Program Description

The Department of Atmospheric Sciences offers a graduate program leading to the degree of Master of Science in Atmospheric Sciences. The program is intended to serve those who are interested in continuing graduate studies at the doctoral level as well as those seeking advanced knowledge for professional work in the atmospheric sciences in general.

Admission Requirements

1. A Bachelor’s degree from a recognized college or university.
2. Completion of a minimum of 20 semester credits of appropriate undergraduate work, e.g., physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, and/or atmospheric science.
3. A cumulative GPA of at least 2.75 for all undergraduate work or a GPA of at least 3.00 for the last two years.
4. Scores on the general portion of the Graduate Record Examination.

Degree Requirements

1. A minimum of 30 credit hours for the thesis option or a minimum of 32 credit hours for the non-thesis option are required. Approval of the thesis option will be granted based upon alignment of research interests with departmental faculty’s research interests and faculty availability. The non-thesis option requires the student to independently investigate a topic related to the major field and successfully complete a written comprehensive examination. This study need not be an original contribution to knowledge, but may be a presentation, analysis, and discussion of ideas already in the literature of the field. The non-thesis requirement is to ensure that the student can investigate a topic and organize a scholarly report on the subject.
2. Required Courses: All students are required to complete at least one course from each of the core areas below in addition to completing AtSc 500, Introduction to Atmospheric Research. Non-thesis option students must also complete two credits of 997, Independent Study Report.

Dynamics:
AtSc 505: Advanced Atmospheric Dynamics

Physical:
AtSc 450: Introduction to Cloud Physics Meteorology**
AtSc 520: Atmospheric Chemistry
AtSc 525: Atmospheric Radiation
AtSc 555: Advanced Surface Transportation Weather
AtSc 560: Boundary Layer Meteorology
AtSc 565: Air Quality

Climate System:
AtSc 510: General Circulation
AtSc 515: Advanced Climatology
AtSc 545: Hydrometeorology
AERO 530: Advanced Earth System Science

Tools:
AtSc 441: Radar Meteorology**
AtSc 528: Atmospheric Data Analysis
AtSc 530: Numerical Weather Prediction
AtSc 535: Measurement Systems
AtSc 540: Statistical Methods in Atmospheric Science

**Courses taken at the undergraduate level cannot be repeated for grauate credit.