, 2002 and 2009 South Pole field experiments and is well acquainted with policies and procedures on the Antarctic continent. He has participated in over 50 meteorological field programs as scientist and/or pilot including:
 
  • Learjet Pilot/Scientist during HIPLEX from 1977-1980
  • Pilot of the NCAR instrumented sailplane and scientist during the 1981 CCOPE.
  • Flight Scientist during CASP II field programs.
  • Scientist during the 1995 Canadian Freezing Drizzle Experiment.
  • Flight Scientist for the 1995 Small Cumulus Microphysics Study.
  • Principal investigator for the 1996 NASA DC-8 SUCCESS field program.
  • Principal investigator for the 1998 NASA FIRE.ACE field program.
  • Learjet Pilot and Principal investigator for the 1998 NASA TRMM TEFLUN-A field program.
  • Learjet Pilot and Scientist for the 1998-1999 NASA EOS cirrus studies.
  • Learjet Pilot and Scientist for the 1999-2000 Alliance Icing Research Study (AIRS) in Ottawa, Ontario.
  • Principal Investigator for the 2002 NASA CRYSTAL-FACE field program.
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet Pilot for the 2000 - 2006 NSF Wave Cloud Studies.
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet Pilot for the 2003 - 2006 NASA Cirrus Cloud Studies.
  • Principal Investigator 2003 - 2006 NSF Ice Crystal Studies at the South Pole.
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet Pilot for the 2004 NASA MidCiX field program.
  • Principal Investigator for the 2006 NASA CR-AVE field program.
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2007 NSF ICE-L Wave Cloud field program
  • Principal Investigator for the 2006 NASA NAMMA project
  • Principal Investigator for the 2007 NASA TC4 project
  • Principal Investigator for the 2008 NSF Tethered Balloon project in Svalbard
  • Principal Investigator for the 2008 DOE ISDAC project
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2009 - 2010 DOE SPARTICUS project
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2011 NSF ICE-T project.
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2013 NASA SEAC4RS projec
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2019 and 2023 UAEREP projects
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2019 NASA CAMP2Ex project
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2021 NSF SPICULE project
  • Principal Investigator and Learjet pilot for the 2022 NSF ESCAPE project

 

Selected Publications by Dr. Lawson:


Lawson, R. P., A. V. Korolev, P. J. DeMott, A. J. Heymsfield, R. T. Bruintjes, C. A. Wolff, S. Woods, R. J. Patnaude, J. B. Jensen, K. A. Moore, I. Heckman,j E. Rosky, J. Haggerty, R. J. Perkins, T. Fisher and T. C. J. Hill, 2023: Secondary Production of Ice in Cumulus (SPICULE). Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Online Publication: 18 Jan 2023, E51–E76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0209.1.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., R. Bruintjes, S. Woods and C. Gurganus, 2022: Coalescence and secondary ice production in cumulus congestus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 79, 953-972. Read Article

Lawson, R. P., S. Woods, E. Jensen, E. Erfani, C. Gurganus, M. Gallagher, et al., A Review of Ice Particle Shapes in Cirrus formed In Situ and in Anvils, 2019: J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 124, doi: 10.1029/2018JD030122.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., C. Gurganus, S. Woods, and R. Bruintjes, Aircraft Observations of Cumulus Microphysics Ranging from the Tropics to Midlatitudes: Implications for "New" Secondary Ice Process, 2017: J. Atmos. Sci., 74, 2899-2920.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., S. Woods, and H. Morrison, The Microphysics of ice and precipitation development in tropical cumulus clouds, 2015: J. Atmos. Sci., 72, 6, 2429-2445, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-14-0274.1.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P. and A. Gettelman, Impact of Antarctic mixed-phase clouds on climate, 2014: Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 111, 18156–18161.   Read Article

