Johna E. Rudzin is a first-year Ph.D graduate student in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography working in Dr. Nick Shay's Upper Ocean Dynamics Laboratory (UOD). Her first year is dedicated to taking classes and the comprehensive exam, however, she will start her Ph.D work in the Summer of 2013. This work will examine factors alluding to hurricane intensity using satellite tags that measure variables such as ocean temperature and salinity that are attached to the species of fish called Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus). Because Tarpon migrate on the same isotherm that hurricanes intensify on, 26 °C, near-surface observations can be taken using the tags.

Rudzin received her B.S. in Meteorology with Honors with a minor in Mathematics from The Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. Simultaneosly, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the FSU Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) in the COAPS data center. She worked on the FSU In-Situ Fluxes project analyzing ship and buoy in-situ fluxes means for all ocean basins. Additionally, she developed and executed an Honors thesis entitled "The influence of atmospheric cold air outbreaks on the upper ocean thermal variability of the Florida Straits". While at FSU, she was a part of many extracurricular activities such as the student organization Lady Spirithunters, the Honors in the Major Program, the FSU chapter of Chi Epsilon Pi Meteorology Honors Society,and the NW Florida Chapter of the American Meteorological Society.