Earth Sciences Drone

For every gift given to this project, a friend of the College of Science and Technology will give an equal gift to this fund that will support the purchase of this piece of equipment.

The Department needs $9,500 (which will provide $9,500 in matching funds) to purchase a high-payload capacity drone for atmospheric and environmental earth and oceanic research by Millersville students and faculty. Millersville Meteorology has been involved in boundary layer and atmospheric chemistry research involving undergraduate students for more than a quarter-century. The boundary layer facilities center around the deployment of tethered balloons having the ability to carry heavy payloads greater than 60 lbs. to altitudes as high as 2500 feet. This integrated facility of tethered balloons, radiosondes, and the suite of ground-based instruments (e.g. sodar, lidar, flux tower) has been influential in securing NSF, NASA, EPA, and DoD funding for students to participate in large field campaigns from Maryland to California. Over 200 students have been involved in field research using this equipment.  The current facilities have and will continue to serve us well, but it is time to expose our students to research and research training using contemporary technology with new capabilities, and the drone is part of a larger strategy to expand our instrument suite for atmospheric and marine boundary layer studies.

The heavy-payload capacity drone UAV will allow us to expand our measurement capability to greater altitudes and horizontal distances than a balloon system can provide, and expose students to the next generation of airborne boundary layer measurement systems.

We anticipate the addition of the drone will position us more favorably for grants so that we can continue to offer field research experiences to our students, a feature of Millersville meteorology that continues to bring national distinction.