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Graduate Program*The Application Deadline for Fall 2013 is January 15th for U.S. students and January 1st for International students. The Florida State University is located in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. Set in the wooded north Florida hills, the city of approximately 260,000 hosts over 100 state and federal agencies, two universities, and a community college. Rich offerings of social, cultural, and recreational facilities are available. Diverse recreation may be found on the beaches of the nearby Gulf of Mexico. The climate in Tallahassee is mildly continental the majority of the year and semitropical during the summer. The Florida State University is one of eleven universities supported by the state of Florida. It is also one of the three state universities assigned primary responsibilities for graduate education and research. The current enrollment at Florida State University is over 30,000 undergraduate and more than 8,000 graduate and professional students. Florida State University has the largest and most complete meteorology program in the southeastern United States, with 16 faculty members and approximately 90 graduate students and 200 undergraduate students. International students are drawn to both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Meteorology graduate students are candidates for both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Qualified students with a baccalaureate degree in meteorology or with a broad background in physics and mathematics can be admitted to the graduate program. Many incoming graduate students do not have prior training in meteorology. Complementary graduate degree programs are offered in the areas of Applied Mathematics, Physical Oceanography, and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. Other strong supporting course work is found in the departments of Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Biological Science, and Statistics. Graduates of the department at the B.S. and M.S. levels hold positions in areas such as the National Weather Service, television weathercasting, and private consulting firms, including airlines and investment firms. A number of doctoral graduates hold faculty positions at other universities, and many have leading research roles in such groups as the National Hurricane Research Division at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory; the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Oklahoma; the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado; the NASA Goddard and Marshall Space Flight Centers; and the National Environment Satellite Data Information Service. Faculty members and graduate students in the department are involved in research in many areas including: tropical meteorology, oceanic upwelling, turbulence and boundary layer meteorology, radiation physics, satellite remote sensing, mesoscale analysis, numerical weather prediction, climate diagnostics and modeling, air/sea interaction, large-scale flow over mountains, statistical prediction, design of meteorological networks, and radar meteorology. The State Climatologist of Florida and the Florida State Climate Center provide opportunities for students interested in climatology. Research support is provided primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Faculty and graduate students of the department also participate in a number of national and international scientific research programs including various experimental field programs. Costs and Financial AidTuition is assessed on a per semester hour basis according to the level of each course. The current assessments are listed at http://www.sfs.fsu.edu/tuition.html. Additionally, all new graduate students are required to show proof of adequate health insurance or enroll in the University sponsored plan. Under this requirement, student will not be allowed to register for classes without obtaining health insurance. For more information, visit http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/Funding-Awards/Health-Insurance. University housing costs between $320-$557 per month. University apartments are available for single and married students. Privately owned apartments in the area cost approximately $400+ per month and are often shared by small groups of students. Students who wish to consider University Housing should write to University Housing, 133 S. Wildwood, Tallahassee, FL. 32306-4174 or visit their website at www.housing.fsu.edu as soon as possible after deciding to come to Florida State. Information on off-campus housing is available from Off-Campus Housing (850) 644-0089 or fsuoffcampus@hotmail.com. Most meteorology graduate students receive financial aid in the form of assistantships or fellowships. This aid is awarded on the basis of ability rather than financial need. A half-time assistantship, requiring 20 hours of work per week in teaching or research, usually carries a minimum stipend of $21,500 per calendar year. Most assistantships include a tuition waiver which covers approximately 80% of tuition costs. Students with outstanding undergraduate preparation, especially high GRE scores or special skills, can be appointed at a slightly higher stipend. Stipends are normally increased as the student progresses. These stipends are reviewed each academic year. In addition to stipends, the university has several fellowships available. Applicants are automatically considered for all assistantships that become available in the department. Students with high GPAs and GREs should consider applying for a University Fellowship awarded through the Graduate School. For more information on fellowships, visit the website of the Graduate School at http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/Funding-Awards. To be considered for a University Fellowship, the applications for graduate study, GRE scores, transcripts, and three letters of recommendation must be submitted before the posted deadline. Applications for assistantships are considered at any time. Through the Southern Regional Education Board, graduate students from the following states can apply to enroll in the Florida State University meteorology program at the instate tuition rate: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. If your legal residence is one of these ten states and you wish to enter the program as a Common Market student, you must obtain certifications from the coordinator of the Academic Common Market in your state. The University and the department encourage applications from women and minorities. The Gradaute School can provide information on financial assistance opportunities that are directed toward minorities. Most of these opportunities require early applications with deadlines common to the University fellowships or shortly thereafter. Admissions RequirementsStudents applying for admission to the graduate meteorology program must hold, or be a candidate for, a baccalaureate degree from an accredited university and meet the following criteria:
