MELISSA BURT
Graduate Experience

Melissa has a passion for shoes, travel, caramel macchiatos, and handbags and she is rockin' (see the picture at left) the Atmospheric Science world with her research on paleoclimate. Melissa Burt is currently a graduate student at Colorado State University in the Atmospheric Science Department.

Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in suburban Maryland, Melissa credits her grandfather for her love of weather. At an early age, Melissa and her grandfather would go through the children's Mini Page of the Washington Post every weekend. She remembers there were always many items related to weather. By the time Melissa was eight, she was calling the weather line every day to check for winter and/or severe weather watches and warnings. Every day Melissa would look forward to reading the newspaper so she could study the national weather maps on the last page.

In high school, Melissa never wavered from her focus on weather. She was even featured as a main character in her high school teacher's weather cartoons as the weather girl. As she began to investigate colleges and programs of study, she wasn't sure what other options existed beyond being a "weather girl." However, she knew that whatever she did, she wanted to look at clouds and be in the field of weather.

Melissa looked into multiple undergraduate programs, but when she visited the Millersville University in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she "just had a feeling" that it was the right place for her. "It was the way people interacted with me and how friendly they were. I just knew." As Melissa progressed in her studies in the Meteorology program, she became frustrated and thought about giving up. Fortunately she found a mentor in one of her Professors. Dr. Sepideh Yalda, an expert on climate statistics and climate change, encouraged Melissa not to give up her dream just because her classes were challenging.

Melissa also participated in the SOARS program, Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science. SOARS is a four-year, paid summer internship for undergraduate science, math, engineering, and social science students interested in understanding the atmosphere, and using that understanding to improve life on Earth. The fact that SOARS is based in Boulder, Colorado gave Melissa an opportunity to fall in love with this part of the country.

Melissa is currently at Colorado State University working on her Masters Degree in Atmospheric Science. She is studying climate change feedbacks within a paleoclimate regime. Melissa explains, "I've always thought that the Ice Ages were very interesting, and now I have the opportunity to get an understanding of the climate then and how it has evolved to where we are now. I am also excited about gaining an insight into how the earth might look in the future."