Andy Hagen

Inspiration can often be found in the most unlikely of situations. “In 1992, I was just six years old, and Hurricane Andrew hit my house in Kendall,” says Andrew Hagen. “It wasn’t just a casual encounter with a hurricane; I was actually a part of it. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about how such a powerful force could be possible.”

In high school and throughout college, Hagen had several weather forecasting and research internships — mostly with the Hurricane Research Division (HRD) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — and eventually earned a Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University (2008). Currently, Andrew is reanalyzing hurricane data from 1944-1965 as part of the HURDAT Atlantic Hurricane Reanalysis Project. “In terms of academics and access, the Rosenstiel School is the best place to be while studying tropical cyclones.”