Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A student-faculty team of meteorologists from Mississippi State's geosciences department finished second in the 2004-05 National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest.
The university team of four faculty members, seven graduate students and 18 undergraduates recently placed just behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology among 42 teams and more than 1,100 participants from across the country.
"Finishing second to MIT is nothing to be ashamed of," said Mike Brown, an MSU assistant professor of meteorology. "We were behind MIT by just a few points."
In addition to the group honor, MSU also scored some top individual finishes among both faculty and students.
Doug Gillham, now in his sixth year as a geosciences instructor, won the top forecasting prize among all faculty participants. Brown finished third overall.
"Once I came up with my forecast numbers, I made a point of submitting those numbers and not second-guessing myself," said Gillham, who was fourth in the nation last year and second two years ago. "In previous years, I was less willing to trust my instincts."
With two MSU faculty among the top three nationally, Brown predicted the university is in a good position to field strong teams in future competition.
"I am even more pleased with the success of our students," added Gillham.
Among students, senior geoscience major Scott Agner of Hernando finished first overall among undergraduates in the Kansas City, Mo., portion of the competition, while Greg Nordstrom, a geoscience master's degree student from Alexandria, Va. [22304]., placed first among graduate students, also in Kansas City.
Agner, who hopes to become a broadcast meteorologist, is the son of Robert Agner of Walls and Pamela Niblett of Hernando. Nordstrom is the son of Gordon and Janis Nordstrom.
Sponsored annually by Pennsylvania State University, the competition is staged over a 20-week period from September to April. The student-faculty forecasters are challenged on a variety of weather conditions--ranging from hurricanes to blizzards--at selected cities across the United States.
This year's sites included Cape Hatteras, N.C., Glasgow, Mont., Minneapolis, Minn., New Orleans, La., Grand Rapids, Mich., Birmingham, Ala., Tulsa, Okla., and Kansas City.
"This competition is a great way for students and faculty to test and sharpen their skills," said Brown. "There are no prizes, just bragging rights for the top schools."
Brown said participants use computer models during two-week periods in each of the selected cities to forecast daily high and low temperatures, as well as precipitation and other natural events. Teams then are ranked according to the accuracy of each city's forecast, as well as in overall team averages and top five forecasters' average.
"This competition is set up to be as difficult as it can be," he said. "There is a wide diversity of climatic conditions--from very tropical with the potential for hurricanes, to the northern potential for very heavy snow.
"We feel our students do so well because our program is very 'applied,'" the veteran meteorologist added. "They forecast all the time."
The MSU department, a part of the College of Arts and Sciences, offers academic programs in both operational and broadcast meteorology. The latter program is the only one of its type in the nation that trains on-air weathercasters in the science of meteorology.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Brown at (662) 325-2906 or meb18@msstate.edu; or Gillham at 325-9646 or dgillham@geosci.msstate.edu