The department of Geography & Meteorology at Valparaiso University used a 2021 Unidata Equipment Award grant to set up a departmental JupyterHub server, transforming the accessibility of their computing resources for students and greatly benefiting the overall academic experience within their meteorology program.

Read on for Prof. Kevin Goebbert's description of the project.

Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana will be hosting a Unidata Regional Software Training Workshop August 12-13, 2019. Unidata software developers will be leading the two-day Python-focused workshop, which will cover the use of the MetPy and Siphon packages in the context of atmospheric science. A basic familiarity with Python is assumed — check out the Unidata Online Python Training site for a refresher.

Unidata holds regional workshops in part to facilitate easy access to software training for those who may not be able to travel to training workshops held at the Unidata Program Center in Boulder, Colorado. Attendance is explicitly not limited to Valparaiso students and staff; we encourage those within easy travel distance to consider attending.

Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana will be hosting a Unidata Regional Software Training Workshop August 12-13, 2019. Unidata software developers will be leading the two-day Python-focused workshop, which will cover the use of the MetPy and Siphon packages in the context of atmospheric science.

A workshop at Valparaiso originally scheduled for March, 2019 was cancelled when a severe winter storm prevented Unidata instructors from traveling to Indiana. The August workshop will have the same agenda as was planned for March.

Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana will be hosting a Unidata Regional Software Training Workshop March 14-15, 2019. Unidata software developers will be leading the two-day Python-focused workshop, which will cover the use of the MetPy and Siphon packages in the context of atmospheric science.

Unidata holds regional workshops in part to facilitate easy access to software training for those who may not be able to travel to training workshops held at the Unidata Program Center in Boulder, Colorado. Attendance is explicitly not limited to Valparaiso students and staff; we encourage those within easy travel distance to consider attending.

A map discussion with visuals courtesy of Python.

The meteorology curriculum at Valparaiso University (VU) is continuously evolving as new technology arises, and this includes Python. Python is becoming a staple in many VU meteorology courses, where an ever-increasing number of packages and libraries are in use. Adding a new programming language to the educational mix can create a steep learning curve for college students who lack a programming background, but we feel that an early introduction to Python helps to prepare students for immersion into the job market or further education in graduate school.