The Lirpa Sloof Foundation is pleased to announce the 4th Quarter 2004 Sloof Amateur Project Grant goes to the WeatherMatrix, worldwide organization of amateur and professional weather enthusiasts including meteorologists, storm chasers, spotters, and weather observers. The grant is in the form of twenty mobile doppler radar vehicles.

Dr Lirpa Sloof, founder of the Sloof Foundation, said "WeatherMatrix impressed us with their ability to build an online community of weather enthusiasts and coordinate results of individuals' storm chasing expeditions." The organization was also cited as a critical resource by the author of a just-published book on "Extreme Weather" by Christopher C Burt.

The grant includes creation of an account to be managed by the Foundation which will cover fuel, insurance, maintenance and a number of research grants to be given to meteorologists and graduate students who will operate the equipment during tornado season.

About the Sloof Foundation

The Sloof Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic organization which supports science and technology research projects. The foundation is based in Las Vegas, Nevada and was founded by Dr Lirpa Sloof. The Foundation's primary focus is on university research projects, and also offers a quarterly grant to amateur projects which provides them with tools of the professionals in their subject area. The foundation's web site is at www.sloof.us.