For the week: September 18 - 24, 2006
Did
You Know?
During
the 1982 Falklands war, British pilots reported that penguins toppled
over backward while
gazing at the planes. British navy pilots were then banned from flying
low over penguin colonies. It led to a
UK government study of the penguin-toppling effect. For seventeen days
two helicopters were flown from
varying directions and heights over the penguins. The result? It's official:
penguins do not topple over
while gazing at aeroplanes.
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Colloquium: This week's Colloquium will take place on Thursday, September 21 at 4:00 p.m. and the speaker will be Howard Barker of the Meteorological Service of Canada. The title of his talk will be "Validation and verification of atmospheric radiative transfer models." The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html The first ESSC Seminar of Fall 2006 will be held on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, from 11:15-12:30 in 529 Walker. All are welcome. Klaus Keller and Michael Mann will lead us in a discussion of recent papers on estimating climate sensitivity. The papers we will be discussing, as well as information on the Fall 2006 ESSC Seminar series, can be found by visiting: http://www.essc.psu.edu/essc_web/seminars/index.html Ph.D. Thesis Defense: James Kirk will defend his Ph.D. thesis on Thursday, September 28 at 10:00 a.m. in 529 Walker Building. The title of his talk is "Diagnosing Different Evolutionary Paths for the Development of Mesoscale Convective Vortices." How would you like to win two tickets to the Chi Epsilon Pi/Meteorology Department Spring Banquet? If you are an extraordinary chef, then you have a chance! Before Meteorology Department Colloquia on Thursday afternoons, refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m. in 529 Walker. Chi Epsilon Pi is sponsoring a bake-off. Each week, anyone interested can sign-up to bring a home-made dessert as a pre-colloquium treat to be shared. Each dessert will be judged on taste, appearance, freshness, and originality/uniqueness. At the conclusion of the contest, the individual with the highest score will win two free tickets to the spring banquet. If you are interested in participating in this contest, a sign-up sheet is located outside of 410 Walker. You may sign-up in teams; however, the maximum number of free tickets that will be given away is two. Any questions, please contact Zack Byko at zmb102@psu.edu. Chi Epsilon Pi will be selling unique Penn State Meteorology items this year to raise funds for activities we plan to hold in the future and spread Penn State Meteo spirit! The two items we will be selling are Penn State Meteorology window clings and magnets. The price is $3 per magnet and $2 per window cling. However, for those interested in purchasing several of each, we will offer a discount of 4 magnets for $10 and 3 window clings for $5. You may purchase these items from Rhonda Spychalski in the main office on the 5th floor of Walker, Zack Byko in 410 Walker, Victor Yannuzzi in 412 Walker, or Jared Lee in 405 Walker. A Chi Epsilon Pi officer will also be at several of the departmental organizational meetings at the start of the semester armed with window clings and magnets for sale as well. Any questions, contact Zack at zmb102@psu.edu. [View images of magnets and window clings.] WxChallenge: Outreach Scholarship 2006 Conference: Engagement through the Disciplines. This conference sponsored by Ohio State University, Penn State, University of Wisconsin--Extension, and The University of Georgia will be held on October 8-10, 2006 at The Columbus, Renaissance Hotel in Columbus, Ohio. Conference information and registration is available at http://www.outreachscholarship.org On each Monday for the entire fall semester, forecast discussions will be held in the Weather Station Classroom at 12:30 p.m. These discussions will be informal, last about 30 minutes, and will be lead by a Penn State, AccuWeather, or National Weather Service forecaster. Everyone with an interest in weather forecasting is invited! Feel free to drop in on the discussions whenever possible, whether it is on a weekly basis or just once or twice all semester. It is our hope that the experts giving the discussions can teach us a little more about weather forecasting and the audience engage and question the forecast discussion leader. If you have any interest in leading a discussion, please contact me at zmb102@psu.edu. 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: This week's Colloquium will take place on Thursday, September 21 at 4:00 p.m. and the speaker will be Howard Barker of the Meteorological Service of Canada. The title of his talk will be "Validation and verification of atmospheric radiative transfer models." The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html The first ESSC Seminar of Fall 2006 will be held on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, from 11:15-12:30 in 529 Walker. All are welcome. Klaus Keller and Michael Mann will lead us in a discussion of recent papers on estimating climate sensitivity. The papers we will be discussing, as well as information on the Fall 2006 ESSC Seminar series, can be found by visiting: http://www.essc.psu.edu/essc_web/seminars/index.html Earth and Mineral Sciences Film Series: For a list of films to be aired throughout the fall semester, please visit: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/emsl/videoseries.html 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. Abrams Books, New York, NY, is pleased to announce the publication of Kaleidoscope Sky, (subtitled the ever-shifting versicolor pageant of daylight, rainbows, halos, mirages, aurora and other celestial marvels) in fall 2007. It is the first book on atmospheric optical phenomena designed for a general audience and the popular market. As such, it presents the science behind the displays in nontechnical terms, and is richly illustrated with 130 full color photographs. To further encourage popular interest in our fascinating sky, each chapter includes tips for understanding, locating, observing, predicting, interpreting, photographing, investigating and analyzing the wondrous light show. The publisher is seeking photo contributors and their expertise in helping to assemble the best possible collection of stunningly dramatic and striking photos for the book; please email the author to request a list of the required subjects and directions on submission. Submission deadline is September 20, 2006. Tim Herd, author 2572 Mountain Road, Bath, PA 18014 610-837-6225 herd@naturenewswatch.com. Tim Herd ('78 B.S.) is a Penn State Meteorology alumnus. 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: Craig Bohren addresses the controversial topic of global warming in the August 7 issue of the USA Today in an article titled "How to get to the bottom of the global warming debate." [View article] On August 14, Millersville University PR Newswire published an article titled "Millersville University Professor Works to Make Sailing Safer," which features alumnus Todd Sikora ('90, '92, '96) and research collaboration with George Young. [View story] An August 9, 2006 article in Penn State Live titled, "To the Point, Penn State professor on effects of Alaska oil field shutdown," features Andrew Kleit. [View story]. A May 2006 PNL web publication in the Atmospheric Science & Global Change Division titled "Sharing Space for the Sake of Science," discusses collaborations with Anne Thompson's and Bill Brune's research teams. The article also includes quotes from PNNL scientist and Penn State alumnus, Jim Mather ('86, '90, '94). [View article]. 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.
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Colloquium: This week's Colloquium will take place on Thursday, September 21 at 4:00 p.m. and the speaker will be Howard Barker of the Meteorological Service of Canada. The title of his talk will be "Validation and verification of atmospheric radiative transfer models." The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html The first ESSC Seminar of Fall 2006 will be held on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, from 11:15-12:30 in 529 Walker. All are welcome. Klaus Keller and Michael Mann will lead us in a discussion of recent papers on estimating climate sensitivity. The papers we will be discussing, as well as information on the Fall 2006 ESSC Seminar series, can be found by visiting: http://www.essc.psu.edu/essc_web/seminars/index.html The next PSUBAMS meeting will be held in 112 Walker at 7 p.m. on September 20. Carl McCalla from MDL SCEP in Silver Springs will be here to speak about internships with the MDL. T-shirts and PSUBAMS memberships will be sold. Ph.D. Thesis Defense: James Kirk will defend his Ph.D. thesis on Thursday, September 28 at 10:00 a.m. in 529 Walker Building. The title of his talk is "Diagnosing Different Evolutionary Paths for the Development of Mesoscale Convective Vortices." Dr. Andrew Kleit, along with Dr. Anthony Kwasnica at the Smeal College of Business, will be running markets for weather this fall. The sites for these markets will be the same as those in the WxChallenge. The first market will be for the high temperature and precipitation amount in Orlando, Florida on September 25. This market will open for business on September 18. So if you want to make some money on your weather forecasts, please go to http://lema3.smeal.psu.edu/prediction/ and click on the "New User" link. (Don't worry, we give you the money for you to work with.) How would you like to win two tickets to the Chi Epsilon Pi/Meteorology Department Spring Banquet? If you are an extraordinary chef, then you have a chance! Before Meteorology Department Colloquia on Thursday afternoons, refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m. in 529 Walker. Chi Epsilon Pi is sponsoring a bake-off. Each week, anyone interested can sign-up to bring a home-made dessert as a pre-colloquium treat to be shared. Each dessert will be judged on taste, appearance, freshness, and originality/uniqueness. At the conclusion of the contest, the individual with the highest score will win two free tickets to the spring banquet. If you are interested in participating in this contest, a