The Climate Science Lab located at Johnson State College, and led by Dr. Tania Bacchus, Professor of Earth Science and Meteorology, collects and evaluates lake and mountain weather station datasets in northern tier Vermont to better understand climate change in Vermont. The lab is funded by the VT ESPCoR Research on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Lake Champlain Basin (RACC) grant #1101317.
Two RACC interns from Dr. Bacchus' lab presented posters at the 2015 American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco in December. Melissa Segall is currently a senior at Lyndon State College, and worked in Dr. Bacchus' lab during the summer of 2015. She presented her RACC research titled: "Large Precipitation Events in Northern Vermont Compared to Global Temperature Anomalies and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations". Ashley Fortin worked in Dr. Bacchus' lab during the summer of 2012 and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science from Lyndon State College in 2014. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University in San Francisco. Ashley's research poster was titled: "The Influence of Declining Arctic Sea Ice on Sudden Stratospheric Warming Events".
Melissa Segall also took her RACC research poster to the American Meteorological Society (AMS) meeting in New Orleans for the annual conference in January, 2016.
Nasser Abdel-Fatah, a senior at Johnson State College and RACC intern in the summers of 2014 and 2015, has had an abstract accepted for the Northeastern Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in Albany, New York in March, 2016. Nasser will present his RACC research titled: "Detailed Analysis of Climate Trends from the Northern Tier of Vermont from 2000-2014".
The VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity (CWDD) places undergraduate students interested in learning more about science careers and working as part of a team of researchers at several Vermont campuses. The CWDD is located at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. For more information please contact cwdd@smcvt.edu