Halloween is here! Will you be dressing up on Thursday? In Japan, 2024 is the 10th anniversary of "Mundane Halloween," where people dress up not as witches or zombies or ghosts but as everyday people, places, or things you might encounter across Japan. This blog has a rundown of some of the best offerings this year, as well as archived posts of highlights from previous years. Be sure to check it out! 

New Process: Spring 2025 Advising and Registration

Don't miss your chance to register for popular classes! Spring 2025 advising is happening now, and as of this week, we've modified the process! 

You no longer need to make an appointment via Calendly. Dr. Vaporis has distributed a Google Doc with appointment times - virtual and in-person - for students to select. If you did not receive this message yesterday (Monday, Oct 28) afternoon, please let us know as soon as possible (m.power@umbc.edu). 

Don't wait to sign up - registration began yesterday and we expect many classes to fill up quickly. You can't register for classes until you've received your advising clearance. 

Upcoming Events, Dates, and Deadlines

On Wednesday, October 23, 2024, the Early Career Scientist Forum (ECSF) 2024 was held in person in Building 34, Rooms W150 and W120 at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Scientists presented on “a wide range of Code 600 science topics.” Between sessions and after the talks, there was time for networking among colleagues. The ECSF is "a 1-day AGU style conference for our scientists. Any contractor, civil servant, postdoc, university-affiliated scientist, visiting scientist, or graduate student from the Sciences and Exploration Directorate (SED) can present. The objective is to provide a chance for early career scientists to showcase their work, get feedback from other scientists, get to know their peers and to promote future collaboration."

GESTAR II scientists who participated this year included the following:

Anthony Campbell (618/UMBC): “Enabling Coastal wetland monitoring across scales with lidar, imaging spectroscopy, and very high-resolution satellite imagery”

C. Jude Salinas (613/UMBC): “Quantifying the Contributions of Geomagnetic Activity and Solar Rotation on E-region Electron Density’s Day-to-day Variability”  

Nishan Biswas (617/UMBC): “A global quantification of the response of reservoir storage changes to droughts”

Dhruva Kathuria (618/MSU): “A novel Bayesian Approach to Hyperspectral Leaf Trait Prediction with Uncertainty Quantification”

Doyeon Ahn (614/MSU): “Space-based CO2 Observations Reveal Regional and Socioeconomic Characteristics in Urban CO2 Emissions across Global Cities”

Junhyeon Seo (618/MSU): “PM2.5 3-day Forecasting at U.S. Embassy Locations using NASA Model powered by Machine Learning”.

This is an annual event, so stay tuned for announcements for next year's ECSF.

Photo: Jude Salinas presenting at ECSF. (Credit: D. Footes/SURA)

Photo: Doyeon Ahn presenting at ECSF. (Credit: D. Footes/SURA)