The University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton will hold a course on advanced storm spotting, conducted by a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Little Rock. This is a single-evening course and will take place on February 10, 2020, at 6:00 p.m., at UACCM’s Workforce Training Center. Completion of this course is the next level in storm spotter training—OEM Advanced Storm Spotter Certification—after a previous class in January where attendees earned their Skywarn Storm Spotter Certification. The advanced spotter training class will give a detailed look at storm spotting and severe weather operations. It will be an in-depth look at advanced storm spotting strategies and the science of using weather radar in warning operations. The role of storm spotters during extreme weather events, like severe thunderstorms or tornadoes, is critical. Storm spotters help fill in the gaps between surface weather stations and radars by reporting directly...

Mariana Bragato arrived at UACCM with a career plan: to work in a medical laboratory and combat diseases. Mariana Bragato Science is the search for truth. It’s about unlocking the mysteries of humanity and nature and engineering solutions to improve the quality of life. Mariana Bragato, a UACCM graduate, has a plan to do just that, with a goal to work in a medical lab in a hospital and discover breakthroughs that will change the world.  “Discovering and trying to figure out diseases that people have is important,” she said. “It’s about helping people.” As a student starting in 2017, she originally planned to be a biology teacher, until the prospect of being behind the scenes in a laboratory and studying samples captured her focus. She was interested in genetics and how the body works. Mariana’s passion to cure diseases is a deeply personal story, when her father contracted cancer. She has witnessed the toll it has on families and wants to play a role in figurin...