Lawson, R. P., Effects of ice particles shattering on the 2D-S probe., 2011: Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 1361-1381.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., K. Stamnes, J. Stamnes, P. Zmarzly, J. Koskuliks, C. Roden, Q. Mo, M. Carrithers, Deployment of a Tethered Balloon System for Cloud Microphysics and Radiative Measurements at Ny-Ålesund and South Pole , 2011: J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 28, 656 – 670.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., B. Pilson, B. Baker, Q. Mo, E. Jensen, L. Pfister, and P. Bui, Aircraft measurements of microphysical properties of subvisible cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer., 2008: Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 1609-1620.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., B. A. Baker, P. Zmarzly, D. O'Connor, Q. Mo, J.-F. Gayet, and V. Shcherbakov, Microphysical and optical properties of ice crystals at South Pole Station., 2006: J. of Appl. Meteor., Vol. 45, No. 11, 1505-1524.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., D. O'Connor, P. Zmarzly, K. Weaver, B. A. Baker, Q. Mo, and H. Jonsson, The 2D-S (Stereo) Probe: Design and Preliminary Tests of a New Airborne, High Speed, High-Resolution Particle Imaging Probe., 2006: J.  Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 23, 1462-1477.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., and B. A. Baker, Improvement in determination of ice water content from two-dimensional particle imagery. Part II: Applications to collected data, 2006: J. of Appl. Meteor., 9, 1291-1303.  Read Article

Lawson, R. P., L. J. Angus, A. J. Heymsfield, Cloud particle measurements in thunderstorm anvils and possible weather threat to aviation., 1998: J. of Aircraft, 35, 113-121.  Read Article

 

Dr. Lawson‘s broad base of experience as a cloud physicist, research pilot and an instrumentation engineer make him uniquely qualified to head this atmospheric research and instrumentation company. Contact Dr Paul Lawson

  

  



Mr. Don Stone is the Vice President of Operations and Chief Operations Officer at SPEC, Inc. In his 30 year career in engineering, Mr. Stone has held increasingly responsible positions with NCAR, Ford Motor Company, Lockheed Martin, and finally SPEC, Inc. Mr. Stone brings broad experience in hardware and software engineering, manufacturing and engineering management.


 

Send email to Mr. Don Stone

 

Dr. Qixu Mo is a Research Scientist at SPEC, Incorporated. Before joining SPEC in June 2002, Dr. Mo earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1983 and an M.S. in Space Physics in 1986 from Wuhan University. He received the Ph.D. with emphasis on Atmospheric Sciences from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (UMIMT) in 1997. Dr. Mo has over 12 years experience in research aircraft instrumentation, field projects and data analysis as well as post-doctoral experience in thundercloud research. From 1990 to 1997 he did graduate work at New Mexico Tech. He analyzed most of the aircraft data collected by the NCAR Kingair, Sailplane and T-28 for the CAPE Project. As a post-doctoral research scientist in South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, he calibrated, installed, evaluated and improved new electric field meters on the T-28 research aircraft.  He has published in several areas including electric field measurements, microphysics the electrification process in thunderstorms. Dr. Mo was a recipient of the Marvin Wilkening Award in 1998 for excellence in experimental physics and a member of the American Geophysical Union. 

Send email to Dr Qixu Mo

 

Dr. Azusa Takeishi joined SPEC in 2023. She received her Ph.D. from the  Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale in 2018. Her adviser was Prof. Trude Storelvmo and her thesis topic was “Simulations of Aerosol Effects on Deep Convective Clouds: Sensitivity to Model Representations of Aerosol- and Cloud-Microphysical Processes”. After graduation Dr. Takeishi took a post-doc at the  Laboratoire d’Aérologie, UPS/CNRS, Toulouse, France where she adapted machine learning to the NCAR Weather and Forecasting Model (WRF) to improve predictions of coalescence in warm cumulus clouds. In 2021, she received a postdoctoral research grant from the National Center for Space Studies in France (CNES) and conducted research on the relationship between satellite-observed cloud properties and aerosol conditions upwind.  Dr. Takeishi is currently analyzing data from SPEC’s recent field projects and adapting the NCAR Lagrangian cloud model to incorporate secondary ice processes.

