For the week: July 17 - July 23, 2006

Did You Know?

July was renamed for Julius Caesar, and is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, and is 31 days long.
In prior years, it was called Quintilis. If you know your latin, that "Quint" thing is screaming "# 5". That makes perfect sense
since it was the fifth month in the Roman calendar, which started in March.

Colloquium: There is no Department Colloquium this week. The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html

Paul Knight has been elected as president of the American Association of State Climatologists (AASC). Per the NCDC's website, "Founded in 1976, the AASC is a professional scientific organization composed of state climatologists (one per state), directors of the six Regional Climate Centers and associate members who are persons interested in the goals and activities of the Association." Paul's term as president of the AASC began on June 24, 2006 and will last for the next two years.

M.S. Thesis Defense: Jeff Zielonka will defend his M.S. thesis titled "A Year-Long Gulf Coast Mesoscale Modeling Study for Improving Meteorological Inputs for Air Quality Models" on Tuesday, July 18 in 529 Walker at 9:30 a.m.

M.S. Thesis Defense: Adam Moyer will defend his M.S. thesis titled "Determination of Observed Gale Radius Statistics for North Atlantic Tropical
Cyclones" on Monday, July 24 at 9:00 a.m. in 529 Walker Building.

Robert Crane will be appointed as interim Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences beginning on August 1.

Access to online thesis dissertations: All recent Ph.D. theses that are published as an eTD (electronic thesis dissertation) can be now be accessed by visiting: http://etda.libraries.psu.edu. Beginning Fall 2006, all Ph.D. theses are required to be submitted in eTD format, so all theses beginning in the Fall 2006, should be available on this database in PDF format and searchable by author, degree program, or abstract.

The updates to the Meteorology option requirements have been approved. The new option requirements are available by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/courses/options1.html

The Meteorology Department will be phasing in a new required three-credit course, Principles of Atmospheric Measurement, Meteo 440W, beginning in the Fall '06 semester. Meteo 440W will replace the two 1-credit courses, Meteo 445 and Meteo 446, but the total number of credits to graduate (121) will not change. Please view the announcement regarding the prerequisites and who should register for it and when. (This link will open in a separate window.) [440W Course Announcement].

Colloquium: There is no Department Colloquium this week. The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html

M.S. Thesis Defense: Jeff Zielonka will defend his M.S. thesis titled "A Year-Long Gulf Coast Mesoscale Modeling Study for Improving Meteorological Inputs for Air Quality Models" on Tuesday, July 18 in 529 Walker at 9:30 a.m.

M.S. Thesis Defense: Adam Moyer will defend his M.S. thesis titled "Determination of Observed Gale Radius Statistics for North Atlantic Tropical
Cyclones" on Monday, July 24 at 9:00 a.m. in 529 Walker Building.

Buy an EMS Dining Card and support the EMS United Way campaign. Cards cost $10 each and are good for freebies and/or discounts at a variety of restaurants and vendors around town.

Conference Room Calendar Change: The 529 and 511 Walker conference room calendars are now "view only" due to a scheduling issue. If you'd like to reserve one of these rooms, the staff in the main office will be glad to make the reservation for you.

IN THE NEWS:

Alumnus Henry Margusity ('90 BS), senior meteorologist for AccuWeather, and Prof. Michael Mann are interviewed for an article titled "A hurricane here could spell trouble" that appeared in the Hazelton Standard Speaker on July 16, 2006. [View Article]

Geoff Cornish was interviewed for a story appearing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com on July 9, 2006 titled "Where's the Most Perfect Climate" [View Story]

A 2002 Penn State Meteorology alumnus, Manajit Sengupta, was featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal on June 27, 2006. The article, titled "Under a Cloud" is about the daunting backlog of visa applicants and the logistics and time involved in getting a long-term visa. [View Article].

Fred Gadomski is featured in a Penn State Live article on June 21, 2006 about the summer forecast. [View Article]

Research done by Michael Mann, Raymond Bradley, and Malcom Hughes was in the spotlight in most national newspapers last week. For instance, visit, "Study: Earth 'likely' hottest in 2,000 years" from CNN.com.

On May 29, The Toronto Star published an article titled "Weather matters to Wall Street," which discusses the increasing opportunities for meteorologists in financial markets. Andy Kleit was interviewed for the story. [Full Story]

A story titled "Climate change responsible for increased hurricanes," featuring Michael Mann, was published in the May 31, 2006 issue of Penn State Live. [Full Story]

Archived News:  The weekly news is archived.  See the link at the bottom of the page to access the archives.

Colloquium: There is no Department Colloquium this week. The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html

M.S. Thesis Defense: Jeff Zielonka will defend his M.S. thesis titled "A Year-Long Gulf Coast Mesoscale Modeling Study for Improving Meteorological Inputs for Air Quality Models" on Tuesday, July 18 in 529 Walker at 9:30 a.m.

