About our Affiliated Program Group, MAPS

MAPS, for Meteorology Alumni of Penn State, was the first APG (Affiliated Program Group) formed in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

In 1999, The Department of Meteorology organized an alumni society, the first such "affiliated program group" in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS). The group, called MAPS (for Meteorology Alumni of Penn State), was officially approved by GEMS (the EMS alumni society, to which MAPS must report), and a steering committee for MAPS was established to help organize the group.

The goal of MAPS is to build a sense of community among meteorology alumni and current students, and to strengthen the contacts and collaboration between alumni and the department.

MAPS has undertaken several activities to achieve these goals. In June 2002, MAPS organized an Alumni Reunion Weekend to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Campus Weather Service. Approximately 150 Meteorology alumni, students, and faculty/staff attended the weekend-long event. Although no longer published, for several years, the MAPS Meteogram, a newsletter published by MAPS, kept Meteorology alumni up-to-date on department news and events. In 2010, MAPS organized and held the 75th Anniversary of the Department of Meteorology, which was attended by alumni from all over the country.