Student Training in Facilities in Atmospheric Science: A Teaching Experiment

During October 1989 faculty and students from University of Nevada, Reno participated in a unique teaching experiment with the Research Aviation Facilities (RAF) of NCAR. Four flights gave students the opportunity to experience the role of potential aircraft scientist, to learn how aircraft are used in a research setting, and to investigate the problems of instrument response under adverse conditions. The course was given for credit as an offering in the graduate program in atmospheric science. It is suggested that this kind of “hands-on” teaching is highly cost effective in training future atmospheric scientists in using and interpreting data from highly complex instrumentation which is becoming available.