Each semester,  the Atmospheric Sciences department sponsors a seminar class. The spring semester seminar class is required for all graduate students in atmospheric sciences, and it includes student presentations and discussions of reports based on literature practices, problems, or their research work. There are also special presentations by guests from outside of the university. Not only do the seminars give the students a chance to enhance their speaking abilities, it also gives them a chance to visit with their peers and colleagues about the different types of research being conducted in the Atmospheric Sciences field.

Spring seminars are again in progress, with presentations by our masters' degree students. Topics presented so far include:

• Electrification of the 29 June 2000 supercell tthunderstorm, by Heather Caye.
• Extracellular enzyme activities as an indicator of nutrient demand in coastal wetlands, by Sushil Gautam
• An overview of efforts to detect x-ray emissions from lightning, by John Hamilton
• Carbon dioxide and methane flux in burned vs. unburned soils of a ponderosa pine forest ecosystem in Western South Dakota, by Fran Sewell
• Meteorological conditions associated with upward lightning from towers in Rapid City, South Dakota, by Scott Rudge
• Gust front vs. no-gust front thunderstorms: A statistical analysis on storm characteristics and environmental conditions, by Theresa Aguilar
• An investigation into rain-induced erosion in the Badlands National park using an optical disdrometer, by Emily French
• Impacts of alternative land management on Northern Great Plains hydroclimate, by Dan D'Amico
• A study of the efficiency in forecasting wind for wind farms using WRF-ARW, by Gretchen Berg
• Assessing restored wetland function using phosphorous speciation, by Kurt Chowanski
• Memories of weather events: A look into how accurate these memories really are, by Kathy Haselhorst
• Importance and Scientific Significance of obtaining current measurements at towers in Rapid City, SD during UPLIGHTS, by Chip Redmond
• 2012 South Dakota Wildfire Season Outlook, by Darren Clabo
• Nutrient cycling and growth of Didymosphenia geminata, by Christine Sandvik
• Forecasting fire weather parameters in the Black Hills region using the WRF model, by Dan McKemy

(Page updated 4/18/2012)