The National Weather Service (NWS) and Jackson State University (JSU) have a collective, long-term interest in expanding the number of minority professionals in meteorology and the atmospheric sciences (Over the past twenty-five years, JSU is the only HBCU that offered an undergraduate degree in meteorology). They also share a common vision of improved operational weather prediction and dynamic atmospheric understanding within the central states of the Gulf of Mexico and the marginal coastal zones adjacent to these states. Accordingly, NOAA/NWS and JSU have established and maintained a formal partnership for both research and operational collateral activities with the goal of Promoting Diversity in Atmospheric Science through Research, Application and in Partnership with the NWS (PDAS-RAP). Such an educational and operations-based relationship effectively builds and expands the JSU Meteorology Program’s scientific capacity while attracting and training a greater number of minority undergraduate students, specifically interested in the study of the atmospheric sciences. Students involved gain professional training, operational skills, and practical experience during the academic year at NWS Forecast Office, Jackson, MS (NWSFO JAN), and during the summer at various NOAA/NWS offices across the nation. This relationship has (1) formally established the operational research and applications environment between JSU and NOAA/NWS; (2) allowed operations-based and climatological research for direct forecast applications (e.g., wet microburst, tornado intensity, straight-line wind, hail, convection initiation, fog prediction and winter weather); (3) supported under-represented undergraduate students through research experiences and professional development opportunities, and (4) promoted dissemination and coordination of activities within the entire professional meteorological community. Combined, these factors have and will continue to assist and improve the overall forecast and warning capabilities within NWS JAN while maintaining the cooperative efforts of NWSFO JAN with the JSU Meteorology Program.