Editor's Note: Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU) is one of a handful of universities of varying sizes that have incorporated AWIPS II into labs and classrooms in the past two years. MSU's experience shows that incorporating the new NWS technology into the educational mix is both possible and useful even for a small undergraduate program. This article outlines the MSU AWIPS II configuration and discusses some of the adjustments the program made to get the system running smoothly.

Thanks to a Unidata Community Equipment Award grant coupled with some local resources from our university, we (Professor Sam Ng and co-PI Chris Kimmett) at Metropolitan State University in Denver have been able to successfully bring the National Weather Service's AWIPS II forecasting system into the classroom. Professor Ng used AWIPS II alongside Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer as core tools in the Spring 2015 “Weather Analysis Techniques” course for undergraduate meteorology majors, and will continue using AWIPS II in the Fall semester and into the future.

Unidata is happy to announce the Community Equipment Award recipients for 2015. Five institutions received funding this year:

• Plymouth State University
• University of California, San Diego
• University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Western Kentucky University

Students at Colorado State University

The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU) has a long history of research and education in all aspects of the atmospheric sciences. Faculty, students, and staff use a wide variety of datasets in their research and teaching, from numerical models to gridded reanalyses to radar and satellite observations to measurements collected in the field and lab. However, the students in the department recognized issues that were preventing these large datasets from being used to their full potential.

With a grant from the Unidata Community Equipment Awards program, along with a grant from the College of Engineering, the CSU Department of Atmospheric Science acquired a data storage server that makes many of these data sources readily and easily accessible to students.

On February 5, 2014, three Unidata Program Center staff members paid a visit to Professor Sam Ng and his collaborator Chris Kimmett at Metropolitan State University of Denver. We had the opportunity to sit in on Professor Ng's "Weather Analysis Techniques" course for undergraduate meteorology majors in the MSU department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

MSU-Denver is the recipient of one of Unidata's 2014 Community Equipment Awards. Their proposal solicited funds to update the meteorology program's Local Data Manager (LDM) server to better handle current data loads and also serve as a beta-test site for the AWIPS II Environmental Data EXchange (EDEX) server, giving students the opportunity to the National Weather Service's most up-to-date forecasting and weather analysis software package. The grant also funded upgrades to the MSU-Denver meteorology department's computer lab, allowing students to access the AWIPS II CAVE client and improving 3-D visualization performance for Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer (IDV).

Unidata offers equipment grants to support a variety of projects

The Unidata Program Center is pleased to announce the opening of the 2015 Unidata Community Equipment Awards solicitation. Created under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, Unidata equipment awards are intended to encourage new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the geosciences to join the Unidata community, and to encourage existing members to continue their active participation, enhancing the community process. For 2015, a total of $100,000 is available for awards; proposals for amounts up to $20,000 will be considered.

Unidata is happy to announce the Community Equipment Award recipients for 2014. Seven institutions received funding this year:

• Creighton University
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Metropolitan State University of Denver
• Pennsylvania State University
• San Jose State University
• University of Iowa
• University of Missouri

Unidata offers equipment grants to support a variety of projects

The deadline for 2014 Unidata Community Equipment Award proposals is March 14, 2014.

Created under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, Unidata Community Equipment Awards are intended to encourage new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the geosciences to join the Unidata community, and to encourage existing members to continue their active participation, enhancing the community process. For 2014, a total of $100,000 is available for awards; proposals for amounts up to $20,000 will be considered.

Unidata offers equipment grants to support a variety of projects

The Unidata Program Center is pleased to announce the opening of the 2014 Unidata Community Equipment Awards solicitation. Created under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, Unidata equipment awards are intended to encourage new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the geosciences to join the Unidata community, and to encourage existing members to continue their active participation, enhancing the community process. For 2013, a total of $100,000 is available for awards; proposals for amounts up to $20,000 will be considered.

Students at Valparaiso University

The Valparaiso University Meteorology program strives to keep current with meteorological technologies so students can maximize their educational opportunities. Valparaiso University's Meteorology program was awarded a 2012 Community Equipment Award grant to allow it to serve as a test school for the deployment of AWIPS II. Because our program has limited resources and infrastructure support, we provide an ideal "small school" test case for the deployment of AWIPS II.

Unidata is happy to announce the Community Equipment Award recipients for 2013. Five institutions received funding this year:

• Colorado State University
• Stony Brook University
• Texas A&M International University
• University of Miami
• University of Wisconsin at Madison