Dr. Nolan Atkins

Professor

Tornados rarely threaten the residents of Vermont, but that doesn't prevent Nolan Atkins from studying them. Armed with a grant from the National Science Foundation, the Meteorology professor uses a computer-based modeling approach along with analysis of weather observations collected by the National Weather Service. The goal of his research is a better understanding of - and an increased ability to forecast - the severe weather events that frequently result in loss of life and property around the country.

The NSF funding enables him to provide a few select students with an opportunity usually reserved for students at Ph.D.-granting institutions: the chance to work as a research assistant on a federal grant. For graduate school-bound students, especially, the experience is priceless.

Dr. Atkins' real devotion, however, is to his students. He knew early on that he wanted to focus on undergraduate teaching, and he chose Lyndon for the academic integrity of the program.

"Offering a balance of theory and practice, and holding students accountable to high standards, is what makes our program stand out," he says. "They can see the difference when they go out on an internship or get a job - they're always better prepared than their colleagues from other institutions."

Dr. Bruce Berryman

Professor

As a meteorology student at the University of Wisconsin, Bruce Berryman heard about "a small college in the woods of Vermont with a great meteorology program." Later, as chair of the Environmental Science Department at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, he began hearing again about this same small college and the same great meteorology department. So when the opportunity to apply to Lyndon State College came up in the early 1980s, he jumped at it.

"One thing I had decided was that an enormous Ph.D.-granting factory environment wasn't for me," he says. "I knew that I wanted to teach at a school that was small enough to really get to know the students."

Lyndon has proved the perfect fit for Dr. Berryman. Here he has combined his professional specialization in climatology with his personal determination to help new students make a successful transition to college. He takes great pride in the College's flagship meteorology program, which attracts both students and graduate school recruiters from across the country, but he's equally dedicated to its general education program. As the founder of LSC's first new-student orientation program in the mid-'80s, he still teaches in the latest version of that course.

"Too many freshmen drop out of college, not because they don't make it academically, but because they can't make the transition to a new environment," he says. "Often it just takes one person who shows an interest in that student to make the difference."

Dr. Jason Shafer

Assistant Professor

"The weather is the world's largest and most dynamic ongoing experiment, one that we will never fully understand" is one thing Jay Shafer says to explain his longtime fascination with meteorology. His interest is rooted in his childhood in New Jersey, where a snow storm was a thrill, and a day off from school meant a chance to shovel snow and watch The Weather Channel.

"I learned a great deal from the meteorologists on The Weather Channel," he says, and he remembers LSC alumnus Jim Cantore from those early days. "The Weather Channel was an inspiration to me."

In spite of his fascination with The Weather Channel, however, he knew broadcast meteorology was not for him. He says that he really enjoys sharing his weather enthusiasm with the students. Something as simple as clouds, for example, fully captures his interest.

"It's important to remember to look outside, to bring into the classroom what is all around us," he says.