From Storm Chasing to Air Racing: How Summer Experiential Learning Courses Have Enhanced the Embry-Riddle Undergraduate Meteorology Experience

Experiential learning courses are unique and rewarding opportunities for atmospheric science undergraduates, providing real-world experience that previously could only be gained through internships. Over the past five years, Embry-Riddle Meteorology has developed and sustained three summer experiential learning courses that offered students a wide range of real-world opportunities. The Severe Weather Field Forecasting course has taken three groups of students to the Great Plains to forecast and observe supercells and tornadoes. The Mobile Doppler Radar field course used National Science Foundation funding to investigate Florida sea-breeze convection with a Doppler-on-Wheels and other mobile observation equipment. Finally, the Weather Support Operations course has brought meteorology, dispatch, and aeronautical science undergraduates together to cohesively provide real-time aviation weather support for the Air Race Classic and the 75^th Anniversary D-Day Squadron. Together, Embry-Riddle Meteorology’s commitment to offering at least two experiential learning courses each summer has allowed students to gain real-world operations, forecast, and research skills. It has also provided interdisciplinary experience that incorporates Embry-Riddle’s longstanding commitment to aviation weather education. This presentation will detail how these courses have enhanced learning and program notoriety, while providing specific examples of how such experiences have allowed Embry-Riddle’s Meteorology undergraduates to be more competitive in internship, career, and graduate school applications. Overall, students have left these courses feeling that they have contributed to a successful real-world operation, exemplifying the benefits of experiential learning.