FIU graduates first meteorologist

For Ashley Angel, Florida International University’s first meteorology graduate, choosing to study weather was easy.

 “I live in South Florida,” said Angel, 21, an Orlando native who now calls Palm City home. “I’ve lived through many hurricanes.”

On Monday, Angel will be the first FIU student to receive a degree in the Atmospheric Sciences track of the Geosciences major, as the meteorology program, formally established in 2007, is known.

Ashley Angel

Angel came to FIU because, while small, its nascent meteorology program was focused on science rather than training weather broadcasters – the emphasis of some other meteorology programs, she said.

“People think meteorology is ‘It’s sunny today and it’s going to be cloudy tomorrow’, but it’s so much more than that,” she said. “I love the science. I love delving into the reasons behind the weather.”

When she graduates, Angel will be commissioned as a 2^nd lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and will begin training this summer at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City. Joining the Air Force is a dream she has nurtured since she was a young girl. She was part of the Junior Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps(AFJROTC) in her high school and is a cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) at the University of Miami.

In the Air Force she will be an Air Battle Manager. Her duties will involve flying inside an E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system aircraft, and distinguishing between friendly and unfriendly targets.

 “It’s exciting,” she said of starting an Air Force career. “I’m looking forward to the leadership opportunities I will have in the Air Force and it’s a way to give back to the community.”

As part of the Air Force scholarship that paid for her schooling, Angel will serve at least six years in the Air Force, part of that time possibly deployed to parts of the world where the United States is involved in conflicts. After that, she said she might remain in the military or move on to her other dream career – teaching science to elementary school students.

Angel is one of about a dozen upper division students in the meteorology program within FIU’s Department of Earth and Environment in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Hugh Willoughby, an internationally-known meteorologist and research professor in the Department of Earth and Environment, said the establishment of a meteorology program at FIU was a logical step since the NOAA’s National Hurricane Center and Miami Weather Forecast Office are located on FIU-University Park and the university also is home to the International Hurricane Research Center.

“We hope and plan for FIU to become an internationally recognized center for tropical and hurricane meteorology,” Willoughby said.

Willoughby, who has been Angel’s professor for two years, said she has all the qualities to succeed.

“Ashley works really hard,” he said. “She’s decisive. She has incredible leadership potential. She set a goal when she came to FIU two years ago and now she has reached it. We are really proud of her.”

-FIU-

Media contact: Madeline Baro, 305-348-2234