Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.–Mississippi State’s Department of Geosciences is welcoming some of the country’s top professionals in meteorology this week as the host of the 17th annual Southeast Severe Storms Symposium.
Held March 23 and 24 in MSU’s Memorial Hall, the conference is bringing together meteorologists, students and weather experts to discuss and learn how severe weather impacts the Southeastern region. About 150 to 200 are expected to attend the event organized by the East Mississippi Chapter of the National Weather Association and American Meteorology Society, an MSU student-led organization.
“Meteorology is a broad field, and we tried to cater our symposium to meteorologists and weather enthusiasts in areas such as government, academia, broadcast and the private sector,” said Lauren Pounds, NWA/AMS president. The senior geosciences major from Mandeville, Louisiana, said the event gives MSU students the chance “to meet some of the all-time greats in our field.”
Keynote speakers include: Louis Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Maryland; Erik Rasmussen, meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, and project manager for VORTEX-SE; Janice Huff, chief meteorologist for WNBC-TV in New York City; MSU alumni Aubrey Urbanowicz, chief meteorologist for WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Will Simmons, a U.S. Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters pilot in Biloxi.
One in three of current on-air broadcast meteorologists is a graduate of MSU’s nationally recognized meteorology program. The Department of Geosciences is recognized nationally for its excellence in broadcast meteorology, weather forecasting, severe weather research, hydrometeorology, artificial intelligence, weather modeling and climate sciences.
“This is by far the best lineup of keynote speakers we have seen in the 17 years of hosting this student-run regional event,” said Michael Brown, state climatologist and MSU professor of geosciences. “Some of our students met the leader of the National Weather Service [Uccellini] at a national conference, and they made a strong positive impact on him.”
The East Mississippi Chapter of the NWA/AMS promotes excellence in operational meteorology through research, forecasting, broadcasting and education. Student officers work to build relationships between all who work with and study meteorology in East Mississippi and the surrounding area and take the lead in organizing the annual symposium.
Faculty adviser Barrett Gutter, an MSU assistant clinical professor of meteorology, said the event is a great opportunity for attendees to learn more about this region’s severe weather and meet others who share similar interests.
Co-chairs for this year’s symposium are Madison Campbell, a senior geosciences major from Collins, and Reggie Roakes, a geosciences graduate student from Moundville, Alabama.
“This is valuable for students because they get to interact and learn from some of the most highly skilled leaders in both the professional and broadcast sides of meteorology,” Campbell said.
The symposium begins Saturday [March 23] with an 8 a.m. registration and concludes Sunday afternoon. Online registration runs through March 20 at http://www.eastmsnwaams.com/registration.html, and on-site registration also will be available Saturday morning.
MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,300 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. Complete details about the College of Arts and Sciences or Department of Geosciences may be found at www.cas.msstate.edu or www.geosciences.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.