Sam Morgan

The forecast for Sam Morgan’s future is sunny. Recently, Morgan, who has had a passion for weather and climate since doing a project on hurricanes as a child, participated in programs at two of the nation’s leading atmospheric sciences organizations.

Morgan was selected out of 820 applicants to receive one of 130 Ernest F. Hollings undergraduate scholarships from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Education. Morgan will receive a two-year academic scholarship for his junior and senior years, funding to attend national scientific conferences and, next summer, a paid 10-week NOAA internship.

This spring, Morgan attended a three-day program orientation in Washington, D.C., where he toured NOAA facilities and met with its leaders and scientists. He was particularly drawn to two of NOAA’s six branches.

“Of course, the National Weather Service is very interesting. The work they do is behind the scenes, but they provide the data for TV weather forecasts,” he says. “I was also interested in the Office of Atmospheric Research, which is NOAA’s research arm for weather and climate. They study everything from hail in the Plains, to hurricane tracks changing over time, to ice in Greenland and Antarctica.”

Later, Morgan was one of 20 students nationwide who were invited to spend a week at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesa Lab in Boulder, Colorado, to learn about the organization’s research projects and career paths in the atmospheric sciences and to develop leadership skills.

“NCAR does important research,” Morgan. “It’s a dedicated National Science Foundation atmospheric research facility. I enjoyed learning about their specific field campaigns.” One of the campaigns he appreciated hearing about was how scientists were using the organization’s turboprop airplane for low-altitude sampling of New York City’s summer air quality.

The visit to Colorado was a homecoming of sorts for Morgan, who attended high school in the state after traveling internationally as a child to such places as Afghanistan and Turkmenistan with his parents, who are international aid workers and educators. 

Because of these journeys, Morgan didn’t hesitate to travel across the country to pursue his education at UMass Lowell. Of all the places he could study meteorology and atmospheric science, he says, only UMass Lowell provides him with both a convenient way to get to cities such as Boston and New York and to the nearby mountains in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont for hiking, white water rafting and other outdoor adventures. 

Morgan hopes someday to shadow the meteorologists who work in winter at the weather observatory at the summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, which would combine his enthusiasm for weather, climate and mountains.

No matter where Morgan’s travels have taken him, from Central Asia and Iceland to the UML campus, meteorology is a common thread that runs through his experiences.

“In the face of all the differences, the weather is always there and always acting in relatively predicable ways,” he says.