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“Millersville meteorology is usually the largest contingent of students attending the annual meeting of the American Meteorology Society (AMS),” said Dr. Richard D. Clark, department chair, professor of meteorology, and faculty advisor to the MU student chapter of the AMS.
This year 30 undergraduate meteorology students and 10 graduate students in the Integrated Scientific Applications program students—the most Millersville has ever had–traveled to Phoenix from Jan. 4–8 to attend the 95th Annual Meeting of the AMS.
Dr. Todd Sikora, professor of meteorology also attended the meeting, and presented a scientific talk on the “Origin and Frequency of Near-Surface Statically Stable Layers and Elevated Weak-Static Stability Layers during the Ontario Winter Lake-Effect Systems (OWLeS) Project” at the 19th Conference on Air-Sea Interactions and co-authored two posters. “Students who attended the conference received tips that may help them break into the field, networked with other students and professionals, learned about the latest innovations and presented their research findings.
Renee Duff, a senior meteorology major, took home first place out of 200 posters at the AMS Student Conference for her poster “Effects of Wildfire Pollution on the Microphysical and Electrical Properties of Pyro Cumulous Clouds.”
“I completed this project at my internship at Colorado State University over the summer,” said Duff. “The research was to see how weather is affected when liquid cloud droplets interact with wildfire smoke.”
Many other students presented their research as well. Senior Jordan McCormick presented her project “Quantified Artificial Heating Source Bias on Temperature Probes.” The experiment, in partnership with NOAA, was to see how buildings and parking lots affect the air temperature.
Senior Kaitlin Rutt spent her internship at Texas A&M University where she looked at time and space scales recorded from the Pacific island and compared them to everyday climate models. She present a poster titled, “Temporal and Spatial Variability of Tropical Rain Rates over the Kwajalein Atoll.”
The 2015 AMS national conference brings together students and professionals to share research on the scientific, technical and professional advances required to develop and deliver weather, water and climate information.
“If you ask any of the students what the greatest takeaway from the conference was, you would get the same answer—networking,” said Clark.
“It’s a great place to meet with potential employers, see the full scope of the weather and climate enterprise and prepare for the future,” said Jimmy Fowler, president of the MU student chapter of the AMS. The AMS meeting is a gathering of over 4,000 stakeholders representing all sectors of the enterprise. Students could hear a talk by the AMS president on future trends and walk across the hall to attend a scientific presentation on climate change or air pollution.
Many of the students attending the AMS Meeting are hoping to attend graduate school or move directly into the workforce. Millersville meteorology has a national distinction for being a strong, rigorous program where students are steeped in the science, proficient in math, and technologically competent and often have experience through field research or external internships.
Now that the hype from the conference is winding down, the meteorology students are focusing on their next big event, “Public Weather Awareness Day.” The event will feature student booths to educate the public about the weather, a weather balloon launch, free food, raffles, face painting, balloon animals and the opportunity to play around with a green screen.
“Public Weather Awareness Day” will be held on April 18 in Pucillo Gymnasium from 11-3 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
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