Five Labs That Make Going to Class the Best Part of College

2. Make Your Own Hurricane

Where: Wind Science and Engineering Research Center (WSERC) at Texas Tech University

What You'll Learn: How to build structures that can withstand extreme winds

Future Job: Structural engineer, insurance consulting engineer, atmospheric scientist

Prospective Employers: National Hurricane Center, Global Energy Concepts, Risk Management Solutions

Today's assignment: Simulate hurricane-force winds to hurl two-by-fours at shelter walls. Observe how easily they rip through the structures.

In addition to launching projectiles, students in WSERC's Debris Impact Testing Lab throw themselves into the middle of real hurricanes and tornados. Before Katrina hit, students from Texas Tech were on the scene, setting up a mobile research center to take dozens of measurements, including wind velocity and the intensity of the storm's eye. Their instruments were the only ones to survive the storm intact, and now the WSERC possesses the only complete record of the intensity of Katrina's eye at landfall.

Based on the lab testing, and forays into disaster scenes during and after storms, the center was also responsible for today's more accurate F-scale for measuring the force of tornados, called the Enhanced F-Scale. It reflects the finding that lower-speed winds do a lot more damage than previously believed. When students aren't steeped in destruction, they're figuring out how to make wind power more efficient or designing homes that will hold up better in the next Katrina.