The American Association of State Climatologists (AASC) has developed curricular recommendations for the education of future applied and service climatologists. The AASC was founded in 1976. Membership of the AASC includes state climatologists and others who work in state climate offices; climate researchers in academia and educators; applied climatologists in NOAA and other federal agencies; and the private sector. The AASC is the only professional organization dedicated solely to the growth and development of applied and service climatology.

The purpose of these recommendations is to offer a framework for existing and developing academic climatology programs. These recommendations are intended to serve as a road map and to help distinguish the educational needs for future applied and service climatologists from those of operational meteorologists or other scientists and practitioners.

While the home department of climatology students may differ from one program to the next, the most essential factor is that students can demonstrate a breadth and depth of understanding in the knowledge and tools needed to be an applied or service climatologist. Because the training of an applied climatologist requires significant depth and breadth, the Masters degree is recommended as the minimum level of education needed.

This presentation will highlight the AASC recommendations. These include a strong foundation in: - climatology (instrumentation and data collection, climate dynamics, physical climatology, synoptic and regional climatology, applied climatology, climate models, etc.); - basic natural sciences and mathematics including calculus, physics, chemistry, and biology/ecology; - fundamental atmospheric sciences (atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric thermodynamics, atmospheric radiation, and weather analysis/synoptic meteorology) and - data analysis and spatial analysis (descriptive statistics, statistical methods, multivariate statistics, geostatistics, GIS, etc.).

The recommendations also include a secondary area of concentration (agriculture, economics, geography, hydrology, marine sciences, natural resources, policy, etc.) and a major applied climate research component.