Student Profile: Jacob Fields
Major: Atmospheric Sciences with a Minor in Earth Science
Year: 4th Year
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
When Jacob Fields was a senior in high school, he decided he wanted to study atmospheric science. He knew he wanted to stay in Ohio and the idea of going to a large university in a larger city like Columbus seemed like a great fit. “Some people might not like the huge scale but I’ve found it to be really fun, and OSU offers really good financial aid, so I’m glad I made that choice,” he said. He also mentioned that one of the great things about being in a large school is that the courses that you might really want generally have enough students to be offered regularly instead of only once in a while. He mentioned two courses in Synoptic Meteorology (Analysis and Forecasting and Severe Weather) as being particularly valuable in expanding his knowledge of the science. “I also took a course in Microclimatology, where Professor Quiring had us submit all our assignments in Python [a programming language] which was really challenging but was so helpful for me to learn how to code. Really valuable.”
Jacob thinks that the community of students and professors in the department has been the best aspect of his time at OSU. “Well, I’m President of the three atmospheric science organizations that we have. Just meeting all the people who share similar interests. The school as a whole is too big to build much of a community and some majors here are too big to develop a sense of community. But Atmospheric Sciences is the perfect size, so you feel like you have a connection with everyone and know who’s who.’
Looking ahead, Jacob has just accepted an offer from the University of Oklahoma to begin the Maste’s program in Meteorology. He hopes to continue on into a PhD program and a career in research. When asked what advice he’d give to future students, he encouraged them to get involved in student organizations. “I’m probably a little biased, but I think these organizations are important for rounding out your experience in terms of both academics and figuring out what you want to do professionally.” He also encouraged students who don’t know what they want to do to take science courses and see how they feel.
When asked where in the world he’d like to go, he said, “I work at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, so getting down to Antarctica is kind of on my bucket list. That would definitely be really cool.”
Find out more about the Atmospheric Sciences major or Earth Science minor.