CMMAP Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities Overview of the program During the summers of 2007-2015, CMMAP offered paid summer undergraduate research internships at Colorado State University. Interns participated in a 10 week program from June through early August. Interns joined world-class atmospheric scientists investigating the science of clouds, climate and climate change, weather, and modeling. They had the opportunity to attend scientific seminars, visit National Scientific Laboratories, and participate in a variety of professional development training. 2015 marked CMMAP's last internship program with CMMAP in it's last year as a Science and Technology Center. However, this program is continuing through the support of the National Science Foundation and ESMEI, the Earth System Modeling and Education Institute. Click here to go to the new internship website. For more information, contact: Melissa Burt, Education and Diversity Manager What have our past interns done? 2015 Justin looked at intensity trends during a phase tropical cyclones go through. Rachel researched domestic trash burning in developing countries and how it increases carbonaceous aerosol. Radha looked at the factors leading to strong and unpredictable precipitaion in a global circulation model. Ryan's work focused on precipitation over the tropics in response to increased water vapor. Acetone is a volatile compound in the atmosphere and Makoto researched it's sources. Kyle looked at impacts of "atmospheric rivers" near the coast of southern Alaska. Katie studied Ice Nucleating Particles at a site on the western U.S. coast. Emily compared cloud and aerosol measurements from the OCO-2 and CALIPSO programs. Rachel looked at aerosol size distribution with the RoMANS study done in Rocky Mountain National Park. 2014 Sara took early data from FRAPPE to find if nitrates from oil and gas production can be seen in a local national park. Michael took satellite observations of CO2 to evaluate several models in poorly constrained regions. This summer Bryce went boundary boundary hunting for the earth's tropical belt. Lauren studied volatile organic compounds and their effect on urban areas. Mikey looked at improving satellite precipitation detection. Renee expanded on a study of pyrocumulus clouds produced from a local wildfire. Want to know about warm-ring structures in intense hurricanes? Just ask Franchesca! Andrea studied the FAT hypothesis and it's implications for cloud feedbacks and climate modeling. Brian's research involved the understanding of thermodynamic stability/instability during convective activity. Whistler Mountain in British Columbia was the focus of Jessica's aerosol research. Rachel investigated the role of aqueous-phase chemistry in aerosol-cloud interactions. Julia studied the Baroclinic Annular Mode at different scales and geographic locations. 2014 Photo Links Ropes Course | Solar Farm | Ice Core Lab | Loch Vale | Symposium Team Meeting website for meeting and poster session photos 2013 Abby researched arctic ice and cloud feedbacks in CMIP5 models. Albert investigated issues with the new NVAP data and the effects tropical cyclones play with them. Maddie looked at a new way of measuring properties of non-spherical cloud condensation nuclei. Ernesto analyzed the origins of the east Pacific easterly waves. Emily and Shannon tell us what Life Cycle Assessment is. Surface ozone pollution was the focus of Katerina's summer at CMMAP. Alli looked at the effect the Balcones Escarpment in Texas has on flooding. What is a SSW and does altering it's definition have impacts? Aaron tells us here. Using an ordinary thunderstorm, Emily investigated the sensitivity of single-moment microphysical schemes on precipitation. Kate analyzed a precipitation algorithm over land. Brandon used genetic algorithms to estimate tropical cyclone intensity. Water, energy and carbon fluxes were the focus of Dakota's research this summer. Justin worked with simple statistical models of thunderstorms. 2013 Photo Links ropes course | New Belgium | ice core lab | volleyball | NCAR trip rafting | storm chasing | Wyoming | hike | poster session 2012 Climate Chaos! Josh created a game for the iPad to help kids understand the CO2 cycle. Steve used Rossby numbers to better understand tropical and extratropical dynamical regimes. Anthony studied temperature anomalies on the eyewall inner edge of tropical cyclones. Studying the barriers that businesses have to purchasing local food was the focus of Catie's summer. Aryeh used CloudSat data and ECMWF reanalysis output to study deep convection over the tropical oceans. Lindsey researched the characteristics of convective clouds during the Topical (ICE-T) field campaign. Noel looked at nitrogen deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park. Leah studied the effects of horizontal resolution on cumulus cloud simulations. Working with ClimateWise in Fort Collins, CO, Dan looked at city efforts to help businesses lower energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Matt attempted to validate rainfall rates from the Chinese Microwave Radiometer Imager (MWRI) satellite. Raymond looked at how convectively coupled Kelvin waves can be better represented in Global Climate Models (GCMs). Heather researched conditions required for long-lived Mesoscale Convective Vortices. Photos from the summer 2011 Brittany compared and analyzed total precipitable water from ground-based GPS and SSM/I Satellite Remote Sensing. The moisture cycle of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) was the focus of Jennifer's research this summer. Moises performed studies of variability in fire count in Indonesia: Effects of ENSO and MJO phase. Julie investigated approaches to local Climate Action Programs and model practices in Colorado. Jason looked at the seasonal variability of the width of the tropical belt from GPS radio occultations and reanalyses. Molly studied the sources and trends of free tropospheric aerosols measured at Mauna Loa. Evaluating the response of the terrestrial biosphere to significant drought was the focus of Ian's summer research. Dustin performed an error analysis of SSM/I F08 antenna temperatures to produce an extended record of observations for climate applications. Jessica did a comparison model precipitation forecasts for hurricand Ida. David looked at the diurnal cycles characteristics of disturbed and undisturbed periods during TiMREX. Keri's research modeled the West African Monsoon and looked at the formation of African easterly waves. 2010 Christina looks at how nitrogen is affecting Rocky Mountain National Park. Chris researches hurricane activity along the US northeast coast. Looking at the propogation of the MJO with Tina. Idamis studies the effects of enhanced moisture triggers on precip and winds. Daniel gets into the nuts and bolts of a climate model dynamical core. Using the VVM to simulate the TWP-ICE case with Nick. Ariana studies variability of the seasonal cycle in the tropical eastern pacific and caribbean. Jackie studies electric rate structures and their impact on demand response decision making. Looking at the spatiotemporal influence of vegetation on global surface-atmosphere exchange with Kyle. Erin compares data assimilation schemes used by operational forecast centers. Marie-Christine examines the responses of the ocean carbon cycle to climate change. Looking at the impact of tropical cyclone rainfall on drought in Alabama with Stormy. 2009 Getting into the eyewall of hurricanes with Terreka. Katherine takes on the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer. Liz studies a mist chamber. Looking at New Jersey city climate action plans with Sam. JoBeth researches the relationship of atmospheric data from a climate model. Connecting the MJO and Atlantic hurricanes with Heather. Katie researches carbon offsets as a policy tool. Spin Tank experiements with Cara. Lance compares a chemistry transport model with CO2 concentrations. Laura works with the Fort Collins Sustainability Group. 2008 Alice worked on a numerical approximation for mathematical operators used in climate modeling. Claudette interviews companies on how to reduce their carbon footprint. David studies carbon pricing and taxation for legislators. Jette worked with Alice, above, on the numerical approximation. Tyler helps Fort Collins become part of the Mayors for Climate Change organization. Zoe constructs a booklet about various legislators. 2007 Beth researches cloud and precipitation chemistry. Parker looks at land-atmosphere interactions in Mali. Claudette investigates ozone and temperature relationships. Got a question? Contact Melissa, our internship specialist!