Welcome to the About Me section of the website. Here, you can learn just about all that you would care to about the creature known as...Brian Hartmann.

Early Life

(March 27, 1977-April 19, 1977)

Brian Mark Hartmann was born in the bustling metropolis of Minden, Nebraska, the youngest of the six children of Walter Rudolf and Viola Mae Hartmann. His older brothers, Warren and Keith, and older sisters, Linda, Karen, and Ruth, all thought that since they were there first, they would take it upon themselves to ensure that the new arrival knew his place in the pecking order. This lasted for 23 days, at which point the young lad had already grown bigger than each of his older siblings...just joking. Actually, Brian acknowledges the great contributions that each of his older siblings has made to his life. He would like to take this time to officially and digitally thank them...

"Thanks everybody!"-Brian Hartmann

Yes, this cute kid is actually Brian Hartmann. What the heck happened?!?!?!

Childhood

(April 19, 1977-Current)

Brian grew up in Minden and enjoyed a full childhood of riding his bike, playing sports, telling jokes, being curious, and just generally being a kid. His young life included many culinary misadventures..."Anybody want an 'Everything Sandwich'?" as well as misguided engineering projects including digging his own swimming pool in the back yard and to trying to negotiate wingsets, pianos kiddie wading pools, and end tables without getting stiches.

He attended East Elementary School, which has always been a curiosity, since it is the only elementarly school in Minden. Why would it need the distinction of "East"? Can you say government conspiracy?

Brian worked his way through the drudgery of middle school and high school at Minden High ("Home of the Whippets") where he was active in music, drama, intramural basketball, golf, and, again, just generally being a kid.

In November 1992, he was dragged to the audition camp for the 1993 Edition of the Railmen Drum and Bugle Corps by his friend, Christopher Burchell. Miraculously, he actually didn't get cut, and so began a defining chapter in Brian's life. Brian ended up marching in the 1993 and 1995 Railmen, the 1994 Railmen Senior Corps, and the 1994 and 1996 Editions of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps from Canton, Ohio. Brian enjoyed sharing drum corps with his friends, sometimes against their own will.

It was the skill, determination, dicipline, drive, and confidence that Brian learned through the drum and bugle corps activity that led him to choose to study music after he graduated from MHS. Working towards this goal, Brian matriculated at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in the fall of 1995 with a declared major of Music Education.

However, as big a part as music was playing in Brian's college life, it was beginning to share time and attention with the fruition of Brian's curiosity about science. Brian chose a course in astronomy to fulfill part of his science requirement, and thus the seed was planted for the next dramatic paradigm shift in Brian's life. After a course in meteorology, and much soul searching and personal anguish, Brian decided to let music remain as an avocation and to devote his occupation towards science. In 1997, he officially switched his major to Physical Science, with a minor in music, and began the courses that would let him meet that end.

Brian chose to forego his last two years of junior corps eligibility to devote himself to science, and Brian also took up the insanely masochistic activity of storm chasing in1997. His success was somewhat limited, due to the fact that he really didn't know what the heck he was doing, for the most part. He, and the poor souls he was able to drag along, did get to see a few neat storms and slowly, Brian's knowledge and understanding of the atmosphere grew.

A young Brian practices for his later life in academia

Brian spent the next years in a whirlwind of school, music, chasing, and trying to find a career that would allow him to do all of it at once.

Early in 2000, Brian ran across a flyer for a National Science Foundation program at Ohio State University by the name of REU, or Research Experience for Undergraduates. Upon further examination, it turned out that many schools across the nation offered similar projects. He applied at several programs including Lehigh Univ., Univ. of Colorado, Ohio State, SUNY Stoney Brook, and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

He ended up accepting, then squriming out of the SUNY Project in atmospheric physics when Fairbanks came back with an offer. This would end up being one of Brian's better decisions. After returning from Fairbanks, Brian finished his degree and in December 2000 was awarded his Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The supposed offers at the Johns Manville Research Laboratory in Denver fell through, thus leaving Brian in the unenviable position of looking for a decent job.

A chance email from Alaska in late February regarding the ongoing research spurred a series of shotgun e-gotiations which led to the offer of becoming a research technician for the Alaska Climate Research Center and Dr. Gerd Wendler. Brian accepted the offer and planned his move for late May, 2001.

Between March 20 and May 6th, Brian was very happy to act as interim Manager at Creative Trains, a wonderful kiosk at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The store, owned by his sister Karen SH Roggenkamp, Ph.D. (Way to go, Karen!) and John Roggenkamp, was a joy to work at, due to its fun nature of toy trains, great clientel, and of couse, the eclectic atmosphere that only a monsterous retail orgy can provide.

Well, that brings us up to the present. Brian now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska where he is a researcher, climatologist, and webmaster at the Alaska Climate Research Center, part of the Atmospheric Sciences Group of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks...now, don't try to tell me that isn't a government job! You can visit his professional page here.

I hope that you have enjoyed this condensed version of "The Life of Brian". Check back for subsequent updates, probably after something important happens, such as marriage, children (in that order), or a dramatic encounter with a bear.

For news about Brian's current exploits, you can visit his Archive site here.