Community Engagement − University at Albany Programs
The Summer ASRC Falconer Lecture Series
The ASRC Whiteface mountain field station hosts the summer series of the popular and informative Falconer Lecture Series. The lectures are held in the Marble Mountain Lodge facility and are free and open to the public. The lectures offer a wide range of exciting presentations from atmospheric science, severe weather and climate change, biodiversity and natural history, all the way to "outside−the−box" topic such as Alpacas!
(l-r) Ray Falconer, Vincent Schaefer (ASRC Founder), Bernard Vonnegut, Duncan Blanchard (c. 1989). The “Original 4” of ASRC.
Their work with Project Cirrus, at General Electric’s Research Laboratory in Schenectady, NY, produced basic knowledge of the formation of
rain, clouds, and snow. After Vince and Bernard discovered that dry ice or silver iodide might induce clouds or precipitation, they
carried out several pioneering cloud seeding operations. These four scientists eventually left General Electric to pursue their individual interests, but after Schaefer founded ASRC in 1961
they all returned to work together again.
Falconer became the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center's first full-time employee in 1961, and the following year began his well-known radio weather forecasts. Ray was often referred to as "Mr. Weather." From his early days as a weather observer atop Mt. Washington in New Hampshire to his work at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Nobel Laureate Irving Langmuir's Project Cirrus, Ray was an enthusiastic disciple of the atmosphere. Ray's boundless energy was poured into public education on weather and the environment. His popular radio weather commentaries, his articles, and his Lecture Series made him widely known as the Voice of the ASRC. The ASRC "Falconer Natural History Lecture Series" was designed and initiated by Falconer in 1962. The seminars were co-sponsored by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and would begin with a detailed 10 minute weather commentary by Ray, and would then lead into a very relevant, and often lively, scientific presentation.
Weather & Climate Camp
The ASRC Whiteface mountain field station partners with faculty members from the University at Albany's Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences to support the University's Weather & Climate Camp for high school students, especially those from under-represented or low income backgrounds. The Weather & Climate Camp engages students in activities to learn about exciting career opportunities in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) diciplines.
During one day of the camp, students take a field trip from Albany to ASRC's Whiteface Mountain Field Station, where they collect basic weather measurements at the Marble Mountain lodge facility, various points along the highway leading to the summit, and at the summit. ASRC staff provide the students with an educational overview of the work conducted at the field station, including tours of the Marble Mountain facilities and summit observatory where they are rewarded with magnificent views of the Adirondack mountains in clear weather, or in rainy weather can observe the conditions that make the mountain perfect for the collection of atmospheric chemistry and meteorological data.
Learn more about this exciting and rewarding week long science day camp!
Image Description (photo credit: Dr. Justin Minder): Weather & Climate Camp instructors demonstrate the Coriolis Effect to camp students.
