Graduate Symposium a Success

Twenty seven graduate students from across the US presented their work to over 50 students and faculty. The theme of “Earth Systems Modelling” included talks on climate change on the scale of months and of decades, melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, predicting drought in east Africa, use of machine learning in subseasonal forecasting, and the influence of the tropical Madden-Julian Oscillation on midlatitude rainfall. Jagadish Shukla (George Mason University) and Ben Zaitchik (Johns Hopkins University) gave Keynote Lectures.

Much of the planning and organization of the symposium was done by Climate Dynamics PhD students Teresa Cicerone, Olivia Gozdz, and Nicholas Lybarger, who were advised by Research Assistant Professor Laurie Trenary. As Dr. Trenary remarked, “It was really great to see that level of student engagement, to hear the discussions and questions. This is a good opportunity for students – I hope we can find a way to keep it going.”