sign-up sheet is located outside of 410 Walker. You may sign-up in teams; however, the maximum number of free tickets that will be given away is two. Any questions, please contact Zack Byko at zmb102@psu.edu. The third annual CWS/PSUBAMS Date Auction will be held on October 22, 2006 in 22 Deike with bidding starting at 7PM sharp. Last year was our best year yet! We raised over $1400, doubling it from the previous year. Proceeds benefit THON (75%) and CWS (25%). If you are interested in auctioning yourself off for charity please fill out the attached application and email it back to either myself (rab333@psu.edu) or Beth Russell (elr140@psu.edu). The deadline for applications is October 10. [Date Auction Application Form] Attend the first meeting of the Association for Women in Science--the largest multi-disciplinary science and technology organization for women in the U.S. The first informational meeting of the semester will be held on Thursday, September 21 at 5:45 p.m. in 117 Osmond. The American Meteorological Society has recently announced several funding opportunities for students to attend the 87th Annual Meeting being held from January 13-18, 2007 in San Antonio, TX. The deadline for each is October 20, 2006. Please apply soon to ensure your materials are received in time. Here is a list of the opportunities: AMS Travel Grants (senior undergraduates and grad students are eligible): http://www.ametsoc.org/amsstudentinfo/stg_info.html AMS Student Assistantships (all undergraduates are eligible): http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/studentvolunteer.html Grad Student Climate Change Travel Grants to attend the 19th Conference on Climate Variability & Global Change: http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/studentclimatescholarships.html Young Science & Student Atmospheric Chemistry Travel Grants to attend the 9th Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry (various awards for post-docs and qualified graduate students and undergraduates): http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/studentchemistryscholarships.html Letter to student AMS members from Keith Seitter, Executive Director of the AMS: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/undprog/AMS_student_member_program.pdf WxChallenge: The National Academies has announced that it is now accepting applications for the 2007 sessions of the Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program in Washington D.C. For more information, please visit: http://www.met.psu.edu/Jobs/Fellowships/fellowships.html On each Monday for the entire fall semester, forecast discussions will be held in the Weather Station Classroom at 12:30 p.m. These discussions will be informal, last about 30 minutes, and will be lead by a Penn State, AccuWeather, or National Weather Service forecaster. Everyone with an interest in weather forecasting is invited! Feel free to drop in on the discussions whenever possible, whether it is on a weekly basis or just once or twice all semester. It is our hope that the experts giving the discussions can teach us a little more about weather forecasting and the audience engage and question the forecast discussion leader. If you have any interest in leading a discussion, please contact me at zmb102@psu.edu. The new Graduate Minor in Computational Science has been formally approved by Penn State. More information about this minor can be found at http://www.ics.psu.edu/minor.html. Deadlines and Important Dates: Oct. 4 Wednesday—last date for a fall graduate to submit a draft of the master's thesis to the Thesis Office for format review Oct. 6 Friday—Study Day - No Classes Oct. 9 Monday—last date for a fall graduate to pass final doctoral defense (dept. must return report form to Graduate Enrollment Services immediately) Oct. 9 - October 22 Monday - Sunday—Final
Exam Conflict - Filing Period FALL 2006 COURSES
Colloquium: This week's Colloquium will take place on Thursday, September 21 at 4:00 p.m. and the speaker will be Howard Barker of the Meteorological Service of Canada. The title of his talk will be "Validation and verification of atmospheric radiative transfer models." The Department's weekly colloquium schedule can be viewed by visiting: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/events/MeteoColloq.html Check your "JUNK" mail settings: It has come to our attention that some of the important emails sent to the meteo undergraduates listserve are being filtered into the "JUNK" mailbox on some email systems. Please be sure to flag messages coming from the meteo undergraduates listserve as "not junk" or "safe" so that you are sure to receive all of the information that is distributed through the listserve. The third annual CWS/PSUBAMS Date Auction
will be held on October 22, 2006
in 22 Deike with bidding starting at 7PM sharp. Last year was
our best year yet! We raised over $1400, doubling it from the
previous year. Proceeds benefit THON (75%) and CWS (25%). If
you are interested in auctioning yourself off for charity please
fill out the attached application and email it back to either
myself (rab333@psu.edu)
or Beth Russell (elr140@psu.edu).
