While many college students are relaxing during the summer,
FAMU doctoral candidate Daryl Sibble is taking a different route. Sibble is
spending his summer wrapping up groundbreaking research at an internship with
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
A student in the School of the Environment, Sibble is one of
only two students to receive NOAA’s first Educational Partnership Program (EPP)
Graduate Research and Training Scholarship. This national scholarship program
affords him $45,000 to support his participation in extensive research
opportunities with NOA
Sibble’s research focuses on yielding information that will
help develop optimum practices for the application of fertilizer in
agriculture, specifically fertilizer that uses ammonium nitrate, which can be a
threat to human health. This threat occurs when plants do not use all of the
fertilizer added to soil and as a result some of the nitrate is removed with
rainwater runoff and some of the ammonium becomes ammonia. The ammonia leaves
the soil as a harmful gas and enters the atmosphere.
His internship and the majority of his research is being conducted at the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division of the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Air Resources Laboratory, located in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He also spent time measuring weather and ammonia flux data at the University of Illinois’ energy farm
As a result of his research, Sibble recently co-authored the
article, “Understanding the Role of Ammonia in Air Quality” in the Southern
Climate Monitor with his NOAA advisor LaToya Myles, a FAMU alumna and
physical scientist at NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory and fellow FAMU student
Jason Caldwell.
Sibble describes his experience as “priceless” and
attributes his success at NOAA to the mentorship of Myles and to the foundation
laid for him at FAMU, the lead institution of NOAA's Environmental Cooperative
Science Center (ECSC).
“FAMU prepared me for this internship in multiple ways,”
said Sibble. “My advisor Dr. Elijah Johnson, who is very proficient in
environmental computer modeling and conducted research at the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, is using his academic and work experience to advise me on
multiple facets of this internship.”
Sibble also credits FAMU Professor Marcia Owens and
ECSC Director Michael Abazinge for supporting his application and helping him
develop as a research professional.
“FAMU and the ECSC faculty have helped me develop in many
ways, such as teaching me the key to building strong professional relationships
and working as a team to conduct research,” he said.
Sibble also uses the knowledge he has gained to help others.
He recently provided training to Oak Ridge teachers at the Oak Ridge Associated
Universities (ORAU) Center for Science Education on how to use Global
Positioning System (GPS) technology to enhance the classroom setting.
“I knew from looking at his application that he was the kind
of student who would do really well in the School of the Environment,” said
Johnson. “Since he arrived at FAMU, his work has basically confirmed what I saw
from his application. He was very well-trained, and with his current
experiences, should have a very good career.”
Sibble is a native of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and received his
bachelor’s degree in meteorology in 2011 from Florida State University. He will
return to FAMU, from the 11-month internship at NOAA, in the fall.