The National Science Foundation's Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) Student Community

Abstract:

The National Science Foundation sponsors Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) Workshops, which have been held every summer, for the past 29 years. CEDAR Workshops are on the order of a week long and at various locations with the goal of being close to university campuses where CEDAR type scientific research is done. Although there is no formal student group within the CEDAR community, the workshops are very student-focused. Roughly half the Workshop participants are students. There are two Student Representatives on the CEDAR Science Steering Committee (CSSC), the group of scientists who organize the CEDAR Workshops. Each Student Representative is nominated by his or her peers, chosen by the CSSC and then serves a two year term. Each year, one of the Student Representatives is responsible for organizing and moderating a day-long session targeted for students, made up of tutorial talks, which aim to prepare both undergraduate and graduate students for the topics that will be discussed in the main CEDAR Workshop. The theme of this session changes every year. Past themes have included: upper atmospheric instrumentation, numerical modeling, atmospheric waves and tides, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, equatorial aeronomy and many others. Frequently, the Student Workshop has ended with a panel of post-docs, researchers and professors who discuss pressing questions from the students about the next steps they will take in their careers. As the present and past CSSC Student Representatives, we will recount a brief history of the CEDAR Workshops, our experiences serving on the CSSC and organizing the Student Workshop, a summary of the feedback we collected about the Student Workshops and what it’s like to be student in the CEDAR community.