–> PDF of short CV (October 2019)
I am an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences. My research explores air quality using low-cost air monitors, and data-oriented questions about the relationship among fires, climate, lightning, and humans. I work with students on these questions, but also simply enjoy tackling enormous datasets related to climate to better understand the Earth system. I teach two courses per semester at UNC Charlotte, which provides a great foundation to explore Earth science topics with students. Please browse my website using the links above. My short CV is at the top of this page. I also try to keep my Publications and Presentations pages updated, and I’m active on twitter with posts about the atmosphere, climate, and environment.
Postdoctoral Research
I was a postdoc at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in January 2007. My office was at NOAA GFDL, but I was a postdoc through the Cooperative Institute with Princeton University. My supervisor at NOAA GFDL was Dr. V. Ramaswamy, an Atmospheric Scientist at GFDL. I worked closely with Dr. Paul Ginoux for over two years. After my NOAA GFDL postdoc, I started another postdoc with Professor Stephen Pacala in the Princeton University Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department in January 2010. During my postdoc with Steve, I began developing the framework for a pretty advanced global fire model. After Princeton, I started my faculty job at UNC Charlotte. Wait, are you still reading this??
Undergraduate and Graduate Research
I earned my Bachelors of Science degree in Physics and Applied Math from the University of Arizona (UofA) in Tucson, Arizona, in 1998. While at UofA, I worked as an undergraduate assistant for Professor Kurt Thome (who is now at NASA) at the UofA Remote Sensing Group, where for the first time, I experienced the excitement of data collection and analysis outside of physics labs. In 1999, I started my graduate studies in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. I joined the Cloud and Aerosol Research Group where Professor Peter Hobbs was my advisor until 2005 when he passed away from a battle with cancer. After 2005, my PhD advisor was Professor Qiang Fu. While working with Peter, I went on two field campaigns called SAFARI-2K and CLAMS that served as the basis for my PhD Dissertation. I flew in a plane collecting data about the atmosphere, and saw giraffes out my window, so that was pretty neat. We also flew into smoke plumes from savanna grass fires, and saw 1000 foot tall sand dunes in Namibia. I climbed a 700 foot tall dune. Is anyone actually reading this rambling? I’m betting that the answer is a resounding, but silent, nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide = NO. Haha?