Ryan Bennett is 1 of 90 students in Florida State University’s Meteorology graduate program. The program is research-heavy forcing students to begin finding corporate or government funding for research immediately upon starting. Meteorology Graduate students make up only 1% of Florida State’s student population, but bring in about 2% of research funding. So, they’re worth a lot to the school.
Bennett graduated from FSU’s undergraduate meteorology program – currently ranked 13th in the country – with a 3.87 GPA. He always has his head in the clouds and his feet on the ground, and can always discuss the weather. He is now finishing up his first year of graduate school and preparing to begin the long trek toward his doctorate degree.
HC: Ryan, what is your major, exactly?
Bennett: Meteorology with a focus in Synoptic/Climatology.
HC: What got you interested in Meteorology? It seems a bit obscure.
Bennett: It was always a fascination and always something I paid attention to. And then, when I was in high school, my town was hit by a tornado. It was traumatic enough and personal enough that I knew studying weather was what I needed to do. There’s just always something new, something changing, and that is what I like.
HC: So, I know that graduate students are required to research. What is your research on?
Bennett: This semester I’m doing research on the variability of the North American monsoon. In its simplest form, that would be the year-to-year change with the rainfall in the North American Dessert. The dessert southwest is one of the driest areas in the US, and they’ve had a population boom. They don’t have enough rainfall to sustain their living. So, hopefully, if we can learn to predict these monsoons, then we’ll be able to let people know in advance if there’s going to be a water shortage.
HC: What are some of the tracks for meteorology majors? I know this isn’t a very popular area of study, and some people may be wondering what you do with this degree.
Bennett: There are so many options. The biggest employers are definitely the government – NOAH and NASA. Broadcast is a big area. Research and teaching are big areas. There’s a lot of privatization. Oil companies hire a lot of meteorologists, and so do agricultural companies.
HC: What type of research do you do now?
Bennett: A lot of it now is independent. Right now, I’m going over multiple years of past data. I haven’t gotten to anything current. In the future, I could take what I find and work with people in water management or hydrologists in the Southwest. I work in the Love Building on campus.
HC: What do you like the best about being a grad student researcher?
Bennett: You have full reign on what you’re doing. You are completely independent unless you have a question only your professor can answer. The reason it’s different from undergrad is because you’re taking all the information you learned before and applying it.
HC: For all our ladies considering graduate school, what’s something you wish you’d have known before continuing your education?
Bennett: It seems like it’s not as much work, but it is. The assignment distribution is different. For the most part, all your work is due at the end of the semester, so it’s easy to put everything off. It would have been nice to have known ahead of time that this is not to be taken for granted.
HC: Now for something a little more fun. What question do you get most often when you tell people you’re a meteorology major?
Bennett: “Oh, so you know about the stars, huh?” The other thing is that the public really doesn’t know how many other aspects there are when you study met. They all assume you want to work on TV.
HC: What is the nerdiest thing you do because you’re a met major?
Bennett: Oh, you mean besides checking the NOAH website multiple times a day? I try to be outside for storms. I have to be outside to feel them. I love to watch storms.
From standing in the rain to serious research, Ryan Bennett is the man to beat at FSU. In layman’s terms, his research makes him sound like a super hero. He’s predicting the future, and saving the Southwest from droughts. FSU should be proud to have intelligent, driven students like Ryan Bennett.