Graduate Program Brochure Guidelines
Please note: The brochure template and these guidelines are designed to aid you in content development.
Not every brochure will be the same. Modifications as to the size and number of photos, “points of pride”
boxes, and/or length of program descriptions will vary. Every brochure will be modified to accommodate
the strongest content (photos, text, graphics, etc.) provided.
•
A. Graduate program overview and degree description(s) (approx. 100 - 175 words) (124 words)
Michigan Tech's Atmospheric Sciences doctoral program stresses the
interdisciplinary nature and societal relevance of the field. The
atmospheric sciences are rapidly evolving, due to new developments in
measurement and computational technologies and due to the need for
better understanding of issues related to climate and air quality.
Our students gain a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of
atmospheric processes and properties, which prepares them tocontribute to and grow with the field. A
wide variety of research
activities are pursued, ranging from field measurements to computer
modeling, from studies of air pollution transport and chemistry to
studies of the fundamental processes governing cloud formation, and
from studies of climate impacts on air pollution to studies of air
pollution impacts on forests, among many others.
• B. More detailed description of the graduate program with information on how it is distinctive from
other programs (approx. 125 words)
The Atmospheric Sciences PhD program is highly interdisciplinary. All
faculty also have appointments in other academic programs, including
physics, chemistry, geology and geophysics, environmental engineering,
and forest resources and environmental science. Research activities
and available courses reflect this breadth of background.
Students have access to the home department of their advisor, but have
a primary affiliation with the Atmospheric Sciences program. All
students take a series of three core courses (in atmospheric physics,
atmospheric chemistry, and atmospheric fluid dynamics) plus additional
courses as appropriate to develop depth, and participate in a weekly
literature discussion or group meeting with a visiting seminar speaker
every spring.
The program emphasizes original research, close collaboration with
faculty advisors, interdisciplinary interactions with students and
faculty across and beyond the atmospheric sciences, presentations at
national and international meetings and publications in refereed
journals.
• List of degrees that are offered - bulleted, not a description of each (e.g. Civil Engineering - MEng,
MS, and PhD)
Atmospheric Sciences - PhD
C. Description of research (approx. 125 words) (128 words)
Our faculty and students conduct research that spans a wide range of
topics. They study the impacts of human activities on the atmosphere,
climate and ecosystems, including large-scale air pollution transport
and chemistry, impacts of land-use changes on biogenic emissions,
climate-forcing impacts of aerosol particles, the effects of climate
change on air quality, and the impacts of air pollutants on ecosystems
and lakes. They study the fundamental chemical and physical processes
that govern these issues, including the chemistry of particles and
cloud droplets, the interactions of particles with light, the
chemistry of atmospheric oxidants and biogenic emissions, and the
interactions between air and ice. They study the atmosphere itself
and the earth's biogeochemical cycles, including atmospheric
turbulence, ice nucleation, volcanic emissions, and
atmosphere-biosphere exchange.
D. Description of facilities, equipment, labs (approx. 75-100 words) (89 words)
Research Facilities
Atmospheric Sciences research groups oversee many laboratories located
in multiple departments, including separate laboratories focusing on
ice physics and chemistry, cloud physics, aerosol physics,
environmental chemistry of inorganic and organic compounds, aerosol
chemistry, and gas-phase chemistry. Several groups have extensive
field-research programs, involving ground-based and aircraft-based
research to study particles, gases, and clouds, and using both
in-situ sampling and remote sensing methods. Computer laboratories
are available for use with global chemical transport models and for
analysis of satellite remote sensing products.
•
E. Faculty research areas - bulleted, not a text description (10 bullets maximum)
* aerosol organic and inorganic chemistry.
* aerosol physics and radiative impacts.
* biogeochemical cycles.
* cloud physics and chemistry.
* gas phase organic and inorganic chemistry.
* interactions between climate change and air quality, and
between air pollution, ecosystem health, and climate.
* large-scale impacts of air pollutant emissions.
* remote sensing, using satellite, ground-based and
aircraft-based techniques.
* turbulence and air-surface exchange fluxes.
* volcanic gas and particle emissions and volcanic clouds.
• F. Admission requirements specific to your program as well as general information about
assistantships, if available
All applicants are automatically considered for financial
support. Typically, 100 percent of our graduate students are
financially supported through research assistantships, teaching
assistantships, or fellowships.
Applications should include a statement of purpose that describes
research interests and career plans and three letters of
recommendation. The GRE general exam is required, and TOEFL scores
are required for applicants whose native language is not English.
Prospective students are encouraged to contact faculty members to
discuss possible research topics and funding opportunities, and to
ensure that their research interests fit with the those of one or
more faculty members. More information is available at
http://www.atmos-sci.mtu.edu/ .
• Departmental contact information
Note that the Atmospheric Sciences doctoral program is non-departmental and is housed within the
Graduate School, not a college or department.
o Atmospheric Sciences Program
o
o Phone: 906-487-2351
o Fax: 906-487-3371
o Email: atmgrad@mtu.edu
o http://www.atmos-sci.mtu.edu
•
7 - 10 points of pride (15-70 words each).
We did not come up with much for this; can we omit it?
•
8 - 12 photos (as well as graphics if applicable)
Submit photos on a CD, provide as .jpeg or .tif, in as high a resolution as possible.
Please let me know if I can post these on the web for you to download or you could ftp them. For
now, I put the originals for now at http://www.cee.mtu.edu/~reh/temp/atmphotos/
Some photos are the following. Those in groups are nearly duplicates so you can choose the one that
works best.
* Student assembling a sampling tube on a ship:
o Left-most photo in the old atm recruiting poster: http://www.atmossci.mtu.edu/images/AtmosphericPoster.pdf; (I can't find the original but maybe you have it).
* Photos of Prof Carn and student sampling at volcano in Africa:
o nyira_11jan06 006.jpg
o P5260803.JPG
o virunga07 250.jpg
o virunga07 265.jpg
* Photos of students and postdocs working at Pico Mountain atmospheric observatory
o DCP_3081.JPG
o DCP_4363.JPG
o DSC01084.JPG
* Photos of postdoc Kleissl working on mountainside met system
o DSC01097.JPG
o DSC01099.JPG
o DSC01098.JPG
o DSC01101.JPG
o DSC01102.JPG
* Photo of preparations for cloud sampling in Germany
o IMG_1060.jpg
* Working on sampling tower on Greenland ice cap
o P1000576.JPG
* Student with her NOxy instrument
o P5130033.JPG
* Students conducting remote sensing measurements of volcano emissions
o pacayaplume.jpg
* atmospheric physics instrumentation
o quadrupole_trap.jpg
* Photo of student and scientist with gold atmospheric chemistry instrument
o DCP_0424.JPG
* Photo in atmospheric physics lab.The person seen through the smoke swirls is Gene Wicks. He is a
high school chemistry
teacher in Sault St. Marie, who worked with Prof. Cantrell one summer.
o gene 005.JPG
*
o research/lab activity
o departmental buildings/facilities
o program community/unity
o faculty/student relationships
o photos should demonstrate activity; show the use of appropriate safety equipment; show up-to-date
equipment; and include diversity
Please contact Jacque Smith at jacque@mtu.edu, 487-1434
or Angela Johnston at akjohnst@mtu.edu, 487-3507 if you have any questions.
Please return your content in a Word document to Jacque no later than June 15, 2007.