Spring Semester Update!

Greetings all!

Happy New Year! I hope this blog entry finds you all well rested and maybe even getting ready to come back to Purdue for the next semester. For me, it is always amazing to see how quickly the break goes before Christmas, and then how slowly it goes after that point. Needless to say, I am ready to come back to Purdue. I may not be so ready for classes to start again, but as is the journey of college.

Looking back, PUMA had an innovative fall semester! With a few new events and the implementation of a Forecasting Club, it kept us all plenty busy. I speak for all of us here at PUMA when I say thank you for those that supported our forecasting products this past semester! We are setting our goals high for the future to expand on this idea that we are really still in the process of sculpting.

Our Forecasting Club is a club made up almost entirely of Atmospheric Science majors with the exception of a few non-majors who are attending to help out and learn as well. For majors, we learn all about the science and theory embedded in the atmosphere. From physics, to thermodynamics, to dynamics, we learn so much but often do not get a chance to apply that knowledge. Our purpose for this club is to not only to provide practical forecasting experience to ATMS majors (to apply this awesome knowledge), but also to provide accurate and dependable forecasts to the West Lafayette area (via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube).

We have a busy semester coming up for PUMA with the AMS conference in Atlanta and some new events in the making. The AMS student conference is February 1st-2nd. While the main conference starts on the 2nd and goes until the 6th. Many PUMA members will be attending and it is not too late to sign if you are still interested in going though it may be difficult to find a hotel at this point. In addition, we will have spring callouts that will likely take place towards the end of January. We are in the process of planning 3 new events for this semester! Provided there is enough interest for these events, we will be going to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, attending the Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium and setting up a Science Movie Night (Sharknado???). Spring Fest is April 12th and 13th this year and we would love to see as many of you there as possible (club members or not).

For now though, that's a wrap! Stay tuned for more updates. I'll try to do more blog updates this semester to keep those of you away from Purdue in the loop.

In weather,

Joseph Bauer
PUMA President

A Summer Update - Presidential Edition

Hey everyone!

My name is Joseph Bauer and I am the new PUMA President for the coming year. It is hard to believe there is only a month left of our summer before the fall semester begins! This summer for me has been very productive and yet enjoyable. In the time remaining before summer ends, I hope to squeeze in a few more trips but I am ready for fall to be here.

NOW DOWN TO BUSINESS! With this entry, I wanted to bring to light some of the changes, goals and events we have coming this year.

First off... WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE! During my sophomore year I worked to try to get our old site updated and needless to say it was a huge pain trying to work with ITaP. So this summer, I worked with some of the College of Science IT staff to get a site that we could freely update and design ourselves. I really think it looks great, but I am biased... The link is above and feel free to make suggestions on what else we could put on the site!

In other news, I have been keeping in touch with Prof. Baldwin about getting a green screen with graphic design software. Once purchased, he plans to locate this plethora of technology in the second half of the weather briefing room. He already has a computer for the job and it is a beast! I cannot remember the full specifications on it, but it has 60GB of ram and a quad ton of processing power. Obviously, these are some expensive toys he is investing in and so it will be a potentially slow process to obtain all of it. He also wants to make sure that people will use it. I think it would be a great idea to do a weekly/daily forecast and upload it on YouTube or our new site. Basically, we need people to weigh in on this so Prof. Baldwin's investment isn't for nothing. Let me (or Prof. Baldwin) know if your interested!

We also have a few events already scheduled!

• The College of Science Meet & Greet on August 16th (2-4pm)
• The Boilermaker Get Involved Fair on August 17th (1-4pm)
• First General Meeting (Call Outs) on August 28th (7pm-whenever)

If you are back to school early, then feel free to come and hang out at either of the two early events. It would be nice to see some PUMA members there and to hear about your summer experiences. I will post Facebook events for these soon.

Lastly, I want to list our top goal for the year. I really want to see PUMA get some recognition at the AMS conference. Our previous officers have put us on a good track and the club has done really well the last couple of years and I think we deserve some acknowledgement. With that said, my goal for the club is to win Chapter of the Year at the AMS conference. This is a big goal, but I think we can do it. Take a look at the criteria for chapter awards here. I want to hear some fresh ideas come Call Outs and lets try to step outside the box this coming year.

Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone!

Rock the Vote for PUMA Elections!

