PUMA: The Beta Kappa chapter of the NWA

From Vice President: Juan Crespo
This past January down in New Orleans, I had missed my shuttle from my hotel to the airport after spending a week at the AMS Conference. Luckily, I happened to run into Tim Oram in the lobby of my hotel. At the time, Mr. Oram was the Emergency Response Meteorologist at the Southern Region Headquarters of the National Weather Service. Mr. Oram offered to drive me up to the NOLA Airport so I could catch my flight on time. During that drive, we discussed topics covered at AMS, my studies, as well as the National Weather Association (NWA).

Mr. Oram told me how the NWA was great for those who were interested in the field of operational meteorology, and told me that just like the AMS, there are local chapters within the NWA. As soon as he told me this, I knew this would be a great opportunity for PUMA. Being an NWA Chapter would allow PUMA to also focus on the operational side of meteorology as well as the research that is often focused on in our major. As soon as I returned to Purdue, I signed up to be an NWA member and began looking up how this could be done

My goal was to get our local chapter status by the end of the school year, but with how busy the officers were, and the fact that one of them was studying abroad in England, we decided to push it back for the next administration to handle. When I became Vice-President of PUMA for this school year, I immediately told Kayla, our President, that I wanted to get this task done. She trusted me and allowed me to write up our petition while I asked the other 3 officers to become NWA members so we could file for chapter status.

After getting the petition signed over the summer, we received word from the National Weather Association before the school year started that all we had to do was give them our by-laws with revisions that also focused on the NWA. There was only one problem: the current PUMA by-laws haven't even been touched since the early 90s and were extremely outdated! This meant we had to start from scratch; just like with the petition, I volunteered to write up the new by-laws so we could complete this process.

After writing and revising the by-laws for what seemed like days, we finally finished and approved the by-laws to be reviewed by the NWA. After about a month of waiting due to the NWA Annual Meeting, on Tuesday, October 23rd, PUMA was officially approved as the Beta Kappa chapter of the National Weather Association! It certainly was a long process that started 10 months ago, but the journey was worth it.

As a dual AMS and NWA Local Chapter, PUMA will be able to serve our members better. Our members will now have to opportunity to network and reach out more with the operational field of meteorology, but also be able to expand their horizons with both organizations. We hope that PUMA will continue to flourish in the near future as it begins to work with the NWA while keeping a strong connection with the AMS.

Upcoming Events

There are several PUMA events on the calendar for the next month.  Below you will find information about all of them:

Southwest Airlines Visit - 10/18/12 5:45 & 6:30pm HAMP 4251
Some recruiters from Southwest will be coming to talk to us about working for them. This is obviously a great opportunity for anyone looking for a summer internship or full time employment. Even if you have no interest in Southwest, this will be a good opportunity to learn about jobs in the private sector, and to practice talking to recruiters.
There will be two separate 45 minute sessions starting at 5:45 and 6:30 pm.

EAPS Graduate School Panel - 10/24/12 6:30pm HAMP 3201
 Come listen to grad students, professors, and even the head of our department as they talk about graduate school. This is a golden opportunity to learn from those who have gone before us. Whatever you current stance on grad school, this will be a great way to get your questions answered and help you make an informed decision about your future.

 Pumpkin Carving - 10/31/12 6:00pm HAMP 4251
We will be carving pumpkins and probably eating some sort of Halloween-inspired goodies. In addition, President Hudson will be giving a brief talk about her experiences at NCAR this summer. You don't want to miss this event! It will be a great start to your Halloween festivities!

Note: Only members who have paid their dues will be able to carve pumpkins. We need a firm head count for this event so we know how many pumpkins to buy. Please try to let us know for sure one way or the other.

*NWS Roadshow - 11/13/12 4:30pm HAMP 2201
This is one of the most important events of the year! Several VIPs from the nearby NWS offices will be coming here to Purdue to talk to us about not only the NWS, but the field in general. Even if you have no interest in the NWS this is still a valuable event to attend. It will provide you with a wealth of information and great practice talking to a potential employer. Plus, we will have a networking dinner afterward (place TBD) which is usually paid for by the department! Dress is typically business casual.

We hope to see as many members as possible!


*Update (10/24/2012): Due to limited budgets within NOAA and the NWS, the Roadshow has been postponed until February. Please stay tuned for any updates later on.