 

Send email to Dr. Azusa Takeishi

  


Mr Juan Martinez is an Electro-Mechanial Technican who has supported the manufacture, testing, and installation of SPEC's Super King Air 350 Atmospheric Research Systems for Beijing's BWMO, Thailand's DRRAA, Korea's KMA, Hebei's HWMO, and China's CMA. Mr. Martinez joined SPEC in 2013 and brings extensive knowledge of Manufacturing Processes and Quality Control Systems to SPEC's Production Department.

Send email to Mr Juan Martinez

 

 

Mr Kim Weaver has an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Wyoming He was employed as an electrical engineer at SPEC from 1992 until 2000 where he was responsible for designing the electronics in SPEC's cloud particle probes. He returned to SPEC in 2022 as a senior electronics engineer and has continued to design electronics for SPEC's emerging technology probes.

Send email to Kim Weaver 

 



Mr. Mike Carrithers is an Electronics Technician who has supported SPEC instruments at several high-profile field projects, including instruments on the NASA DC-8 and WB-57 during TC4, the Canadian Convair during the DOE ARM ISDAC field campaign, and the ALTOS tethered balloon deployment at Oliktok Point, Alaska. Mr. Carrithers also maintains and calibrates all instruments on the SPEC Learjet.

 

Send email to Mr. Mike Carrithers

 


Mr. Chuck Grow is a General Technician who joined SPEC in 2012. Mr. Grow holds B.A. and MBA degrees, is an FAA rated Airline Transport Pilot and FAA Certified Aircraft Mechanic who provides support services for SPEC’s Learjet aircraft and instrumentation.
 

  



Mr. Dan Tulenko is an Electronics Technician who worked for SPEC in the1990’s and returned to the company in 2012. He builds and tests SPEC’s cloud particle probes.

 

Send email to Mr. Dan Tulenko

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 SPEC Contractors:

 

Dr Todd Arbetter is a contractor who joined SPEC in 2023. He works as a scientific programmer in Python and IDL. He earned a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois and both a M.S. and PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado with a specialization in Physical Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences. He has experience with sea ice, ocean, and atmosphere models including the NCAR CESM and WRF systems. Currently, he is working on processing data retrieved from SPEC cloud instruments.

Send email to Dr Todd Arbetter

 

Mr. Ted Fisher is a Software Engineer who joined SPEC in 2014 and departed in 2020 during the covid epidemic.  Mr. Fisher remains as a contractor to SPEC and flies as an operator on the Learjet research aircraft and does contract programming. He received a B.S. in computer science from the University of Colorado and is proficient in several software languages, including Matlab, IDL, C, C++ and real-time networking and programming.

  

Ben Kamen is an engineering consultant who specializes in Embedded Systems Design after a previous life in the world of IT / Telecom and has been working with SPEC since 2005.  Over the years, Ben has assisted with SPEC projects needing:

  • Schematic/Circuit Design
  • PCB Layout
  • Prototype PCB Aseembly and Testing
  • Microcontroller Firmware
  • Xilinx FPGA Design
  • Linux Kernel Drivers and Application Software  
  • Network and Server Administration

In his spare time, Ben flies his 1974 Grumman Yankee or is at the barn with his Belgian Draft cross horse Diesel.

 


Ms. Jeanne Kayser is SPEC’s Bookkeeper and handles all of SPEC’s books, purchase orders, payroll and year-end accounting. 

Send email to Ms Jean Keyser


 Dr. Christoph Roden was employed as an Electrical Engineer and Aerosol Scientist at SPEC from 2012 until 2021, when he went to work at NCAR. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University and the Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois. While at SPEC Dr. Roden designed electronic printed circuit boards and wrote firmware code for SPEC’s most advanced instruments, including the FCDP, 3V-CPI and Hawkeye. He is currently a contractor to SPEC.

Send email to Dr. Christoph Roden