Congratulations to Hiroyuki Ito!

Hiroyuki Ito, who received his B.S. in Meteorology and Certificate in GIS from NIU, was recently awarded a Graduate Research Assistantship at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. This highly competitive award will fund Hiro to work at the International Pacific Research Center whose focus is on climate variation and predictability in the Asia-Pacific region, including regional aspects of global climate change.

Hiro’s hard work in the classroom as well as his internship experience is what earned this graduate research assistantship. During Hiro’s Junior and Senior years, he volunteered to take daily 7am weather observations at the National Weather Service’s Cooperative Weather Station on the NIU campus. He also applied and obtained an internship position in aviation meteorology at ENSCO, Inc. who provides United Airline Operation and Weather Support. Hiro also applied and secured an internship in the GIS and Assessment Office of Whiteside County, Illinois. While a full-time student, each week Hiro would drive 80 miles roundtrip to work at ENSCO and 120 miles roundtrip to work at Whiteside County. These internships gave Hiro a competitive background that placed him above the many other applicants at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Hiro is one of many of our students who have applied for and received funding to complete degrees at the M.S. or Ph.D. levels this year. We've recently received news that some of our students will be attending graduate schools (with tuition waivers and graduate assistantships) at the University of Illinois, Mississippi State University, University of Oklahoma, and Kent State. Congrats and good luck in grad school!