University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Thomas Vonder Haar’s 52-year career at Colorado State University has had many high points – both figurative and literal. As chair of the Department of Atmospheric Science, he led the graduate program to its ranking as one of the top three in the U.S., and as the founding director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, he oversaw satellite research and a NASA mission.
Vonder Haar’s interest in meteorology took off when he got his pilot’s license at 19 and accelerated in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin under the guidance of Verner Suomi, who is considered the father of satellite meteorology. Since then, Vonder Haar has made CSU a recognized leader in satellite meteorology.
Participating in Northern Colorado’s emergence as a nexus for science and technology has been most satisfying as he looks back on decades of remarkable accomplishments as a researcher, educator and leader in the field. This has been his goal since joining CSU in 1970.
A federal agency awarded 12 Colorado State University researchers more than $3.1 million for such innovative science as improving how satellites show smoke plumes, using AI to predict precipitation, and, perhaps for the first time, evaluating how individual storms could change with climate intervention.
Before there can be NASA satellite launches, there are planning meetings. Lots of planning meetings.
The first such all-hands meeting for the Colorado State University-led INCUS mission, awarded by NASA last year, took place on the Fort Collins campus Oct. 11-13. The event brought together scientists, engineers and students from CSU, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NOAA, many other universities, industry partners and international collaborators who are all working together on the $177 million NASA Earth Venture mission.
INCUS, or Investigation of Convective Updrafts, is expected to launch three small weather satellites into low-Earth orbit in 2026. With their unique flight formation and miniaturized instrumentation, the satellites will measure the motions of large, damaging storms that can reach into the upper troposphere of the planet.
INCUS’ principal investigator is Susan van den Heever, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science. She leads the 100-plus person team.
Photo by John Eisele: Susan van den Heever welcomed science team attendees to a celebratory dinner at Canvas Stadium.
Walter Petersen, chief of the Science Research and Projects Division at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, has been selected as the department’s 2022 Outstanding Alum.
Petersen received his M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1997) from the department, studying with Professor Steven Rutledge. His dissertation was “Multi-Scale Process Studies in the Tropics: Results from Lightning Observations.”
Petersen continued as a research associate in the department until 2002, when he accepted a position as senior research scientist in the National Space Science and Technology Center at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Petersen served as science director for the UAH ARMOR dual-polarimetric Doppler radar facility.
In 2008, he became a physical scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and in 2011, he became a supervisory research physical scientist and the branch chief of the Earth Science Field Support Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility. Petersen returned to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville as division chief in 2015, where he leads 200 scientists, engineers and technical specialists.
Petersen’s research spans many topics in cloud physics, mesoscale meteorology and radar meteorology, and he has made seminal contributions in remote sensing of tropical convection, the relationship between lightning and updraft strength, and how cloud-to-ground lightning relates to convective rainfall.
Among his many leadership roles, Petersen has been a principal leader of the calibration and validation of the NASA Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), providing an essential and sustained contribution to a major program of NASA’s Earth Science Directorate. He led the NASA-JAXA GPM ground validation program from 2011-2019 and helped organize eight associated field programs.
Petersen has authored or coauthored at least 105 peer-reviewed journal publications, which have been cited more than 11,000 times. He is well known for his dedicated service to the atmospheric science community, including as chair of the AMS Committee on Atmospheric Electricity.
Petersen was elected an AMS Fellow in 2020 and has received numerous other awards, including the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2018. He was nominated for the Outstanding Alum award by Rutledge and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Graeme Stephens.
Petersen will be honored in a ceremony later this semester or early next year, when he will have the opportunity to present his work.
Note from Petersen:
I offer my sincere thanks to the Department of Atmospheric Science for this award. This honor is certainly not something I would have envisioned when joining the department as a graduate student back in 1990. There is no question that it is the result of the excellent education, coaching, mentoring, dedication, and more than occasional personal counseling and guidance offered by faculty, colleagues, fellow classmates, and most especially, my research advisor, Professor Steve Rutledge. Within the broader supporting infrastructure of the department, Steve did not just provide the opportunity to learn, he also provided me the examples and tools required to succeed in the role of a Ph.D.-level scientist; i.e., how to learn, do research, manage a field project, communicate, and how to lead. Those lessons were routinely reinforced by the faculty, students, and researchers that I was fortunate enough to interact with while at the department.
My rounded “education” in the department involved a great deal of one-on-one counseling from any number of faculty in any number of situations – and it was all good advice, much of which I relate to students I advise to this day. I was also fortunate to have been a member of a tight group of “well-seasoned” and personable graduate students in Radarmet. These people became the absolute best support group I could have ever hoped for while at CSU. To this day, I feel a special connection to those folks – they reflect the best of an integrated set, a standard really, of personal qualities blended with intellect that CSU Atmospheric Science attracts.
Finally, there is no question that my professional direction has benefited from myriad field campaign adventures focused on studies of convection, lightning and precipitation using advanced radar technologies that are characteristic of a place like CSU. I got to experience the “atmospheric laboratory” from the jungles of the Amazon, the beautiful isolation of both the tropical western and eastern Pacific Ocean, and of course closer to home in Colorado and on the Great Plains. The field experiences, combined with the science knowledge, personal interactions, and all the science leadership skills taught explicitly or implicitly to me while being at CSU, brought me to where I am today. What a ride!
My sincere thanks again for this award and the integrated set of experiences and opportunity that laid the foundation for my receiving it.
Professor Scott Denning, a climate scientist at Colorado State University, has been awarded the Climate Communication Prize by the American Geophysical Union, a professional organization of Earth and space scientists. The prize recognizes significant impact communicating climate science to the public.
