March - Uprm

American Meteorological Society
UPRM STUDENT CHAPTER
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT MAYAGUEZ
Chapter News
March 2012
Special Meeting
A special meeting was held on March 6 (10:45 a.m.) to discuss and review in further
detail the preparations for the upcoming Weather Festival. The meeting was led by
the chapter’s vice president, Fernanda Ramos-Garcés. Every year when the chapter is
able to hold a Weather Festival, the vice-president is the officer in charge of
coordinating the event. A Weather Festival Committee is established early in the
academic year and the vice-president gives specific tasks to each one of its members.
This special meeting was mainly intended to sum up the outcome of these
assignments.
Before this meeting, the chapter’s Juracán TV and Demonstrations committees had
also been gathering regularly. The evening before the special meeting, the chapter
advisor and physics/meteorology professor Dr. Carlos U. Pabón, and the chapter
honorary member and physics professor Dr. José R. López evaluated the students
while they rehearsed the demonstrations. Their suggestions were extremely helpful
and made the students feel well prepared for their demonstrations at the Weather
Festival.
All the chapter members were encouraged to promote the event, and to help prepare
UPRM’s sports arena the evening before the activity. The chapter’s Juracán TV
Committee prepared two videos to announce the event through the web. These are
available at: www.tinyurl.com/ca3csst and www.tinyurl.com/89bxo6w.
Monthly Meeting
The monthly meeting was held on March 8 at 10:45 a.m. A total of 20 members
attended. Due to the proximity of our biggest activity, the Weather Festival, the
agenda for this meeting was brief. The chapter officers summarized past events,
provided a financial statement, and discussed future activities. The latter included the
inauguration of the chapter’s new office, the monthly Weather Today, a visit to a
children’s home, and the traditional hot dog and donut sales. The officers announced
the US Air Force WC130-J hurricane hunter aircraft visit to Puerto Rico as part of the
2012 Caribbean Hurricane Awareness Tour. This activity is usually one of the most
awaited by the chapter members, and is an excellent opportunity for the chapter to do
community outreach. The officers also highly encouraged the members’ participation
in an event coordinated by UPRM’s Campus Verde (Green Campus), both during the
meeting and in the following days. Campus Verde is an organization mainly
dedicated to create awareness about the importance of environmental protection and
sustainability. The purpose of the activity was to celebrate the worldwide event Earth
Hour to create light pollution awareness, and to raise money for Haiti, which is the
poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
The last part of this meeting was dedicated to discussing details of the Weather
Festival that were not addressed at the special meeting. Special t-shirts ordered for the
event’s staff were handed out at the end of the meeting.
Activity: Weather Festival
The 5th edition of the chapter’s Weather Festival was held on March 9 from 8:00 a.m.2:00 p.m. (Figure 1). The purpose of this event was to increase interest in
meteorology and related sciences among students at the K-12 levels. The setting of
this important activity was UPRM’s sports arena, the Rafael A. Mangual Coliseum.
More than 400 students and teachers from many schools attended.
Figure 1. More than 400 students learned about meteorology and related sciences interactively at the
chapter’s 5th Weather Festival. More pictures are available on the chapter’s online gallery:
www.sometpr.com/galeria.
The event featured around 25 exhibit booths with hands-on demonstrations of
different atmospheric phenomena, meteorological instrumentation, information and
personnel from different agencies, programs or student organizations, among other
exciting activities. Exhibitors included: Ada Monzón (Chief Meteorologist, WLIIDT) and the Digital Planet, National Weather Service, Puerto Rico Weather Camp,
Puerto Rico Sea Grant Program, Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the
Atmosphere, Puerto Rico Seismic Network, Puerto Rico Environmental Quality
Board, UPRM student chapter of the American Chemistry Society, Student
Geological Society, Campus Verde, UPRM and UPR-Río Piedras chapters of the
Society of Physics Students, UPRM’s Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
Program, and our own chapter.
Scientific research posters from chapter members were also exhibited, as well as the
chapter’s award-winning posters. The Demonstrations Committee brought activities
about tornadoes, storm surge, clouds, the water cycle, atmospheric pressure, density,
and other weather-related concepts. The chapter’s weather channel Juracán TV set up
a chroma-key station to let students experience television weather reporting. The
Weather Today Committee set up a trivia station for students to test their knowledge
of meteorology and related sciences. Refreshments were offered to the attending
students and teachers at the end of their tour through the exhibits. Many of them
expressed their satisfaction with the scientific knowledge acquired at the event.
The activity was live-streamed by Juracán TV through the chapter’s website. In
addition, UPRM media station, Prensa RUM, published an article about the event,
which can be accessed at: http://www.uprm.edu/portada/article.php?id=2164.
The chapter would like to express many thanks to our members, and to all other
participants and sponsors of the Weather Festival. Sponsors included: Mayagüez
Municipality, UPRM (including UPRM’s Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
Program), NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hielera Nadal, Holsum, Malta
India, Brazo Gitano Franco, among others. Special thanks are extended to chapter
honorary member Virginia Figueroa for helping plan the logistics, and to Dr. Héctor
Jiménez, director of the Atmospheric Science and Meteorology Program, Dr. Carlos
U. Pabón, chapter advisor, and Dr. María Barbot, Associated Dean of Academic and
Student Affairs of the UPRM College of Arts and Science, for their presence and
support. Finally, our gratitude goes to parents of chapter members who provided
valuable support before, during, and after the event, as well as to Alexander
Rodríguez, UPRM student who helped design the event’s logo and banner, and
supported Juracán TV in many of their tasks.
