Our fund-raising priorities include scholarships, fellowships, and facility upgrades that will enhance the education experience of our current graduate and undergraduate students or help to recruit bright, promising students into our program.
Undergraduate Scholarships
One of our main priorities is to increase scholarship funds available to our undergraduates. Although we have many generous alumni and friends who have already endowed scholarships, our distribution is still extremely thin, with the majority of students receiving less than $1000 per year to support their education. Of ~200 students, only 45-50 students per year end up with scholarship money from our department. Considering the cost of Penn State's tuition, $1000 barely makes a dent in their costs and isn't enough to entice great students to enroll at Penn State. Although they know Penn State is a leader in the study of atmospheric science and meteorology, and they are enthusiastic about the opportunities we offer them, they often choose to study elsewhere due to financial limitations.
Please consider a new undergraduate scholarship endowment to help us retain and recruit our excellent students and prospects. It's very rewarding to invest in the futures of Penn State Meteorology students. A minimum gift of $50,000 is required for a named scholarship.
Graduate Fellowships
Graduate fellowships are extremely important in recruiting and retaining brilliant graduate students into the Penn State meteorology program. Increasing the amount of this fellowship is essential for us to meet the Graduate School's minimum threshold for distinguished graduate fellowships and to remain competitive in recruiting students into our graduate program.