A group of undergraduate students from several universities in Australia and the United States, take a break with EOL staff in front of Wave rock, Hyden, Western Australia. The PI, Udaysankar Nair, University of Alabama, Huntsville is on far right. GAUS deployed to Western Australia during the Bunny Fence Experiment (BuFEX) experiment in December of 2005 that focused on the effect of landscape with cloud formation and atmospheric circulation. The students gained valuable research experience assisting EOL technicians in operating the two GAUS systems that collected high quality upper air soundings.
Priority 2: Enhancing Science Education
Student Field Project Support
Background
Graduate and undergraduate earth science students are a regular feature of all EOL field projects. EOL routinely involves these students to help with the operation and maintenance of EOL equipment during domestic and international field campaigns. While EOL prefers to work with students who have a personal interest in observational meteorology, EOL also routinely hires student to help with operations during large field campaigns. Most positions are in support of the Integrated Sounding System (ISS) and the GPS Advanced Upper Air Sounding System (GAUS) with occasional opportunities related to radar and dropsonde operations. Responsibilities often include launching of sondes at predetermined schedules, maintenance of proper operations of all equipment, data collection and processing activities, document preparation as well as help with set-up and tear-down.
Progress
In FY06, students were essential in the support of the first Bunny Fence Experiment (see sidebar), TREX, KESS, and CuPIDO.
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