During the June of 2007, nine (9) US undergraduate/graduate students attended a synthesis workshop in Dakar, Senegal at Cheikh Anta Diop University. The objectives of the workshop were: (a) examine data obtained during the 2006 African Monoon Multidisciplinary experiment, (b) to develop research teams to address topics related to local, mesoscale and large scale features, (c) to develop the outline for potential manuscripts between Senegalese and US scientists/students. Six (6) of the nine (9) students remained in Senegal to deploy rain-gauges in the coarse/high density networks that were developed for the AMMA field campaign. During this period, the students, worked together to develop two papers that were to be presented at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) 2008 meeting. In this presentation, we summarize these results, its relationship to year 1 activities and focus on 3rd year activities and how these experiences enhance student professional development.