Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University

Twisters (2024) Fact vs. Fiction🌪️

What the movie got right:
✅ Emphasizing the importance of responding to tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
✅ Highlighting severe weather ingredients: Shear, Lift, Instability, and Moisture.
✅ Showing the importance of providing assistance and resources to those in need.

What the movie got wrong:
❌ Storm chasing should never involve driving into a tornado. Safety is our number one priority during the storm chase field course. It is designed to let students safely experience severe weather in the field, allowing them to apply classroom knowledge to real-world forecasting, nowcasting, and observing severe storms.

Thank you, Dr. Barrett Gutter, for the insights!

Wrapped it up in Washington! ⛰️🏜️🏕️🌊

Our ENGS online graduate students went home to New York, Michigan, Virginia, DC, Illinois, Mississippi, and Germany after an incredible field trip. Huge shoutout to Dr. Lalk and Michelle Patton for planning and supervising this journey out west!

Everything is bigger in Texas🌟

Dr. Sarah Lalk and Co-Instructor Michelle Patton are on their way to Seattle, WA to meet this year’s group of online graduate students for their field course!
They stopped in Texas at Cadillac Ranch on Route 66 and did some “car tagging” 🎨

We love to see our faculty for our students🚌🌄

MSU College of Arts and Sciences

Geo-Dawgs spotted in the field👀

Check out this story to see a feature from our very own Dr. Haney!

📣 Check out a recap of our – Wilmington workshop in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences Newsroom!

🔗 https://sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu/2024/06/rucool-staff-lead-multi-institutional-workshop-on-oceanographic-data-literacy/

Thank you to Dax Soule (Queens College), Kristin O’Connell (Science Education Resource Center (SERC)), Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert (Stockton University School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics), and Denise Bristol (Hillsborough Community College) for working on this adventure with us!

Thank you to Stace Beaulieu (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)) and Mike Muglia (Coastal Studies Institute) for being our OOI data experts!

And thank you to all of our participants, peer presenters, and local hosts for being so enthusiastically willing!

Please join us for the upcoming CDE Webinar with Dr. Haney. The webinar will take place online for potential future students who are interested in learning more about our programs,requirements, etc. There will also be a Q&A where interested applicants can ask questions about the process. Please see the information below for details and message us for the link if interested!

Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2024,
Time: 2:00 p.m. (CST)
Platform: Webex.

Water Availability and Sustainability💧

Department head Dr. Rodgers is collaborating with colleagues from Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College in St. Kitts and the Water Departments of St. Kitts and Nevis.

In 2023, Dr. Rodgers and his colleagues deployed data loggers to monitor stream height in streams feeding into municipal drinking water supplies and urban drainage canals. They also installed automatic rain gauges at strategic locations around Basseterre, the main population center.

Dr. Rodgers returned to St. Kitts this summer to study variability in precipitation, stream flow, and water residence time in streams and drainage systems. This research aims to develop predictive models for water availability and sustainability.

🌪️In The Field⛈️

Dr. Gutter’s storm chase field course allows students to gain real-world experience in forecasting and nowcasting severe storms in the U.S. Great Plains! Students observe severe storms in an environment that is conducive to well-defined storm structure, tornadoes, large hail, and strong winds. Being able to take part in the field course allows the students to apply what they learned in the classroom to the field!

🎉Congrats to graduate student Jeneil Patel on receiving the Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship, an opportunity that allows students to work with one of 30 national estuarine research reserves!

“As a member of the 2024-2026 fellowship cohort, I’ll be studying the resuspension and movement of phosphate throughout Bangs Lake. Phosphate and suspended sediment concentrations, bathymetry, flow rates, and various other data will be collected with a goal of understanding how the contamination of this nutrient can disperse and where it could end up.”

We are still celebrating all of our amazing graduates!

Cheers to Dr. Johna Rudzin’s stellar mentorship and Ben Henkel’s remarkable achievement as her first Masters student! 🎉👨‍🎓 Here’s to the beginning of a promising academic journey!

We still can’t get over our graduates!

Wherever you go, remember you will always have a home here at Mississippi State!

🎓Cheers to all of our incredible graduating seniors!

Here’s to the next adventure on your journey!

You got this Geo-Dawgs! Finish strong!

Congratulations to Dr. Shrinidhi Ambinakudige, who received the 2024 College of Arts and Sciences research award in natural and physical sciences! We are so proud of our amazing faculty!

Behind every flawless forecast and captivating weather segment are hours of dedication and hands-on learning!

Lindsey Poe instructs the Practicum in Broadcast Meteorology I-IV, lecture/lab where students forecast, create graphics, and work on the chroma key each week – getting feedback on their performance both behind the scenes and in front of the camera!! 🎥⛈️

It’s our favorite day of the year!🌎🍃

Earth day is a day to promote environmental protection! Since 1970, billions of people come together across the globe to celebrate our beautiful earth and the ways we can protect it!

If you're a graduating senior, stop by Senior Celebration on 4/30 to receive free biodegradable confetti! 🎊

Use your confetti for graduation photos or celebrations without the threat of littering campus.

RSVP: https://msstatealumni.ticketspice.com/senior-celebration-spring-2024

Congratulations to Morgan Trotter on receiving the Boland scholarship and Logan Eubanks on earning the Dustin Johnson Scholarship at the Mississippi Geological Society Scholarship Awards Luncheon! 🎉

A big thanks to MSG for their incredible support in shaping the future of our students!

Here's how the looked over Mississippi State University at 2:31 p.m. today. 🌎🌕☀️

Thanks to MSU College of Arts and Sciences for providing the safety glasses!

Mississippi State is relocating its solar eclipse-viewing event to the Bost Extension Center Theater due to weather and atmospheric conditions. For more details: https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2024/04/eclipse-viewing-relocated-bost

Dr. Barrett Gutter and Msstate Access student Spencer Howell released a weather balloon this past week outside of Hilbun Hall. Spencer's internship journey with Dr. Gutter and Lindsey Poe is reaching new heights! 🌟

🌒 Eclipse alert! Join us on the Drill Field next Monday from 12:30 to 3 for a show like no other! Grab your eclipse glasses and we’ll see you there!

Exciting news! 🌟

Join us this Friday, April 5th, at 2:00 PM in Hilbun Hall, Room 202, as we host leadership representatives from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing mid-south region including Dr. Orrin Thomas & Dr. David Hughes, along with Michael Nolte from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Dr. Thomas will delve into 'Automatic Global Two-Meter Digital Surface Model'.

Don't miss out on this exciting session and learn about internship opportunities!

Hey Geo-Dawgs!🌎⚾️

Show your support for our Bulldogs at the Georgia series this weekend! Swing by the front office this week to grab your game day stickers!

*available while supplies last

Join us for an Earth Day celebration like no other! 🌎 Dive into sustainability at the Dunn-Seiler Earth Day Open House on April 22nd, 112 Hilbun Hall. Let's come together and explore ways to make a positive impact. See you there!

Exploring the ancient whispers of Meehan, Mississippi 🌿

Students from Dr. Cui’s Principles of Sedimentary Deposits dug deep into sedimentary layers in February on their course field trip!

February's Science Night at the Museums event, sponsored by the Mississippi State Museums and Galleries Committee, was a success! 🌎🦖

The Department of Geosciences was well represented at the event, with faculty and students volunteering at the Dunn-Seiler Museum, Broadcast Meteorology Studio, weather balloon launch, microscope station, kid's corner, and sensory room. People of all ages attended the event, which is held annually at the beginning of February.

Event organizer and Geosciences faculty member, Amy Moe-Hoffman, was pleased with the turnout. "The goal of Science Night is two-fold; to spark people's interest in science through fun activities and demonstrations, and to bring people to our campus so they feel like they are truly a part of our Mississippi State community. I think we were successful on both counts this year!"

If you wish to learn more about Museums and Galleries on campus or upcoming events, please visit our website www.museums.msstate.edu

— Congratulations to Dylan Hudler for winning 2nd place for Best TV Weathercast at the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts!

“I had a wonderful experience working with Take 30! I think it’s so cool that our school has its own newscast produced, directed, and anchored by students. That kind of experience is invaluable. I can vouch that Take 30 News is exactly like what goes on inside a real TV station. It certainly helped prepare me for my first full-time job.

I wouldn’t have any of this without the Department of Geosciences. All of my professors, classmates, and the connections I’ve made. It’s all special and unique to MSU. The professors truly care and want you to succeed, not to mention our state-of-the-art practicum, lab where we can practice our skills in front of a green screen. I wholeheartedly believe that if you want to be a successful broadcast meteorologist, go to Mississippi State. Employers pay attention when they see “Mississippi State University” on your resume.”

So many of you have been asking.. and it’s finally here! Our Department of Geosciences spring merch store is now LIVE! ✨

This pre-order shop is open now until March 28th at 11:59 p.m.

The shop features a lightweight quarter zip, t-shirt, and button design. Once the shop closes, the orders will be made and shipped within two weeks, so secure your favorites now! 🛒🌎 Shipping options only.

To order merchandise, visit https://linktr.ee/msstategeosciences?utm_source=linktree_admin_share