About

Red, White, and Perú
The Life of Joseph Trujillo Falcón

¡Hola!

My name is Joseph Trujillo Falcón. Born in Lima, Perú, I immigrated to the United States at the age of five. Growing up in the heart of tornado alley in Dallas-Fort Worth, my fear of severe weather ignited a passion for meteorology. This passion also made me aware of the discrepancies in our system at a very young age. Raised by an immigrant community, I often faced disaster inequities firsthand in how we received warning messages. Recognizing the critical need for life-saving information in multiple languages, I aspired to become a bilingual broadcast meteorologist to give back to the community I love. Driven by this goal, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish at Texas A&M University.

…but then came the plot twist!

During my broadcast internships, I became increasingly concerned with the lack of resources for bilingual communities in the United States. Even today, many weather and climate terms remain untranslated in languages other than English. This inspired me to specialize in bilingual risk communication research. I obtained my master’s degree and Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. Concurrently, I conducted research with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations, the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, and the NWS Storm Prediction Center. Realizing the system was not going to change on its own, I advanced it through impactful, interdisciplinary research!

…which brings me to today!

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign Department of Climate, Meteorology, and Atmospheric Sciences, in partnership with the Department of Communication. I examine how multilingual communities receive, comprehend, and respond to life-threatening weather and climate hazards. Beyond the research landscape, I am a bilingual meteorologist for MyRadar, a weather application used by 50 million users. I currently am Chair of the AMS Committee for Hispanic and Latinx Advancement, a group of scientists who have facilitated collaborative efforts between academic institutions, broadcast networks, and governmental agencies. The momentum to create effective risk communication for all is only starting, and I hope you join us! ¡Adelante!