Activity: Special Meeting / Inauguration of New Office
A special meeting was held on March 15 (10:45 a.m.). The meeting started with the
announcement of the secretary’s resignation from her position due to personal
reasons. The student Irmarís Rivera-Llavona was then elected by the members as the
new chapter secretary. The former secretary, Ashley Cruz, will continue supporting
the chapter through her active participation as a member. A large part of the meeting
was dedicated to a fruitful discussion of the Weather Festival. The purpose was to get
feedback from the members about things that worked, things that went wrong, and
ways to improve the event in the future. Some of the suggestions were related to
financial aspects, and others to the logistics of the activity. The vice-president took
note of the discussion so that future chapter officers can take advantage of it.
After the meeting, the group officially inaugurated the chapter’s new office at the
Physics Building. The office, which is in a more accessible location for most of the
members, is an excellent room for students to spend free time, study, or have
meetings. The previous office will serve as the chapter’s weather channel Juracán
TV’s studio.
Activity: UPRM Open House
More than a thousand high school students from different public and private schools
around the island visited UPRM for its annual Open House on March 16. Chapter
members were invited to offer information about the Atmospheric Science and
Meteorology Program and about the chapter at this event. The members offered
hands-on activities and handed out brochures. Many high school students showed
great interest in attending UPRM to obtain an education in meteorology or related
sciences.
Activity: Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Visit
The US Air Force WC130-J aircraft, its crew, and personnel from the National
Hurricane Center visited Puerto Rico on March 17 as part of the 2012 Caribbean
Hurricane Awareness Tour. The event was held at San Juan’s Isla Grande Airport
(Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport), and hosted by the Puerto Rico Emergency
Management Agency and the National Weather Service in San Juan. The chapter was
invited by meteorologist Ada Monzón (Chief Meteorologist, WLII-DT) to offer
weather-related demonstrations to the public at Univision TV’s designated area. The
18 members who participated in this activity were rewarded with a special orientation
from the Hurricane Hunter crew and t-shirts from Univision’s crew. However, the
most rewarding aspect of the event was to see the expressions of fascination in the
attendees as they participated in the chapter’s hands-on activities. Alexis Orengo,
leader of the chapter’s Juracan TV Committee, helped Univision TV by interviewing
the public and special guests. Many other agencies and organizations participated in
this activity, including the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, the Environmental Quality
Board, the Red Cross, and WAPA TV station. Néstor S. Flecha-Díaz, former chapter
president and current broadcast meteorologist at WAPA TV, offered the members a
special tour of the facilities set up by this TV station at the event. The members felt
very grateful for the exceptional treatment received from all the professionals
participating in this activity.
Activity: Visit to a Children’s Home
One of the most rewarding activities of the year was held on March 22 at a children’s
home in Mayagüez, a shelter for kids who have been removed from their houses due
to abuse, neglect or abandonment. A group of 12 chapter members brought joy and
excitement to these children while teaching them about meteorology (Figure 2). The
chapter members offered weather-related demonstrations and played with the children
in an informal environment. The members also brought personal items that the
chapter had collected to fulfill some of the children’s needs.
Figure 2. Chapter members brought joy to a children’s home by involving the kids in hands-on
weather-related activities.
Activity: NASA Teacher Workshop
On March 24, the Puerto Rico NASA Space Grant Consortium hosted a workshop for
teachers from around the island at UPRM. The workshop was entitled “The biosphere
interactions: an ineludible connection of events”. Members of the chapter’s
Demonstrations Committee attended this event to show weather-related hands-on
activities that the teachers could use in the classroom.
Activity: Hot Dog and Donut Sales
Four hot dog and donut sales were held during March for fundraising (March 5, 12,
19, and 26). Part of the funding raised during the sales was used to cover costs related
to the Weather Festival.
Activity: Weather Today
The chapter’s Weather Today Committee invited the members to watch a
documentary entitled “Tsunami en Puerto Rico… El Peligro Olvidado” (Tsunami in
Puerto Rico… The Forgotten Danger) on March 27. The documentary included
information and history about tsunamis, specially regarding Puerto Rico, as well as
protective measures to take in case of such an unfortunate event. The Puerto Rico
Seismic Network and UPRM’s Department of Marine Sciences, in collaboration with
other agencies, prepared this informative video. Eight members attended this event
and learned about potential tsunami hazard in our region.
Activity: Ultraviolet Radiation Awareness
On March 30, the chapter’s Demonstrations Committee leader, Suheily López-Belén,
joined broadcast meteorologist Ada Monzón to inform a group of journalists about the
hazards associated with exposure to ultraviolet light. The talk, which was part of a
Neutrogena sun care product launch, explained the types of sun radiation and
associated skin damages, and stressed the importance of skin protection.
Juracán magazine new edition release!
A new edition of the chapter’s magazine Juracán was made available through the
chapter’s website on March (www.sometpr.com/REVISTAVOL5.pdf). This edition
features information and pictures of the chapter’s endeavors, information about
scientific research done by our chapter members, definitions of meteorological terms,
among other interesting articles for meteorology enthusiasts.
Weather Briefings
Five chapter members became part of the UPRM Meteorological Laboratory’s
Forecasting Group, which is in charge of providing weekly weather briefings to the
UPRM community and general public. These new members were trained by the more
experienced members through a mentor-mentee partnership. During March, part of
the group began recording their briefings and publishing them online through
different websites and social networks. This initiative is like a two-way street:
students learn about weather forecasting while, at the same time, they inform the
community about weather conditions in Puerto Rico.
Recent briefings and briefings from former members of the group can be accessed at
the UPRM Meteorological Laboratory YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/metlab2010.