Atmospheric Sciences
Director of Graduate Studies: Robert M. Rauber
101 Atmospheric Science Building
105 South Gregory Street
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-2046
E-mail: dept@atmos.uiuc.edu
Major: Atmospheric Sciences
Degrees offered: M.S., Ph.D.
Graduate Degree Programs
Graduate programs leading to the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees are offered. Opportunity also exists for specializing in computational science and engineering within the department’s graduate programs via the Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Option.
Admission
Applications for admission are encouraged from students with bachelor’s degrees in atmospheric sciences, meteorology, physics, mathematics, computer science, geography, engineering, oceanography, and related fields. It is strongly recommended that students who intend to study for advanced degrees in atmospheric sciences know the fundamentals of classical physics and applied mathematics. Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the English Placement Test if accepted. All applicants are required to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and submit three letters of reference.
Degree Requirements
*For additional details and requirements refer to the department's Graduate Programs website and the Graduate College Handbook.
Master of Science
| Thesis Option-Required Hours | Non-thesis Option-Required Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Research/Project Hours (min/max applied toward degree): | 4 | |
| Thesis Hours RequiredRequired – ATMS 599 (min/max applied toward degree): | 4 or 8 | |
| Total Hours | 32 | 32 |
Minimum Hours Required Within the Unit: |
16 (not including 599) | 16 |
Minimum 500-level Hours Required Overall in Program: |
12 | 12 |
| Other Requirements: | The student is required to write a thesis and give a seminar on his/her thesis research. | The student is required to develop a project that focuses on a topic in one of three areas and present an informal (non-seminar series) talk to a committee. |
| Minimum GPA: | 3.0 | 3.0 |
A student may select either the thesis or non-thesis option. Further information can be obtained from the department’s description of the Master’s Degree requirements on the Department Website.
Doctor of Philosophy
| Required Hours | |
|---|---|
| Thesis Hours Required – ATMS 599 (min/max applied toward degree): | 0 min |
| Total Hours | 64 |
| Other Requirements:* | Student must take at least one course per semester (not including 599) until preliminary exam is passed. |
| Minimum GPA: | 3.0 |
| Masters Degree Required for Admission to PhD? | No, but Masters Degree is strongly encouraged before pursuing the Ph.D. and Masters level requirements must be met (32 hours min) |
| Qualifying Exam Required | Yes |
| Preliminary Exam Required | Yes |
| Final Exam/Dissertation Defense Required | Yes |
| Dissertation Deposit Required | Yes |
All candidates for the Ph.D. degree are required to pass a qualifying examination on basic principles of atmospheric sciences, a preliminary examination based on a written thesis proposal, and a final examination based on the completed thesis. Further information on course requirements and these examinations can be obtained from the department Website description of the Ph.D. program.
Faculty Research Interests
The atmospheric science degree programs are designed for students interested in research and applications on a wide variety of atmospheric topics. Faculty areas of research include the physics of aerosol, clouds and precipitation; atmospheric radiative processes, radar and satellite meteorology, remote sensing, convective phenomena including severe storms, synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, boundary layer meteorology, tropical meteorology, numerical weather prediction, atmospheric dynamics, climate variability and climate modeling including chemical, radiative, and transport effects; atmospheric chemistry, land-atmosphere interactions, boundary layer meteorology, human and natural perturbations of global ozone and climate, biogeochemical cycles, and climate impacts and policy. This research is carried out in national field campaigns, in theoretical studies, and in numerical modeling efforts using a wide range of models.
Research Facilities
With more than 2.5 computers per person, the department maintains a capable and extensive computing infrastructure as this is a vital component of all of its educational, research and outreach endeavors. All graduate students, staff, and faculty members have a desktop computer, usually a Windows PC or Mac. There is a departmental computer lab for hands-on class exercises, computers and display projectors in each of the classroom areas and wireless access throughout the buildings. An up-to-date high-capacity network connects these to various departmental computing resources including e-mail, file and web servers, resources provided by the campus as well as our linux-based research computing systems.
These research systems include the department's ever-expanding computing cluster, dozens of terabytes worth of storage, other departmental systems and a number of systems specific to each faculty member's research group. These systems are used for numerical simulations, analysis and modeling of atmospheric processes ranging from the formation of individual ice crystals to century long climate simulations over the globe and are used for storing, analyzing and visualizing the results.
We receive and process a large quantity of real-time meteorological data and numerical forecasts from a variety of sources including agencies like NOAA, UCAR, international sources and other peer institutions. These are available for visualization with a variety of tools to aid in the understanding of current weather events and case studies of recent major events. We have a synoptic lab that is used for weather briefings. The synoptic lab includes a 15 panel "electronic map wall", which normally displays current weather maps but is used for research visualization purposes as well, as is our 3D Geowall display.
Because computers are only good when they work and you understand how to use them, the department maintains a dedicated computer support staff which is responsible for maintaining everything and personally assisting users with problems, questions and accomplishing their research goals.
Additionally we have access to the resources of the University as well as supercomputing centers, such as those at NCSA (which is on campus), NCAR and others.
Financial Aid
Financial aid is available in the form of research and teaching assistantships, University fellowships, and waivers of tuition and service fees. More information is available at the Department Website.