INTEGRATION OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AND FIELD CAMPAIGNS A Case Study from Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry

An undergraduate course was taught at the University of North Dakota (UND) that examined the objectives and motivation of the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign. The course included discussions about particular challenges involved in making chemical transport measurements and field campaign forecasts; hands-on forecasting exercises for all three DC3 regions were also included. Subsequently, UND undergraduate students traveled to the University of Alabama in Huntsville to participate in DC3 campaign operations. While in the field, students actively participated in radiosonde operations (including instrument preparation and launch, field log documentation, and data quality control) as well as mission planning and daily forecast discussions. During the field period, a hands-on internship was held at UND that gave both graduate and undergraduate students a chance to forecast for the campaign (offline) and then listen in on the live forecast discussion. Formal assessment of the undergraduate course, the forecasting internship, and the campaign participation showed that students found all components valuable. Students gained experience in a variety of forecasting scenarios, forecast model evaluation, and field campaign decision making. This project represented a relatively inexpensive method to leverage the significant resources invested in field campaigns for greater educational gains. Recommendations are provided such that more colleges and universities can take advantage of opportunities to become educational partners with field campaign investigators in the future.