Hurricane season begins June 1 for the Gulf Coast, and it brings preparations with it. From stocking pantries with water and non-perishables to buying hurricane lamps, people throughout the Gulf area wonder if this year will be a lucky one or a disastrous one. But students enrolled in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences 3200 — hurricanes and typhoons — will better understand hurricane cycles by end of the spring semester.Kam-Biu Lui, creator of the course and oceanography and coastal sciences professor, said 17 students are enrolled in the undergraduate course, but he would like to expand the class to about 50 people.”It is very important for us [living in Louisiana] to have a very comprehensive and inter-disciplinary view about hurricanes,” Lui said. “This is not meant to be a highly specialized course. I hope this will become part of the general education for students and citizens of Louisiana.”Corey Sibley, geography junior, is enrolled in the “encompassing” class, and said he is “very impressed” with it.”It’s nice to know how these things work,” Sibley said. “He’s doing a really great job in not just showing the meteorology, but the devastation and impact.”Sibley, who enrolled in the class as a “wonderful tie in” for his geography degree, said he would be open to taking similar classes in the future.According to Lui, hurricanes have a wide-ranging impact on everything from natural sciences to social sciences.”So far, we had not had a course focusing on hurricanes as a multi-faceted phenomenon,” Lui said. Donald Baltz, chair of the department offering the course, called the class ideal for students who “have an interest in knowing something about how storms impact the area in a little more depth than they would find in typical reporting.””This is a scientific examination of the history of storms,” Baltz said. “This gives us some insights into how the patterns might change from time to time over long periods of time.”The class may be able to answer pertinent questions about when another huge-scale hurricane might hit Louisiana, said Baltz.Baltz said “Weather Channel junky” students will enroll in the course, but those who “avoid the subject unless there’s one hitting right at you” won’t take the course.The class is particularly useful for students contemplating a life spent along the Gulf Coast, said Mike Efferson with the National Weather Service.”Louisiana is in what would be considered a higher-risk area,” Efferson said. “Living on the Gulf Coast, you’ve got to be aware of the preparations that are needed to either ride out or evacuate from the storm itself.”Accompanying floods, rather than winds, account for the majority of hurricane-related fatalities, Efferson said. Efferson suggested people be aware of the inconveniences associated with living in hurricane-plagued areas.”Some people don’t want to have to live with having to evacuate every so often,” Efferson said.—— Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]