Not many people would want to be in Florida during a hurricane with winds of up to 170 miles per hour tossing cars around like dry leaves and driving pieces of ply-wood through tree trunks. But for Robert Sheets, this is the perfect time to take an airplane ride.

Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., was able to visit the University yesterday because of funds provided by a grant for the improvement of undergraduate education and supplemented by the meteorology department. During his visit, he lectured to a section of Meteorology 22 -- Oceans, about his experience with hurricanes.

These experiences include flying through hurricanes -- as many as 60 to 80 during his career, Sheets estimated -- to learn more about them.

"It's not as dangerous as some people might think," Sheets said, joking that he would rather fly in a hurricane than walk through some cities at night.

The most recent of Sheets' experiences with hurricanes was Andrew, which pummeled Florida in August 1992. Much of his lecture focused on Andrew and the damage it caused. But that hurricane, as awesome as it was, was not the worst-case scenario for Sheets.

During his time with the hurricane center, Sheets has become a nationally known figure because of his role as a spokesman in times of danger. He said that during Andrew he gave about 1,000 interviews to both national and local news media to update hurricane reports in the three days following the storm.

"Our nightmare storm is the one that makes a direct hit on the city of New Orleans," he said, adding that New Orleans is not as prepared for disaster as Florida.

"We look at it as our number-one duty is to protect lives," he said, adding that by using the media, national attention is focused on the hurricane to alert people of the danger, and the center can Communicate risks to residents.

"There's no way we can solve our problem strictly with science," he said.

Paul Markowski (sophomore-meteorology) said he didn't enjoy seeing the parts of Sheets' slide presentation that show the incredible damage caused by hurricanes, but Sheets' experience makes him "legendary" in meteorology circles.

"I was just excited to be here, really," he said.

Lee Grenci, meteorology instructor, said Sheets' visit is significant because he addressed students directly instead of participating in a specialized seminar.

"He has a passion for weather," Grenci said.

Matt Pearce (graduate-meteorology) said hearing Sheets talk about hurricanes as first-hand accounts makes the information more accessible to students.

"I just came to hear . . . what you don't get to hear on television," he said.