PUMA/PUGS Ice Cream Social today at 2pm!

Don't forget that PUMA and PUGS will be hosting their first ever Ice Cream social today at 2pm until 3:30pm with the faculty and staff of the EAPS Department! Take a break between classes to enjoy ice creams and socialize with others from the department! We'll see you at 2pm.

Summer Blog Series - Secretary: Bryce O'Neill

Hi, all.  First, some quick facts about me:

• Senior in Atmospheric Science
• From Plainfield, IN (by way of Las Vegas, NV,  by way of Alamogordo, NM)
• Love to play sports, especially disc golf

Now for my summer.  I had a few weeks of R&R before I shipped off to Champaign, Illinois and the University of Illinois for an internship at the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.  I was very fortunate to receive this internship; I had applied to several but none of them gave me a paid offer.  This was the last one I heard from, and fortunately for me they offered me a position.  While here in Champaign (I am still here through the 17^th), I have been exposed to the wide world of desk jobs.  I have held several jobs since I was 16, and none of them involved sitting on a computer.  I think the biggest adjustment was finding a way to stay active when my job is so sedentary.  There are some nice benefits of working on a computer, though (streaming Olympics coverage, anyone?).

My responsibilities here have been twofold.  I have spent much of my time working on two research projects.  One of those projects involves old weather records which date back to the 1830’s or further.  This project is possible thanks to the Climate Data Modernization Program (CDMP), an initiative from the NCDC wherein all written and microfilm weather records from the old days got converted into digital form.  This was a tedious and time consuming project, but now people like me can finally use and analyze that data.  I spent much of the first half of my time on this project learning Perl and trying to interpret and write programs in that language.  My other project is a study of recent heat waves in Chicago, and comparing them to those of 1995 and 1999.  I have submitted the abstract for this project to the AMS with hopes that I can present my work at the conference in Austin, TX this year. 
The other side of my job was working in the service office.  In the service office, I answered questions via phone call and email and filled data orders from companies and other agencies.  With the severe drought gripping this part of the country, we have been plenty busy answering questions, especially from media.  We have had calls from CNN, the New York Times, and even international news agencies from countries like Denmark and Korea.

I will miss Champaign once the summer comes to a close, but it will be good to be back at Purdue to wrap up my undergraduate career.  If you want to learn more about the MRCC, I encourage you to visit their website (Google it), like them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter!

Summer blog series-- President: Kayla Hudson

For the rest of the summer, the PUMA officer team is going to take turns blogging about their summer experiences.  First up is Kayla:

Hello everyone!! It’s hard to believe in one month we will be sitting in class taking notes and pulling long nights in the fourth floor of civil.  Summer is flying by very fast! As many of you know, I am a senior from Patoka, Indiana which is located in the southwestern corner of the state.  I grew up on my family’s farm.  I guess that is part of the reason why I have always had an interest in the weather, because it plays a huge role for my family.  I have a younger sister who is a freshman at Purdue.  I am also engaged to a Purdue alumnus, and we will be married in May.  Hopefully, by that time, I will either a have a job lined up, or better yet, a graduate school.  This summer, I have an internship with the Indiana State Climate Office.  We have been super busy lately answering questions in regards to the current drought situation.

About a month ago I was able to visit Boulder, Colorado through NCAR’s Undergraduate Leadership Workshop.  There were 20 students selected from various universities across the United States and Canada. The purpose of the workshop is to help develop leadership skills and prepare for graduate school.  Throughout the week I visited NCAR, UCAR, NOAA: NWS and Space Weather, and various other academic facilities which were very impressive!  I was able to meet both the president and director of NCAR and faculty from prestigious universities such as Oklahoma.  We were able to hear how they achieved the position they are currently working.  Since everyone attending the conference had an interest in graduate school, we had a panel of graduate students talk to us about what to expect, and then opened up the floor for questions.  It was very beneficial! We were actually able to see the wildfires from our dorm room windows.  We took one afternoon away from academics and went up in the Rocky Mountains.  The view is incredible!  If you ever have the chance to go take it! It is something you will never forget!  However, be sure to drink plenty of water ahead of time to help your body adjust to the extreme change in height.  I have posted pictures on Facebook, so feel free to look through them.

I hope everyone is having an awesome summer, and I can’t wait to see everyone in the fall!