aggies weather radio show helped local community be weather-aware graduating senior joseph trujillo 19 recorded daily weather forecasts for a local spanish radio station while earning a double degree in meteorology and spanishmay 10 2019joseph trujillo is graduating with degrees in meteorology and spanish this may (all photos courtesy of joseph trujillo)trujillo at kvue austin during his internship there in summer 2018when joseph trujillo 19 was a sophomore at texas a&m university he realized that the bryan-college station community did not have a spanish-language media station that aired a weather broadcast in spanish eager to help fill that crucial information-gap the meteorology student contacted 1011 fm radio alegría through a recommendation from spanish professor dr eduardo espina and interviewed that week in april 2016 he began a volunteer internship there recording two-minute weather forecasts every single day i had experience from a tv internship the year before but i didnt have radio experience or a degree but i said just give me a two-minute slot and i can do it he said three years later trujillo is about to graduate with a meteorology degree from the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences and his el cazador de tormentas or the storm chaser weather segments have proved so needed in the local community that over 2 000 listeners follow its facebook page its a weekday weather segment i made it interactive and i taught meteorological concepts in an accessible way every week i couldnt just say ‘theres a warm front coming through; i had to explain what a warm front was because this community hadnt had a meteorologist before while also earning a second degree in spanish trujillo planned and managed the radio show on top of a heavy course-work load service involvements research projects and an on-campus job i realized during college that i loved serving my community and helping them he said and i decided that if that meant taking all of these difficult dynamics classes then you know what i wouldtrujillo recording his daily weather segmenttrujillo receiving a 2019 buck weirus award this year so much of trujillos hard work has paid off in march the association of former students presented him with a 2019 buck weirus award a prestigious accolade only awarded to 55 current students every year and this week he will walk across the stage at texas a&m and receive the degrees hes earned over four years of hard work joseph or ‘broseph as we call him to distinguish from the multiple josephs that arrived four years ago has been a joy to teach and mentor said dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences his intellect is more than matched by his passion which is just infectious improving weather communication for all trujillos next journey is taking him about 350 miles north to the university of oklahomas masters in communication program i will be both a teaching assistant for the department of communication and a research assistant at noaas national severe storms laboratory trujillo said "fusing my love for meteorology and communications i will immerse myself in social science research focusing my time on the probabilistic hazard information project along with several bilingual science communication projects joseph is an incredible communicator in both languages conlee said i will never forget when he gave a special spanish segment daily forecast at the national meeting of the american meteorological society trujillo feels passionately that with todays technologies science can be accessible for everyone to understand with my work i hope to open more opportunities for underrepresented communities to become involved in the scientific conversation he said another experience that ignited trujillos passion for weather communication came during his freshman year internship at kxtx telemundo 39 and nbc 5 in dallas that internship really bolstered my love for meteorology because i got to see it presented both in english and in spanish he said the defining moment for me there was a tornado outbreak that happened the day after christmas one of the meteorologists was away so they called me in to help get information out via social media the outbreak lasted for about 8 hours and we were broadcasting the whole time afterwards people were thanking the meteorologists saying that they wouldnt have known if it werent for us that right there was a defining moment for me i realized i wanted to serve my community and do this for people he said its awesome to know the science but at the same time translating all of that jargon to the public is so critical incredible learning experiences at texas a&m faculty mentors in the college of geosciences have connected trujillo to amazing research opportunities and high-impact learning experiences theyve given me plenty of opportunities especially in research he said during his first two years at texas a&m trujillo conducted research with dr timothy logan assistant professor of atmospheric sciences on aerosols and for the past two years he has researched on science/risk communication with dr charles conrad professor in the texas a&m department of communication trujillo has also presented his undergraduate research at major conferences at the american meteorological society meeting in austin in january 2019 his oral presentation on "rhetoric and climate science: organizational influence on public policy related to hurricane harvey" earned honorable mention at the 14th symposium on societal applications the project became a thesis and was later published in the oaktrust digital repository through the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&mtrujillo presenting his research poster at amstrujillo speaking in washington dc in january 2018balancing academics and service in addition to studying and conducting undergraduate research trujillo has served and volunteered in aggieland in numerous ways he has been involved in the texas a&m chapter of the league of united latin american citizens (lulac) fish camp the campus community emergency response team and the texas a&m latinx community and advocacy association he was named president of texas a&m lulac in 2018 lulac is the oldest civil rights organization for latinos in the united states so it was such an honor to step into that role because ive always had a passion for our latinx community especially since i am an immigrant said trujillo who was born in lima peru in january 2018 he even had the opportunity to travel with lulac to washington dc speaking at a televised press conference on capitol hill about immigration policy the whole experience was life changing - to be able to speak to a national audience like that he said when i stepped up to that podium time froze there were so many people and cameras still trujillos determined voice rang out over the capitol: i came to the united states when i was five years old from lima peru and ive overcome so much to be standing here today … i can promise you we will make you proud by leslie lee '09