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Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Mississippi

Dr. Thomas Marshall

Photo of Dr. Marshall

Office: 126 Lewis Hall
Email: marshall@phy.olemiss.edu

Phone: (662) 915-5325

Degrees Earned

  • Ph.D., 1981, New Mexico Institute of Mining and
    Technology

Experience

  • Assistant Professor, 1981-87, University of Mississippi
  • Associate Professor, 1987-94, University of Mississippi
  • Professor, 1994-, University of Mississippi
  • Summer Faculty Fellow, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1981
  • Recent Postdoctoral Fellow, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, 1981-82
  • Visiting Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1986,
    1992.

Research Interests

My research is aimed at determining how thunderstormselectrify. Understanding electricity in storms is hampered by the lack of detailed knowledge of the electrical conditions that exist inside thunderstorms: where are charges located, is charge carried primarily on precipitation particles or on tiny cloud particles, etc. Using balloons-borne instruments I measure the electric field inside storms and the charge carried by precipitation particles. Currently, I am extending these measurements to large, severe storms in the Great Plains and to non-thunderstorm, electrified clouds to see how electricity in these clouds compares to electricity in the small thunderstorms traditionally studied.

Visit the pages of the Atmospheric Physics research group.