The deadline for applications is October
10. [Date
Auction Application Form] The first ESSC Seminar of Fall 2006 will be held on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, from 11:15-12:30 in 529 Walker. All are welcome. Klaus Keller and Michael Mann will lead us in a discussion of recent papers on estimating climate sensitivity. The papers we will be discussing, as well as information on the Fall 2006 ESSC Seminar series, can be found by visiting: http://www.essc.psu.edu/essc_web/seminars/index.html The next PSUBAMS meeting will be held in 112 Walker at 7 p.m. on September 20. Carl McCalla from MDL SCEP in Silver Springs will be here to speak about internships with the MDL. T-shirts and PSUBAMS memberships will be sold. The American Meteorological Society has recently announced several funding opportunities for students to attend the 87th Annual Meeting being held from January 13-18, 2007 in San Antonio, TX. The deadline for each is October 20, 2006. Please apply soon to ensure your materials are received in time. Here is a list of the opportunities and a link at the bottom to a letter sent by the Director of the AMS: AMS Travel Grants (senior undergraduates and grad students are eligible): http://www.ametsoc.org/amsstudentinfo/stg_info.html AMS Student Assistantships (all undergraduates are eligible): http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/studentvolunteer.html Young Science & Student Atmospheric Chemistry Travel Grants to attend the 9th Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry (various awards for post-docs and qualified graduate students and undergraduates): http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/studentchemistryscholarships.html Letter to student AMS members from Keith Seitter, Executive Director of the AMS: http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/undprog/AMS_student_member_program.pdf Attend the first meeting of the Association for Women in Science--the largest multi-disciplinary science and technology organization for women in the U.S. The first informational meeting of the semester will be held on Thursday, September 21 at 5:45 p.m. in 117 Osmond. Dr. Andrew Kleit, along with Dr. Anthony Kwasnica at the Smeal College of Business, will be running markets for weather this fall. The sites for these markets will be the same as those in the WxChallenge. The first market will be for the high temperature and precipitation amount in Orlando, Florida on September 25. This market will open for business on September 18. So if you want to make some money on your weather forecasts, please go to http://lema3.smeal.psu.edu/prediction/ and click on the "New User" link. (Don't worry, we give you the money for you to work with.) What did you do this summer? If it was weather related, interesting, and you like to speak in front of groups then I have an offer for you. I am looking for volunteers to speak at the PSUBAMS annual internship meeting that will be held October 11, 2006 at 7PM in 112 Walker. If interested please email me (rab333@psu.edu) back a brief summery of what you did by September 25. How would you like to win two tickets to the Chi Epsilon Pi/Meteorology Department Spring Banquet? If you are an extraordinary chef, then you have a chance! Before Meteorology Department Colloquia on Thursday afternoons, refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m. in 529 Walker. Chi Epsilon Pi is sponsoring a bake-off. Each week, anyone interested can sign-up to bring a home-made dessert as a pre-colloquium treat to be shared. Each dessert will be judged on taste, appearance, freshness, and originality/uniqueness. At the conclusion of the contest, the individual with the highest score will win two free tickets to the spring banquet. If you are interested in participating in this contest, a sign-up sheet is located outside of 410 Walker. You may sign-up in teams; however, the maximum number of free tickets that will be given away is two. Any questions, please contact Zack Byko at zmb102@psu.edu. Congratulations to Marcus Walter has recently been accepted into the Schreyer Honors College for the Fall 2006 semester. Marcus is a junior majoring in Meteorology with an option in Weather Forecasting and Communications. The 2006 National Weather Association (NWA) David Sankey Minority Scholarship in Meteorology has been awarded to Cho Hin (Richard) Lam of Wilmington, Delaware. This $1,000 scholarship will assist Richard with expenses throughout his junior year at Penn State in the Department of Meteorology. Richard was selected to receive this scholarship from a pool of outstanding applicants at seven different colleges/universities. Congratulations Richard! WxChallenge: Chi Epsilon Pi Tutoring Services: For every undergraduate meteorology class and Math 140/140G and Math 141, a tutor has been selected who has extensive background in the topic. The idea is that this is a person you can contact if you feel you need more assistance with a course than the instructor and TA can provide. Most importantly, this service is completely free of charge! If you are struggling with a class this fall, please use Chi Epsilon Pi's tutoring services. The best way to contact tutors is via email, even though an impromptu visit to a tutor's office may be fruitful on some occasions. The tutoring list can be viewed at http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/courses/tutoringlist.html On each Monday for the entire fall semester, forecast discussions will be held in the Weather Station Classroom at 12:30 p.m. These discussions will be informal, last about 30 minutes, and will be lead by a Penn State, AccuWeather, or National Weather Service forecaster. Everyone with an interest in weather forecasting is invited! Feel free to drop in on the discussions whenever possible, whether it is on a weekly basis or just once or twice all semester. It is our hope that the experts giving the discussions can teach us a little more about weather forecasting and the audience engage and question the forecast discussion leader. If you have any interest in leading a discussion, please contact me at zmb102@psu.edu. DEADLINES AND IMPORTANT DATES: Oct. 6 Friday—Study Day - No Classes October 9 - October 22 Monday
- Sunday—Final Exam Conflict - Filing Period 2007 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 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 Become a student member of the AMS: http://www.ametsoc.org/memb/ FALL 2006 COURSES
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MATH/CSE 551: Numerical Solutions of Ordinary Differential
Equations (Xiantao Li) 
Now available for students, faculty, staff, and alumni!
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Visit the weekly news ARCHIVES [click here].