M.S. Thesis Defense: Adam Moyer will defend his M.S. thesis titled "Determination of Observed Gale Radius Statistics for North Atlantic Tropical
Cyclones" on Monday, July 24 at 9:00 a.m. in 529 Walker Building.

Access to online thesis dissertations: All recent Ph.D. theses that are published as an eTD (electronic thesis dissertation) can be now be accessed by visiting: http://etda.libraries.psu.edu. Beginning Fall 2006, all Ph.D. theses are required to be submitted in eTD format, so all theses beginning in the Fall 2006, should be available on this database in PDF format and searchable by author, degree program, or abstract.

PSUBAMS is planning an outing to a State College Spikes game on September 7. If you are interested in attending, please send Racheal Bliley an email (rab333@psu.edu). More details will be forthcoming, but she is just trying to get some idea of interest at this point.

Deadlines and Important Dates:

July 24 Monday—last date for summer graduate to submit final thesis to the Thesis Office or upload final eTD to the eTD Web site

FALL 2006 COURSES

Meteo 440W: Principles of Atmospheric Measurement [More]

Meteo 474:Computer Methods for Meteorological Analysis and Forecasting (G. Young) [More]

Meteo 512:Advanced Meteorological Analysis (P. Markowski) [More]

Meteo 523:Climate Modeling (M. Mann) [More]

Meteo 597E: Climate Dynamics Seminar (M. Mann) [More]

Math 580: Introduction to Applied Mathematics (D. Henderson) [More]

Phys 527: Computational Physics (J. Sofo) [More]

Colloquium: There is no Department Colloquium this week. The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html

PSUBAMS is planning an outing to a State College Spikes game on September 7. If you are interested in attending, please send Racheal Bliley an email (rab333@psu.edu). More details will be forthcoming, but she is just trying to get some idea of interest at this point.

Two Meteorology undergraduate students receive NOAA Ernest Hollings Scholarships. Congratulations to Gregory Seroka and Thomas Sabbatelli, who will receive up to $8000 in academic assistance per year. As a part of the scholarship, Gregory and Thomas will also participate in a 10-week, paid summer internship at NOAA or a NOAA approved facility. [More about the NOAA Ernest Hollings Scholarship

Student team in Weather Comm II class develops learning module. Scott Dimmich, Adam Marcal, Beth Russell, Lindsay Schwarzwaelder, Nicholas Sette, and Shepard Stuck of the Spring 2006 Weather Comm II class have developed a web-based online teaching module to help incoming freshmen understand the Skew-T Log-P diagram. [Visit website].

DEADLINES AND IMPORTANT DATES:

Late Drop - Deadline: Tuesday August 1
Withdrawal - Deadline: Wednesday August 9

Student Career Experience Program positions at the Meteorological Development Lab located in Silver Spring, MD. Please visit the following website for details about this COOP opportunity: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/coop/coop.htm

Penn State Meteorology student and Schreyer Honors scholar, Zachary Lebo, has garnered a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 2006-2007. Zachary is one of three students (one an honorable mention) to be recognized with this scholarship from Penn State and among only 323 recipients nationwide for the 2006-2007academic year. The scholarship was created by Congress to honor Sen. Barry M. Goldwater and to promote the study of the sciences, mathematics and engineering. Congratulations Zack! For more information visit: [Barry M. Goldwater Scholar Press Release] [Penn State Live Press Release]

Plan Ahead for Meteo 414! I thought I would give you some advanced notice concerning our plans for Meteo 414, Mesoscale Meteorology. By Spring '07 we are planning to schedule the course in a newly renovated room on the first floor of Walker that will have a maximum capacity of 36 students. This spring we were able to accommodate 40 students in the course, but we will not be able to do so in the future. If you were planning to take the course in Spring '07, but could take it in Fall '06, then please do so as there are currently spaces available. We wish to make the course available to each of you who wants to take it, but to ensure that you are able to register for the course, we ask that you plan ahead and take it at the earliest possible time in which there are openings in the class. Sincerely, Professor Shirer

The updates to the Meteorology option requirements have been approved. The new option requirements are available by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/courses/options1.html

Become a student member of the AMS:
http://www.ametsoc.org/memb/generalrecruitnew2005.pdf

NEW! FALL 2006 COURSES

Meteo 440W: Principles of Atmospheric Measurement [More]

Meteo 474: Computer Methods for Meteorological Analysis and Forecasting (G. Young) [More]

Meteo 512: Advanced Meteorological Analysis (P. Markowski) [More]

Meteo 523: Climate Modeling (M. Mann) [More]

Meteo 597E: Climate Dynamics Seminar (M. Mann) [More]

Math 580: Introduction to Applied Mathematics (D. Henderson) [More]

Phys 527: Computational Physics (J. Sofo) [More]


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