This Wednesday at 7pm, PUMA will be having its annual election for officer position. We encourage all members to participate in the election. Here is the basic rundown for the elections based off our 2012 by-laws

• Anyone who wishes to run for an officer position MUST be in good standing with the organization
• Basically, you have paid your dues
• Officers must be a member of the AMS and NWA
• Fees can be paid after the election ($20 each)
• Officer positions officially begin June 1st
• Unofficially begin immediately after the election
• Any member who has paid their dues can vote and nominate candidates
• Any member who has not paid their dues can still come to the election, but they are not allowed to participate in the nomination and voting process
• In order to run for an officer position, you must be nominated by another member in attendance
• Both you and your nominator have to be physically present
• No absentee voting, nominations, or candidacy allowed
• To win the officer position, you must receive a simple majority of the votes
• 50% + 1 vote
• In the event where no one received a majority of the votes, a run off election will immediately follow between the top 2 candidates from the previous election
• Order of the election
1. President
2. Vice-President
3. Secretary
4. Treasurer

Here are the basic officer duties. Please note that your duties are not limited to what is described in the by-laws, and that often officers work together to help PUMA succeed.

• President
• Reports directly to the AMS and NWA
• Preside at all the meetings
• Coordinate and plan group activities
• Obtain appropriate facilities
• Maintain contact with adviser, department faculty and staff, members, and officers
• Chair the Executive Committee
• Vice-President
• Assume the duties of the President when necessary
• Directly assist the President
• About 90% of the job, but it also depends on the President
•  Chair the Program Committee
• Secretary
• Assume duties of Vice-President when needed
• Directly assist the Vice-President
• Keep records and minutes of officer and general meetings
• Maintain and update online accounts
• Facebook, Twitter, Blog, G-Mail
• Contact potential guest speakers
• Chair the Publicity and Outreach Committee
• Treasurer
• Maintain financial records
• Prepare budgest
• Prepare reimbursement for club payments
• Purdue policy: treasurers are not allowed to reimburse themselves
• Prepare budget reports monthly, or when requested
• Seek grants and financial support
• Organize fundraisers
• Chair Finance and Membership Committee
• Assume the duties of the Secretary when needed

If you are a PUMA member, please do consider running for an officer position. All the officers can testify that it is a great experience, it looks great on a resume, and you have fun at the same time! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the PUMA officers.

PUMA at AMS 2013

Greetings!

Three of our officers (Kayla, Juan, and Bryce), our adviser (Dr. Lasher-Trapp), as well as various members are in Austin, Texas (or preparing to travel to Austin) for the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society. This is a great opportunity for many of our members to present their research throughout the year, as well as network with professionals in the field and college students at other universities.

This year, PUMA members will be presenting various projects at the 12th Annual Student Conference tonight:

Sophomores: 2 from EAS 226

Juniors: 1 from Synoptic 1/Thermodynamics, Analyzing the vertical structure of the Atmosphere during the 2012 Drought.

Seniors: 2 from the Senior Project in Weather Observations and Measurements (Front Analysis and Urban Heat Island) as well as the Sea Breeze Research Trip from spring break in 2012.

On top of these poster presentations, our Secretary, Bryce O'Neill, will be giving an oral presentation on Tuesday afternoon discussing the Chicago Heat Wave in 2012.

Along with this, PUMA is also presenting a chapter poster for the first time in years! Check it out below:

Make sure to check out the PUMA poster throughout the week if you get the chance! PUMA and Purdue are well represented this year at AMS. Purdue has sent plenty of students in the past, but this year PUMA is making a lasting impression on the conference, which hasn't been present in recent years. We hope that our future officers will continue to make PUMA a regular presence at AMS and NWA conferences.

We'll see you in Austin!

Thanksgiving/November PUMA Update

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

November has been a quiet month for PUMA after hosting 3 events last month in October. The visit from Southwest Airlines and their NoLimits recruiter was a success! They were impressed with what PUMA had to offer and have offered to return next year! Hopefully we can make it a much bigger event, invite the whole campus (obviously in a bigger room), and use it as a great way to advertise for PUMA!

Our 2nd Annual Graduate School panel, co-hosted with PUGS, was well attended by members in both organizations. We thank our panelists for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer the questions of those in attendance who hope to attend graduate school themselves.

A PUMA tradition continued on Halloween with the annual PUMA Pumpkin Carving social. After business items were discussed at the beginning of the meeting, our members had the chance to take a break from their studies and carve pumpkins to celebrate the holiday. Who knew that a couple science students could be so creative?

Up next for PUMA is our annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. It will be on the last day of classes, Friday, December 7th at 6pm in HAMP/CIVL 4251. There will be plenty of treats and even a gift exchange! Ugly sweaters are encouraged.