2006-2007

87th AMS Annual Meeting Recap

The 87th Annual American Meteorological Society Conference was held in San Antonio, Texas this year from January 13th thru January 18th, 2007. The 6th Annual Student Conference kicked things off on January 13th. Approximately 400 undergraduate and graduate students from schools across the country attended the opening festivities.

Opening remarks came from the outgoing President of the AMS, Franco Einaudi. Following him, was a Welcome from Your Peers. There were several ice breaker events held throughout the weekend in order to get to know students from different schools including a networking luncheon.

There were many speakers at the Student Conference who were broken up into various sessions. There were seven sessions: Proven Career Paths are Waiting For You, Conversations with Professionals, A How-to guide for Life After Graduation, A How to Guide for College Part II, Panel of Young Professionals, Panel of Graduate Students and Weather Outside the Lines. These sessions provided a wide variety of information to the students in attendance.

On Saturday night there was a networking reception. This reception was a Career Fair for students looking to speak to a variety of weather businesses and a Graduate School Fair for students looking to continue their education and research. On Sunday afternoon, the AMS held their 6th Annual WeatherFest. This weather exhibition is a hands-on and weather show for everyone, including the public. On Sunday night, students presented posters about their research on wide-ranging studies.

For the next several days, hundreds of meteorologists from around the world presented their research and studies. The choices were endless from last year’s weather events to climate change. More than 100 companies from around the world showed off their products and services in Exhibit Hall.

The 87th Annual AMS Conference brought together 2,500 meteorologists from across the globe to share thoughts, research and ideas to others in the field.

From all of the officers, thanks to all who attended and we look forward to being able to get more members of PSUBAMS to go to the 88th Annual AMS Conference in New Orleans, LA next year!

~ Bryan T. Oshinski

PSUBAMS FALL 2006 SEMESTER RECAP

During the past semester, the Penn State Branch of the American Meteorological Society has seen a dramatic increase in the quality of meetings and activities as well as the number students attending them. Membership and enthusiasm have risen significantly, which seems fitting for the largest and arguably the finest meteorology program in the nation. Also, PSUBAMS launched its own website: http://psubams.met.psu.edu. This site provides all meteorology students an opportunity to get in touch with the officers and visit their web pages, see the schedule of events and past news, have access to important meteorology links and presenters PowerPoints, as well as read the monthly synopsis sent to the AMS. PSUBAMS is also proud to announce their recent announcement by the AMS, of placing PSUBAMS on the AMS CHAPTER HONOR ROLL.

SPEAKERS/MEETINGS Carl McCalla, of NOAA's Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL) / Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), spoke about the great opportunities for students to work with experts in the development of scientific techniques for use in NWS operations. Former Penn State professor, Dr. Craig Bohren, showed us an application of the physics and thermodynamics that we have learned, to an everyday phenomenon, SMELLING. He educated those in attendance about olfactory training with his dogs and how the weather may affect a dogs trail of scent. Dr. Ray Najjar, professor in the departments of meteorology and geosciences, spoke at the final meeting of the semester about his research on DMS along with his other experiences in Antarctica.

Along with these distinguished speakers PSUBAMS hosted an internship meeting to help students further their education outside of Penn State and a graduate school meeting with Dr. Clothiaux, for those preparing themselves for further study in the field.

OTHER ACTIVITIES As an ice breaker in the early fall, PSUBAMS organized an outing to a nearby minor league baseball game that served as a meet the faculty event. A date auction was held to raise money for charity. PSUBAMS also held a photo contest, in the fall. Winners of the photo contest were featured in the PSUBAMS annual calendar that was for sale to all students and faculty during the holiday season.

ANNUAL MEETING PSUBAMS worked hard in coordination with the Campus Weather Service to obtain funding from the Penn State University Park Allocation Committee to send 18 students to the 2007 annual AMS conference in San Antonio. Many other students obtained other funding sources (AMS grants, etc.) at the urging of the PSUBAMS officers, and approximately 30 Penn State students will attend the annual meeting.

~ Bryan T. Oshinski