Many graduate students do not have prior training in meteorology; however an adequate background in mathematics and physics is essential. Mathematics through differential equations and at least one year of general physics taught with calculus are considered to be minimum requirements. Students lacking these prerequisites will need to complete them prior to beginning the graduate program. A foreign national desiring admission should correspond with the International Graduate Admissions Officer, Graduate Admission Office, FSU (850-644-3420). Prospective students whose native language is not English and have not studied in an English-speaking country for at least one year are required to complete the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a minimum score of 550 on the paper-based test, 213 on the cumputer-based test, or 80 on the internet-based test. Each applicant also is required to provide official Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. Because of the special processing required for foreign student applicants, they must submit their entire application packet at least six months prior to the term which admission is desired. Additionally, for international students to be considered for admission, a faculty member in our department first must agree to sponsor them. Since the department does not assign sponsors, international applicants are encouraged to browse the faculty web sites (below) and contact faculty members who are doing research that interests them. No international application will be considered without a faculty sponsor. Application MaterialsThe application process is all on-line: Apply to the university on-line (This link leaves the meteorology website and takes you to the FSU Office of Admissions). Please note that there are several additional documents that must be uploaded into this application. Each are described here: http://www.met.fsu.edu/uploads/images/56/Application_Procedures_2010.09.pdf (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the file). All applicants are automatically considered for a graduate assistantship. The majority of well-qualified graduate students receive graduate assistantships or fellowships for their study. Please submit your supporting documents as early as possible. Specific deadlines are given in the following section. International Student Application Deadlines:
U.S. Student Application Deadlines:
Except for early arrival to make up deficiencies, beginning graduate students are advised to begin their studies in the Fall semester because of the structured curriculum for new students. FacilitiesMembers of the department enjoy the benefits from advanced scientific equipment and a cooperative research environment with the department of Mathematics, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute, and the School of Computational Science and Information Technology (SCS). Scientific computations are handled by workstations and microcomputers within the department. A full suite of applications is available to access, manipulate, and display meteorological data. This and other departmental computer systems communicate through a local area Ethernet network that provides access to the campus computing and supercomputing processors, and a tightly linked IBM RISC cluster, as well as to all national and international networks. The department receives a full suite of products through the National Weather Service Family of Services, as well as Doppler weather radar products (national and local), and GOES satellite images. Many of these products can be viewed in real-time at various locations in the Love Building and on our website (www.met.fsu.edu). The departmental "map room" also displays many of these products and has a suite of computer terminals to access all other products. A Direct Readout Ground Station (DRGS) for the direct reception of GOES satellite data is available to support research and education. This system includes various interactive satellite-domestic data video display systems for generating high quality weather graphics. In conjunction with these facilities, the department maintains a television studio for student participation in weather television broadcasting. The department also houses the office of the State Climatologist of Florida who maintains a climatic database. The department maintains a reading room with an assortment of texts and meteorological journals. In addition, more than 1.7 million books and periodicals with extensive holdings of maps, governmental documents and microfim materials are housed in the University library. The University also has a Science Library (The Paul Dirac Science Library), which supplements the central university library. This facility houses a substantial collection of scientific volumes and periodicals conveniently located adjacent to the Love building. The department also maintains an instrumentation laboratory to support education and research in the area of experimental meteorology. Furnished with state-of-the-art measurement systems, students are exposed to practical fieldwork situations and laboratory problem solving. The Tallahassee office of the National Weather Service is collocated with the department. The faculty, students, and NWS staff collaborate on a wide range of studies. In addition, the department houses the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Tropical Meteorology (CITM). This cooperative research has an emphasis on hurricane studies, flash floods, tropical convection, and local weather. Student participation is a large component of the program. Specialized atmospheric studies can make use of the air and water chemistry laboratories in the Oceanography program, the electron microscope in the Biology department, and the particle accelerator in the Physics department. There are extensive laboratory facilities for simulating large-scale atmospheric and oceanic motions in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute. The Edward Ball Marine Laboratory, located 45 miles south of Tallahassee on the Gulf of Mexico, has research and teaching facilities for marine environmental studies. Meteorology has close ties with the ocean sciences through its direct connection with the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) and its association with the Oceanography Program. This provides additional benefits to the Meteorology faculty through direct access to Oceanography's facilities. Oceanography is currently involved in numerous research projects, including ocean modeling with supercomputers, current meter deployment and retrieval, analysis of environmental pollution, and ocean biology. Their facilities include laboratories for radiochemistry, trace element analysis, organic geochemistry, water analysis, phytoplankton ecology, numerical modeling, and fluid dynamics. The Florida State University has established an interdisciplinary School of Computational Science and Information Technology (SCS) to support both graduate and undergraduate concentrations, provide a leading-edge high-performance computational facility, and contribute to a high level of computational culture beneficial to the nation, and the State. The Department also is actively involved in K-12 meteorological education on both the state and national levels. One such program, Florida EXPLORES!, has received state, national and international recognition for its success in improving math and science education. This project allows K-12 classrooms across Florida to participate in direct observation and retrieval of meteorological data, including satellite imagery, in support of each school's mathematics and science curricula. Faculty Directory
