Palmetto AMS Newsletter

Fall 2005

 

 

October 13, 2005 PAMS Meeting Overview

The PAMS officers would like to thank each of those who attended the presentation by Steve Naglic last evening at Carolina Wings and Ribs.  We had a small crowd of 12 members in attendance.  Special thanks go out to Steve Naglic for giving the dinner talk entitled “Solar Meteorology and High Frequency Propagation”.  In addition to discussing basic solar meteorology and wave propagation, Steve entertained members by effectively communicating how solar storms can affect and disrupt radio communication here on Earth.

 

Announcements and Action Items

 

Mini-Tech Conference

            Neither date nor location of Mini-Tech has been determined as of yet, but the event will take place in either February or March.  If anyone knows of any major conflicts during that time frame that might affect the attendance of several people (such as regional conferences, etc.), please let us know ASAP so we can factor them into the scheduling, if possible.  SCDHEC, West Columbia Carolina Wings and Ribs, and the University of South Carolina were discussed at the October 13th meeting as potential locations for Mini-Tech.  The USC option may only be feasible during USC’s spring break.  Please let us know as soon as possible if there are any other suggestions or if you just want to express your opinions for or against any of the proposed locations.  Officers will weight the options and make a decision in the coming weeks.

It’s not too early to start thinking about potential presentations for our biggest meeting of the year.  As many of you know, Mini-tech is a way for members, students or others in the community to share knowledge gained about virtually any topic related to meteorology in an informal setting.  A call for abstracts will be sent out later in 2005.  Your contributions will make the conference a success!

The annual "officer shift" will take place at Mini-Tech, so we will be looking for a volunteer to move into the Secretary-Treasurer position.  The accepted candidate should expect to ascend to Vice President and then President in succeeding years.  Please contact us if you are interested in this great opportunity to serve the Chapter.

 

PAMS Shirts

Paul Martin is working on price quotes for shirts.  For those who don’t know, T-shirts (probably white) have been proposed since this will keep cost down.  The options for T-shirt prints and style include the following formats:

Option 1:  Pocket on front of T-Shirt w/ small PAMS logo on pocket.

Option 2:  Pocket on front of T-Shirt w/ small PAMS logo on pocket, and large logo on back.

Option 3:  No Pocket on front of T-Shirt w/ small PAMS logo on front, top right portion of shirt.

Option 4:  No Pocket on front of T-Shirt w/ small PAMS logo on front, top right portion of shirt, large logo on the back.

 

The PAMS logo is displayed at the top of this newsletter.  We hope to obtain prices for these options in the near future, and we’ll send this quote information and further T-shirt details at a later time for feedback.

 

Essay Contest

This idea was brought up at the August 4th meeting as a way of encouraging youngsters in their interest in science/meteorology.  The current idea is for PAMS to sponsor an essay contest on a weather-related topic for middle school students.   Some initial ideas for prizes include cash, savings bond, a “mini-weather station”, PAMS T-shirt (combined with a “bigger” prize), etc.   Naturally, this would require some commitment from our treasury and from our members as we’d need help developing an appropriate essay question and in evaluating the essays to determine a winner (or winners).  After some initial investigation, it appears the biggest obstacle might be finding a target group of teachers/students and generating enough interest among them.   We’ll keep you posted as we continue to work through some ideas and determine whether this is feasible or not.  Please note that none of this is etched in stone at this time and that any feedback or ideas from the membership on any aspect of this are welcome at any time!  [Please send comments to smutzsw@dhec.sc.gov.]

 

Officer Change

For those of you that were unable to attend either of the last two meetings, there has been a change in the Secretary-Treasurer position, which became effective at the August 4th meeting.  Jason Caldwell accepted a GS-9 status HAS forecaster position at the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell, LA.  Interestingly, Jason had to begin his new job at the West Gulf RFC because of Hurricane Katrina.  We offer Jason our thanks for his PAMS service, congratulations on his new position at LMRFC, and we wish him well in all his future endeavors.  Greg Quina is the new Secretary-Treasurer (serving in that capacity until the Mini-Tech. meeting).  Greg has been employed with DHEC’s Bureau of Air Quality modeling section since July 2004.  He graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. and M.S. degree in meteorology.      

 

Dues

            It is very important that all members pay their dues.  We use these funds to pay for guest speaker dinner, provide refreshments at meetings, purchase awards for the Science and Engineering Fair in the spring, print programs for the Mini-Technical Conference, etc.  If you are unsure whether your dues are up to date, please drop an email to quinags@dhec.sc.gov to check your status.

 

Email Update

            In an effort to keep our member and general mailing lists current, please send your updates to the secretary at any time.  Also, please send along name/email of anyone you know who would like to begin receiving chapter meeting notices and newsletters.  Thanks!

 

 

2005-2006 Officers

President:  Steve Smutz, smutzsw@dhec.sc.gov

Vice President: Allen Weber, traviata@comcast.net

Secretary-Treasurer:  Greg Quina, quinags@dhec.sc.gov