Stephanie Henderson awarded NSF AGS-PRF

Stephanie Henderson, advised by Eric Maloney, has been selected for a National Science Foundation Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF AGS-PRF). The postdoctoral fellowship will support the research described in her proposal, “AGS-PRF: Atmospheric Blocking Variability Associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation in Present and Future Climates.”

“(The fellowship) means a great deal to me, as it is highly competitive and was therefore very unexpected,” Stephanie said in response to the announcement. The award allowed her to move to Madison where her husband, Dave, who also graduates with his Ph.D. from the department this spring, already had a postdoc offer. The professors and researchers Stephanie wanted to work with in Madison did not have funding for her, so the fellowship will enable her to work with Dan Vimont and Dave Lorenz at the Center for Climatic Research (CCR) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In Madison, Stephanie will work on the many research questions that arose from her Ph.D. She’ll employ linear inverse modeling to examine the optimal tropical conditions that lead to northern hemisphere blocking. Conversely, she’ll investigate how blocking in the northern hemisphere influences the tropics. She also plans to do further research on how the MJO influences blocking during El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events.

Stephanie defended her thesis March 22 and graduates this spring with her Ph.D.