Graduate Degree RequirementsA faculty committee advises each graduate student in Meteorology. This supervisory committee should be named no later than the end of the second semester of graduate study. A course plan acceptable to the supervisory committee should also be filed with the Department prior to the end of the first year. A specific exception is graduate students admitted to the Ph.D. program without first having an M.S. Degree. These students must form a Ph.D. committee within 9 months of their entrance. Specific degree requirements appear below. General Requirements for the M.S. Degree:In addition to the graduate level requirements that follow, each student must have or must complete undergraduate level coursework in synoptic meteorology (MET 4500C and 4501C or equivalent), physical meteorology (MET 4420 and 4450 or equivalent), and dynamic meteorology (MET 4301 and 4302 or equivalent). Students with any deficiencies in the above courses may be asked to complete the following graduate courses as prerequisite work for other graduate courses: MET 5505C and/or MET 5506C (Advanced Synoptic Lecture-Laboratory I & II), MET 5425 and/or MET 5451 (Advanced Atmosphere Physics I & Advanced Physical Meteorology II), and MET 5311 and/or MET 5312 (Advanced Dynamic Meteorology I & II). It is recommended that all graduate students who have not had course work equivalent to MET 2700, 2101, 3300, and 3502 independently study that material during their first semester in graduate school. Students also must have completed mathematics through partial differential equations (MAP 4341 or equivalent), have had a programming course (FORTRAN, C++, etc.), and have had at least one year of physics with calculus. A course in modern physics is desirable. Satisfactory completion of these general requirements is expected to precede or accompany graduate level work. Each candidate for the M.S. Degree must satisfy all University-wide M.S. requirements. At least 18 hours must be earned on a letter grade basis for the thesis plan and 21 hours for the course plan. The minimum University requirements are 30 semester hours for the thesis plan and 32 hours for the course plan, of which supervised research (MET 5910) and supervised teaching (MET 5979) can be used for the M.S. Degree. Students electing the thesis plan must have credit for at least 6 hours of thesis (MET 5971). The requirements listed below may exceed the minimum university requirements, depending on individual student preparation. All candidates for the M.S. Degree must satisfactorily pass MET 5930 (2) Master's Seminar. This includes presentation of a seminar to the department and submission of an approved written version of the seminar. All candidates for the M.S. Degree must satisfactorily pass 5910 (3) Supervised Research. THESIS PLANCandidates electing the thesis plan must satisfy all general requirements noted above and complete an acceptable thesis with credit in MET 5971r (6). The student must register for MET 8976 (0) during the semester that the thesis is defended. The thesis research may be used in presenting the departmental Master's Seminar (5930), and a copy of the thesis may be used as an approved written version of the seminar. COURSE PLANCandidates electing the course plan must satisfy all other general option requirements and pass the Master's Comprehensive Examination (MET 8966). The faculty supervisory committee may require additional courses. Master's Program OutlineFrom the courses listed in Group A, a student must take at least 18 hours, with at least 6 credit hours in each of the three areas. At least three additional semester credit hours must be taken from Group B which includes advanced topics courses and other committee approved graduate level courses. In Group C, all students must take 3 hours of Supervised Research (MET 5910) and 2 hours of Seminar (MET 5930). Students electing the thesis option must take a minimum of 6 hours of Thesis (MET 5971). Students are encouraged to serve as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at least once during their graduate studies; in such cases, enrollment in MET 5979 (Supervised Teaching) is suggested. The course plan must be approved by the student's committee and by the Department Chair. The student's committee must be officially formed by the end of the second semester of graduate work and have representation from at least two distinct sub-disciplines of meteorology. All students must complete either Thesis Defense (MET 8976r) or Comprehensive Exam (MET 8966r). The Department Chair must approve the student's committee and course plan. The student's committee must be officially formed by the end of the second semester of graduate work and have representation from at least two distinct sub-disciplines of meteorology. Any substitutions must be requested and approved by the Committee and Department Chair prior to taking the course. A. Meteorology Courses (18 hours, at least 6 hours from each area)
B. Electives (at least 3 hours)
C. Other
General Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree:A doctoral candidate in meteorology must:
Each doctoral candidate, in consultation with the department chairperson and major professor, must form a doctoral supervisory committee at the beginning of study. At least three members must have doctoral directive status, and one must be a representative-at-large from the graduate faculty who is an allied, but different department. The department normally requires at least five members with at least two options represented. The committee is to be constituted prior to the preliminary examination. Continuing students often combine the M.S. Comprehensive Examination with the Preliminary Examination. Formal admission to candidacy follows passing the Preliminary Examination. The only set hour requirements are Seminar and a minimum of twenty-four hours of Dissertation (MET 6980). Additional course work is assigned by the supervisory committee to correct deficiencies and strengthen capabilities in the dissertation research area. Required course work is usually completed before submission of the Prospectus. The candidate must register for Doctoral Seminar (MET 6930) during the semester in which the prospectus for the Ph.D. research is submitted to this committee. A second registration for the Seminar involves presentation of the dissertation. After completing 30 semester hours of graduate work or being awarded the Master's degree, the Ph.D. residency requirement is continuous enrollment for a minimum of 24 graduate semester hours in one consecutive 12 month period. The student must be enrolled in at least two semester hours of dissertation in the final term in which the degree was granted. Doctoral students will take further courses as specified by their doctoral committees. Contacts
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