Chicago

At age 17, Joanne attended the University of Chicago and enrolled in a number of introductory courses, including astrophysics and psychology. In 1942, at the end of her sophomore year, she met Carl-Gustav Rossby and joined the war effort, working to train aviation cadets for weather forecasting. She pursued advanced training in meteorology, but the all-male Chicago faculty opposed her at every step. Her interest in the tropics was piqued by a class she took with Herbert Riel, and the two began a long-term and fruitful collaboration. Her marriage to meteorologist Victor Starr was short-lived. As a single mother, she earned her PhD while working at the Illinois Institute of Technology.