Facilities
DSOC is designed to provide critical disaster support services to a wide spectrum of clients including governmental entities, communities, P-12 Schools, higher education, non-profits, business, industry, etc.
All funds collected through our partnership programs are applied to purchase equipment for DSOC and to offset expenses incurred in deploying students and staff to assist clients in the field, and for scholarships to assist students in the academic programs aligned with DSOC.
DSOC Workspace
The DSOC workspace consists of four defined operational spaces:
DSOC is the hub that brings together Meteorology, Climate, Emergency Management, Communications, Broadcasting, and Response agencies to collaborate in defining critical issues and engaging students to help develop effective, practical, solutions through applied research and experiential learning under the umbrella of Disaster Science.
Location: WKU - Environment Science and Technology building, rooms 342, 344, 345, and 347.
- Intelligence Unit
- Outreach and Education
- Training Classroom
- Weather Instrument Museum
DSOC is the hub that brings together Meteorology, Climate, Emergency Management, Communications, Broadcasting, and Response agencies to collaborate in defining critical issues and engaging students to help develop effective, practical, solutions through applied research and experiential learning under the umbrella of Disaster Science.
Location: WKU - Environment Science and Technology building, rooms 342, 344, 345, and 347.
CHAOS Labs
The College Heights Atmospheric Observatory for Students (CHAOS) is a student-centered interactive atmospheric/geoscience learning, application, monitoring, prediction, and research facility that provides in- and out-of-classroom enhanced training for future meteorologists and climate scientists. In addition to students in the Meteorology Program, the CHAOS facility is utilized as an introductory learning space for the entire curriculum. More than 500 students (mostly non-majors) pass through this meteorology laboratory during the academic year to learn about the fundamentals of atmospheric science.
CHAOS consists of two laboratories. The CHAOS Meteorology Laboratory consists of 23 custom-imaged computers outfitted with the latest professional weather analysis software. The CHAOS Forecast Laboratory consists of an automated weather station, a 360-degree horizon-view HD video camera (located on top of Van Meter Hall), a quad-copter with HD capabilities, a suite of computing hardware and software for tracking current and predicted weather and climate conditions, a NOAAPORT communications satellite, and an observation deck that overlooks the west-south-east horizon.
Location: WKU - Environment Science and Technology building
-- CHAOS Forecast Laboratory, room 424
-- CHAOS Meteorology Laboratory, room 425
-- CHAOS Meteorology Observatory
-- CHAOS Forecast Laboratory, room 424
-- CHAOS Meteorology Laboratory, room 425
-- CHAOS Meteorology Observatory
Observatory
Location: WKU - Environmental Science and Technology building, 4th floor adjacent to the CHAOS Forecasting Laboratory
Communications and Outreach Unit
Staffed by White Squirrel Weather, it is utilized for remote weather support, community outreach, and education.
Mobile Intelligence and Operations Center
Coming soon! We are in the final stages of building our large mobile unit. It will have all of the relevant technology needed to host an ample roster of Incident Command System (ICS) team members. It will also be used for outreach and education opportunities.
College Heights Weather Instrument Museum
Atmospheric science students in the Department of Geography and Geology are offered a close look at the history of meteorological instrumentation.
Location: WKU building - Environment Science and Technology, room 342
Location: WKU building - Environment Science and Technology, room 342
