The ATMS program owns and operates an impressive collection of instrumentation which rivals that of larger programs. We’re the only undergraduate specific program in the nation with a polarimetric S-band Doppler weather radar. The radar fills an important coverage gap in the NWS radar network across northeastern Louisiana. Other instruments include a pick-up truck mounted Doppler wind lidar, weather balloon systems, a microwave radiometer, PARSIVEL disdrometer, and surface instrumentation. This instrumentation supports cutting edge education that students cannot receive anywhere else in the country, and cutting edge research that are vital to the region’s and state’s interest.

More information on the radar is available at https://www.ulm.edu/atmos/radar.html.

Live data from our instruments is available at http://wxdata.geos.ulm.edu/.

A student run group who launch weather balloons from ULM’s campus when severe and hazardous weather threatens the region. Weather balloon data is transmitted to the NWS in Shreveport and Jackson, and the Storm Prediction Center, who use the ULM balloon data to make forecasting and nowcasting decisions across the area.

The ATMS program has a long history of successful job placement and/or students moving onto top graduate programs. The vast majority of meteorologists working at regional NWS offices are graduates of our program. Approximately 90% of graduates over the last decade are working in atmospheric science (or in a related area), or in graduate school. The majority of our recent graduates have secured positions in the private sector, or were accepted into top graduate programs such as the University of Oklahoma, University of Miami, Colorado State University, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Students regularly collaborate with program faculty on research projects through the ULM Emerging Scholars program or externally funded research grants. Using the meteorological instrumentation noted above, our students are actively involved in taking measurements from the field. Students are given opportunities to present their research at local, regional, and national conferences. Our students have been successful in obtaining paid summer research internships and experiences through NOAA and NSF.

Classes in the ATMS program maintain small class sizes which foster 1-on-1 interaction between students and faculty. We also foster a familial atmosphere in the program, where faculty and senior students take on leader- and mentorship roles with other students.

The program’s infrastructure includes a dedicated teaching laboratory with state-of-the-art hardware and software to facilitate cutting edge education and research. Students have access to weather software commonly used in NWS forecast offices across the country.