Education

CICS-MD is closely linked to University of Maryland’s undergraduate programs. The Department of Physics offers a B.S. degree with a concentration in Atmospheric Sciences, while GEOG and ASTR have their own undergraduate programs.

AOSC, where many CICS-MD scientists are either members or affiliated researchers, has an undergraduate program. The program teaches broad based knowledge in meteorology, oceanography, climate and air pollution. The degree satisfies the requirements for federal service positions as a meteorologist or oceanographer, and also follows the American Meteorological Society's statement on bachelor's degrees in Atmospheric Science. The emphasis of the program is on preparing undergraduates to become generators of knowledge, or researchers, instead of idle consumers of knowledge that others produce. Undergraduates work on thesis projects with CICS advisors, and the close partnership between the AOSC department and CICS is a major recruiting tool for the undergraduate program. During the summer, CICS-MD hosts undergraduate students in Maryland to train them in scientific methods applied to climate studies. Given the growing interest in students as well as scientists, the intent is to expand this activity.

CICS personnel are involved in teaching courses like GEOG 415 (Land Use, Climate Change, and Sustainability), AOSC 432 (an undergraduate atmospheric dynamics course), and AMSC 460 (an undergraduate scientific computation course in the Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation program). Other CICS researchers are engaged in teaching courses and classes at other universities.