Graduate Programs: ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

NOTE: This document was generated from the 1995-1997 UIUC Programs of Study. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but be advised that requirements may have changed since this book was published. Errors may have also been introduced in the conversion to a WWW document. Thus for items of importance, it might be wise to seek confirmation from either the paper version or a live human being.

Head of the Department: D. Wuebbles

Correspondence and Information: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 101 Atmospheric Science Building, 105 South Gregory Street, Urbana, IL 61801; (217) 333-2046

GRADUATE FACULTY

Professors: K. V. Beard, M. Mak, M. Schlesinger, J. E. Walsh, R. B. Wilhelmson, D. J. Wuebbles

Associate Professor: M. Ramamurthy, R. M. Rauber, W. A. Robinson

Assistant Professors: M. Ting

GRADUATE PROGRAM

Graduate programs leading to the master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees are offered.

ADMISSION

Applicants for admission to this program must satisfy the general requirements for admission to the Graduate College. Previous training in the atmospheric sciences is not essential. It is strongly recommended, however, that students who intend to study for advanced degrees in the atmospheric sciences know the fundamentals of classical physics and applied mathematics. There is no foreign language requirement.

MASTER OF SCIENCE

The requirements for the degree of master of science in atmospheric sciences correspond to the general requirements of the Graduate College for the M.S. degree, with the additional requirement of a minimum of 4 units to be taken in graduate courses in atmospheric sciences, excluding the thesis (499). Therefore, the total requirements are 8 units, 3 of which must be from courses numbered in the 400 series and 4 of which must be in atmospheric sciences. A written thesis, which may account for 1 or 2 units of credit, is also required. Further information on exact degree requirements can be obtained from the department.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

All candidates for the Ph.D. degree must satisfy the general requirements of the Graduate College and are required to pass a qualifying examination on the basic principles of atmospheric science, 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.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

These degree programs are designed for students interested in research and application in many aspects of atmospheric sciences. The areas of research include the physics of aerosol and precipitation; atmospheric chemistry; observational, theoretical, and modeling of studies of clouds and severe storms; synoptic and mesoscale meteorology; numerical weather prediction; weather modification; four-dimensional data assimilation; stratospheric dynamics; low-frequency variability; nonlinear atmospheric dynamics; climate variability and climate modeling, including chemical, radiative, and transport effects; atmospheric radiative processes; human and natural perturbations to global ozone and climate; relating science to policymakers; and radar and satellite meteorology.

RESEARCH FACILITIES

The department maintains state-of-the-art computing resources for use by faculty, researchers, students, and staff. These resources include a variety of powerful UNIX(TM) workstations, and Macintosh computers. At present, there are five HP workstations devoted to real-time weather data gathering, processing, and dissemination, and for use in teaching. Ten other workstations are used to perform research in areas of special interest. The majority of users also conduct work on any of the fifty Macintosh computers located in the department.

All of the computers in the department are connected by a 10 megabit-per-second ethernet network, which is in turn connected to the 100 megabit-per-second fiber-optic campus network, UIUCnet. UIUCnet is part of the global Internet computer network, which provides access to computers throughout the world, notably to the supercomputers at the nearby National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

The department collects and stores a variety of real-time weather information. Up-to-the-minute National Weather Service facsimile charts, as well as hourly images from the GOES satellite, are stored in the synoptic lab. The department also makes information available over the computer network, and is well known on the Internet for providing a wide range of real-time weather information through its information servers. The UofI Weather Machine is a gopher server which delivers over 80,000 products a day to over 5,000 different machines on the Internet. The address used to access the server is wx.atmos.uiuc.edu.

The recent implementation of The Daily Planet(TM) has significantly expanded the scope of accessible information. The Daily Planet(TM) is a full-scale World Wide Web environmental information server, which capitalizes on the flexibility of the NCSA Mosiac interface. The Daily Planet(TM) provides the user with current weather images, MPEG animation loops, information about the UIUC Department of Atmospheric Sciences, information about the atmospheric sciences community, hyper-media instructional modules on topics in meteorology, and pointers to other sources of information and data on the Internet. The URL (uniform resource locater) used to access the server is http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/.

FINANCIAL AID

Financial aid is available in the form of research and teaching assistantships, University fellowships, and waivers of tuition and service fees.

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