Eastern Kentucky University and Madison County are now included in the Kentucky Mesonet, a network of automated weather and climate monitoring stations being developed by the Kentucky Climate Center to serve diverse needs in communities across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This station is located at Eastern Kentucky University's Meadowbrook Farm and was brought to Madison County courtesy of funding by the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU, the Department of Geography & Geology at EKU, and the Department of Agriculture at EKU. Meteorlogical data (including air temperature, relative humidity, dew point temperature, wind direction, wind spead, wind peak, precipitation, and solar radiation) for Madison County and twenty-nine other counties in the Commonwealth is updated every 5 minutes and can be tracked in real-time at http://www.kymesonet.org/live_data.html (select Madison County from the pull-down menu). For more information on the Kentucky Mesonet, please contact Dr. Don Yow.

The Department of Geography and Geology formed in the summer of 2007 as a result of the merger of the Departments of Earth Science and Geography. Our new department now consists of a faculty with diverse interests that includes Volcanology, Weather and Climate, GIS and Remote Sensing, Paleoclimate, Travel and Tourism, Conservation and the Environment, Hydrogeology, Soil Science, Land Use and Planning, Geochemistry, and Geoscience and Geographic Eductation. The regional interests amongst our faculty are similarly diverse, with active research and scholarship endeavors (and sometimes student field trips) in the Himalaya, Southeastern Asia, Oceania, Southern Italy and Sicily, Ecuador, the American Southwest, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and--of course--Ohio and Kentucky!

As our mission, the Department of Geography and Geology is committed to student learning, faculty development, and departmental service in geosciences to the university and its surrounding region. We are committed to sustaining a progressive and supportive environment where faculty and students can grow intellectually and professionally. Our curriculum continues to be updated to meet the needs of the professional community, so students with a degree from EKU are prepared to handle the changing spectrum of geoscience-related careers. Many of our faculty have experience working in consulting and industry, and our experience is passed on to you. We encourage our undergraduate students to participate in research projects. Students therefore gain experience doing fieldwork, using instrumentation associated with the profession, and writing reports and presenting results. These skills are great assets when you join the work force.