Published: 5 June 2011

On a typical day of MC3E operations, researchers in north-central Oklahoma are spread throughout several different sites and schedules depending on their role in the program. Many of us head out to the SGP Central Facility near Lamont, Oklahoma, for radar and aircraft operations, troubleshooting on different instruments or just to get work done. The UND Citation team spends much of its time at the hangar at the Ponca City airport. The N-Pol radar operators head out to their site in Marland, Oklahoma, and the NASA disdrometer crew drives around the Oklahoma countryside checking on their array of instruments. Of course, there are also the sonde launch crew at our extended facilities south of Oklahoma City or in southern Kansas and the NASA ER-2 crew at Offutt Air Force Base outside of Omaha, Nebraska. There are few opportunities where we all can get together, kick back, talk about the experiment, and get to know each other. The BBQ grill in the back of our home-away-from-home at the Fairfield Inn Ponca City became an opportunity to do just this.

Led by our resident grill masters, Pavlos Kollias and Scott Giangrande, these BBQs have become social and dining experiences that are not to be missed. It makes no difference if you are a fan of ordinary or exotic BBQ fare. Vegetarians are welcome too. There is something for everyone. Menus have included: pork souvlaki, marinated steak, chicken, kielbasa, pork loin, hamburgers, brats, salmon, zucchini, veggie burgers, peppers, corn on the cob, Greek salad, and more. Not only has the food been incredible, but these events are a great chance to talk to folks you do not get to work with every day, catch up on the latest events of the project, or just find out more about everyone. One of the most difficult parts of a field campaign like this is being away from our families, but these family-style get-togethers make it a little more bearable.

Submitted by Dr. Michael P. Jensen, MC3E principal investigator, Brookhaven National Laboratory.