ISU AMS Meeting Minutes

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ISU AMS Meeting Minutes
http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams/
September 02, 2008

President Schwedler

President Schwedler welcomed all present to the meeting.

Surveys were handed out regarding classes, future meeting times, and social events.

Mr. Schwedler gave a little overview about:

The ISU AMS and what we do
Forums
Community outreach
Severe weather preparedness
Local school talks
Tours of Des Moines, Iowa television stations
The National AMS including dues (20 dollars), and each student member will have a subscription to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), includes articles about current events in meteorology and current research
National AMS annual meeting 11-15 January in Phoenix, Arizona.

The National AMS website is located at http://www.ametsoc.org/

Mr. Schwedler also talked about creating a weather section to put in the Iowa State Daily newspaper and putting together a daily forecast for them. A sign-up sheet was sent out for this.

The chapter plans on continuing our StormReady program (preparing the school for weather safety and staff preparedness). We will attempt to update the storm safety sheets in the residence halls. We will meet with the Department of Residence soon to complete this project.

Vice President Deppe

Mr. Deppe mentioned the Earth, Wind, and Fire learning community, and the general mentoring program in the ISU AMS. You can contact Ben Schwedler or Adam Deppe if you would like to get involved with the ISU AMS mentoring program, if you are currently not. You can email Ben at pres.isuams@iastate.edu, or Adam at vp.isuams@iastate.edu.

ClubFest is coming up soon. It is to be held on Wednesday, 10 September, 2008. A sign up sheet was passed around for hours to help with our ClubFest table.

ISU AMS apparel was mentioned. T-shirts, long sleeve t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, polo shirts, and jackets are all available. The order forms will be available through email, or through the AMS website. We should have clothing back by Thanksgiving. Drop off the order forms at the Meteorology office, Agronomy 3010, or hand it in to one of the cabinet members for us to place your order.

Also, there are ISU AMS window clings available. They are 5 dollars a piece.

Treasurer Karsten

The current balance is $2952.17.

We first voted on dues. After some discussion as to what the dues were for, we went to a vote for 10 dollars. It passed unanimously. You can pay your dues at the next meeting, or you can drop them off at the Agronomy 3010 AMS mailbox. Please put your mail address on the envelope so we can let you know we have your dues.

Mr. Karsten stated that we might use some of our funds for a new updated weather station on the roof of Agronomy Hall. We might add some great things.such as a lighting detector. We discussed the cost of these updates.

The upcoming National Weather Association (NWA) meeting was brought up. This meeting will be held in Ankeny, Iowa next Tuesday, 9 September. The meeting is at Godfather's Pizza in Ankeny.

Social Chair Hoffman

Mr. Hoffman started with Intramurals. Please make sure you are at your games for a sport you signed up for. Come and play some sports with your fellow meteorology majors. Upcoming sports include:

Men's flag football
Sand volleyball, which is co-ed. We need a minimum of 6 players.
Curling
Broomball

Sign up sheets were sent out for all sports. The respective captains for each sport will contact you about when and where the games will be.

Mr. Hoffman spoke about the Student/Faculty dinner. We are going to try and have it on 15 September. This is to be decided soon.

Mr. Hoffman spoke about a volleyball club, meeting about twice a month. Final dates, times, and locations are to be decided.

We will be having a campfire gathering at McFarland Park.the time will be determined soon. We sent out a signup sheet for the event. September 26^th will be when we will have the campfire gathering.

A hockey trip to Minnesota was mentioned to go to see the Minnesota Wild hockey team play. We will keep you posted about the date and time.

Mr. Hoffman spoke about a golf tournament, possibly being held in late September. Keep an eye on your emails for information.

If you would like to suggest a social event, let us know. If you need information on Intramurals, you can visit the ISU Intramural website at http://www.recservices.iastate.edu/

Academic Chair Prentice

Mr. Prentice mentioned the class list on the surveys were for the purpose of forming tutoring groups. Any upper-class individual who is interested in tutoring for the AMS, please let Jayson know by emailing him at academic.isuams@iastate.edu.

Mr. Prentice also mentioned the use of the ISU AMS forums. Please sign up at www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams. We have great forums for help, questions, or comments for the mathematics, physics, and general meteorology classes.

We also do the Weather Challenge forecast contest. It is a national competition where you can forecast locations all across the nation. Jayson handed out a sign up sheet for Weather Challenge. The fee is five dollars. The link is under the ISU AMS page, under Forecast Contest.

Past President Jon Hobbs mentioned the local forecast contest. Go to the ISU AMS page, and go to ISU AMS contest. The contest goes from September to July. We forecast for locations all in the state of Iowa. The contest will start Monday, 15 September. The forecast contest is free.

Finally, you CAN do both forecast contests if you would like to.

Webmaster Mair

Mr. Mair showed the group how to register for the forums. It's under Member Resources and under Forums. Click on the Register button at the top of the page. Please use your first and last name, NOT some non-generic name like .weatherchaser5.. For your email address, use your ISU email address.

If you have any questions, email Mr. Mair at: webmaster.isuams@iastate.edu

If you don't pay your dues, you will no longer have an account on the forums.

Historian Witter

Ms. Witter will be taking pictures of social events throughout the year. You can post pictures on the Forums. Also, send Rachael any photos you may have. You must have a Forums account to post photos.

Cy's Eyes on the Skies

Jeff Edmondson and Ben McNeill introduced themselves. They are the co-producers of Cy.s Eyes on the Skies, our own meteorology show on ISUtv. The first meeting at the studio (we will NOT have a show) will be next Monday, September 8 at 6:00 PM.

Shows will start at 6:30 PM on Monday.s and Wednesday.s thoughout the year. We will put up posts for shows very soon. Several positions are available, and they are a first come-first serve basis. The location is Studio B in the Communications Building on campus.

Outreach Chair Rabideau

Ms. Rabideau spoke about the ISU AMS calendars. If you have any good pictures of weather (clouds, tornadoes, etc.), please send her those, and we will consider using your photos for the calendar. We will vote on the photos later. Those that were interested met with Ms. Rabideau after the meeting.

Ms. Rabideau spoke about our school talks, and community outreach. If you have any great suggestions for these, please send her any suggestions at: outreach.isuams@iastate.edu.

Closing Remarks

If you have not handed in your surveys, please hand them in to us at the next meeting.

At the end of the meeting, Jeff Duda spoke about his NCAR Research Experience he did over the summer.

President Schwedler thanked all present for attending.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

The chapter will meet Tuesday, 30 September at 7 PM.

If you have any questions, please email the officers. Our email addresses are found at the bottom of the first meeting agenda, or they can be found on our website at www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams.