Contact Information
CliMAS Address : 1301 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
Dr. Trujillo-Falcón is an Assistant Processor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Climate, Meteorology, and Atmospheric Sciences, in partnership with the Department of Communication.
He leads the Advancing Language Equity and Resilience in the Atmospheric Sciences (ALERTAS) lab, which is dedicated to improving the communication of weather and climate information in multiple languages through public and practitioner engagement. His innovative, interdisciplinary work has driven significant policy changes across the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), setting a new benchmark for multilingual communication within government agencies. These accomplishments have established him as a national leader in the weather and climate risk communication field.
Before joining the faculty, Dr. Trujillo-Falcón conducted interdisciplinary research for the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations, the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, and the NWS Storm Prediction Center. He then was an Illinois Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As an award-winning bilingual multimedia meteorologist, he has also worked in both radio and broadcast networks and continues to serve the public through MyRadar, a weather application accessed by 50 million individuals worldwide.
Education
- Ph.D. in Risk Communication, University of Oklahoma, 2024
- M.A. in Organizational Communication, University of Oklahoma, 2021
- B.S. in Meteorology, Texas A&M University, 2019
- B.A. in Spanish, Texas A&M University, 2019
Awards and Honors
- Top Faculty Paper, Applied Communication Division, 111th National Communication Association Annual Convention
- Premio Orgullo Peruano, given annually to Peruvians in the United States who, with their outstanding track records of success, have managed to proudly and responsibly represent Perú abroad, State of Oklahoma, 2024
- Outstanding Achievement in Research, "for groundbreaking work in bilingual risk communication and instrumental role in transforming the way weather information is disseminated across the National Weather Service," CIWRO, 2023
- Telly Award (2x), for Spanish educational stories on how to stay safe against rip currents and high UV indices for the MyRadar weather application, 2023
- AMS Award for Early Career Professional Achievement, "for innovative and extensive collaboration in risk communication for Spanish-speaking communities and leadership as an exceptional member across multiple AMS Boards and Committees," AMS, 2022
Additional Campus Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Department of Climate, Meteorology, and Atmospheric Sciences (link)
Recent Publications
Gaviria Pabón, A. R., Krocak, M. J., Ripberger, J. T., & Trujillo-Falcón, J. E. (2025). Linguistic Challenges in Severe Weather Communication: Comparing English and Spanish-Speaking Populations. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 106(9), 1940-1954. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0199.1
Lawson, J. R., Trujillo-Falcón, J. E., Schultz, D. M., Flora, M. L., Goebbert, K. H., Lyman, S. N., Potvin, C. K., & Stepanek, A. J. (2025). Pixels and Predictions: Potential of GPT-4V in Meteorological Imagery Analysis and Forecast Communication. Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1175/AIES-D-24-0029.1
Michaud, M. S., Sutton, J., Berry, K. L., Obermeier, H. B., Sheridan, H., Cox, G. E., Rafizadeh, C. M., Olivas, S., Johnson, N., Krocak, M. J., Trujillo-Falcón, J. E., & Sun, L. L. (2025). NextGen TV and Advanced Emergency Alerting: The Future of TV Warnings and Alerts. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 106(8), E1489-E1497. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0162.1
Thomas, A. S., Schlickman, E. E., & Trujillo-Falcón, J. E. (2025). Before the flames: California WUI residents’ understanding of fire weather warnings and personal preparation around wildfire. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 120, Article 105396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105396
Trujillo-Falcón, J. E., Carstens, J. D., Cei, E. G., Alonso, V., Martucci, J., Wolff, E. C., & Gomes, R. D. O. M. (2025). The Emergence of Digital Meteorology: Certification, Standards, and Education for an Evolving Field. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 106(11), 2179-2186. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0235.1