Denning has presented hundreds of animated climate science talks over the past 15 years to audiences of all ages, all around the world. His outreach has included engaging 500,000 K-12 students in climate science and advising teachers, meteorologists and journalists in climate communication.
Denning relishes invitations to speak to climate change skeptics and says he “takes special delight in engaging hostile audiences.” His passion for science and relatable style have won over even a few hardcore climate change deniers.
Data collected by a team of citizen scientists as part of a Colorado State University-led project will help the National Weather Service and meteorologists across the country report on the continued impact of Hurricane Ian.
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network – known as CoCoRaHS – began in the aftermath of the 1997 Spring Creek Flood in Fort Collins. It has since grown into a network of 25,000 people across all ages and backgrounds who use rain gauges to provide the NWS with precipitation reports about the conditions in their own backyards.
“It’s so valuable for the National Weather Service to be able to get reports about what’s happening on the ground because radar and satellite can really only do so much,” said Noah Newman, the education and outreach coordinator for CoCoRaHS.
Graphic above: A screenshot of reports to CoCoRaHS the day Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida.
Two Colorado State University atmospheric scientists have been recognized by the American Geophysical Union, a professional organization of more than 60,000 Earth and space scientists. Professor Emeritus Wayne Schubert has been elected a fellow, and Professor Scott Denning will receive the Climate Communication Prize. AGU will honor Schubert and Denning during a ceremony at its Fall Meeting in Chicago.
Wayne Schubert – Fellow
Fellowship recognizes outstanding contributions to the Earth and space sciences. Fellows demonstrate remarkable innovation and/or sustained scientific impact. Less than one-tenth of 1% of AGU members are selected for this honor each year. This honor joins many others Schubert has collected during 48 years with the Department of Atmospheric Science. In 2021, AGU chose Schubert to deliver the Jule Gregory Charney Lecture. The Charney Lecture is presented to a prominent scientist who has made exceptional contributions to the understanding of weather and climate.
Scott Denning – Climate Communication Prize
The Climate Communication Prize is given annually to a scientist who has had significant impact communicating climate science to the public. Over the past 15 years, Denning has shifted his focus from climate and biogeochemical research to climate communication and outreach, delivering hundreds of talks to audiences of all ages and levels of openness to the subject matter.
Professors Patrick Keys, Elizabeth Barnes and James Hurrell co-authored this piece for The Conversation, based on their recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Imagine a future where, despite efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, parts of the world have become unbearably hot. Some governments might decide to “geoengineer” the planet by spraying substances into the upper atmosphere to form fine reflective aerosols – a process known as stratospheric aerosol injection.
Theoretically, those tiny particles would reflect a little more sunlight back to space, dampening the effects of global warming. Some people envision it having the effect of a volcanic eruption, like Mount Pinatubo in 1991, which cooled the planet by about half a degree Celsius on average for many months. However, like that eruption, the effects could vary widely across the surface of the globe.
How quickly might you expect to notice your local temperatures falling? One year? Five years? Ten years? What if your local temperatures seem to be going up?
As it turns out, that is exactly what could happen. While modeling studies show that stratospheric aerosol injection could stop global temperatures from increasing further, our research shows that temperatures locally or regionally might continue to increase over the following few years. This insight is essential for the general public and policymakers to understand so that climate policies are evaluated fairly and interpreted based on the best available science.
Kevin Yang and Madison Shogrin each received an Outstanding Student Presentation Award from the AMS Collective Madison Meeting Aug. 8-12 in Madison, Wisconsin. Yang earned first place and Shogrin earned second place for their oral presentations during the 16th Conference on Atmospheric Radiation.
Yang presented results from a recent paper accepted by Geophysical Research Letters, which focuses on understanding the radiative impact of near-cloud aerosols using a newly developed machine learning-based aerosol retrieval method. Yang said the work highlights the importance of aerosol retrievals in near-cloud regions and need to incorporate the humidification effect in radiative forcing estimates.
Yang, who is advised by Professor Christine Chiu, said he was grateful to meet many prestigious scientists at the conference and collect insightful feedback on his work.
“I would like to thank my adviser, Christine, for her tireless support of this research,” Yang said.
Shogrin presented new findings on the spatiotemporal variability of the photochemical pollutant peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), based on satellite observations over three megacities: Mexico City, Beijing and Los Angeles.
Shogrin, advised by Associate Professor Emily Fischer, was excited to give her first in-person conference presentation.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to represent CSU at this conference and present new science,” she said. “I am also thankful to my adviser, Emily Fischer, and co-authors for their guidance in this project.”
Department Head Eric Maloney announced Monday the renaming of the Alumni Award in honor of alumna Maria Silva Dias. The award is given annually to a senior Ph.D. student for outstanding research.
Silva Dias was the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. from the department, in 1979. She founded the atmospheric science department at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where she has been a professor for most of her career. She also served as director of the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies of the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research.
Silva Dias has done seminal research in tropical convection, South American precipitation and climate, and biosphere-atmosphere interactions. She has led numerous South American field campaigns and employed novel numerical modeling approaches.
Silva Dias won the CSU ATS Outstanding Alum award in 2017 and has been recognized nationally and internationally with numerous positions and accolades, including as president of the Brazilian Meteorological Society, member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and fellow of the American Meteorological Society.
Students initiated the renaming of the award, and a committee of students, research scientists, and faculty identified a distinguished Ph.D. graduate to be its namesake.
“Maria is excited to receive this honor and plans to be here for the Spring 2023 award ceremony at which this award will be first bestowed,” Maloney said. “We’re excited to celebrate with Maria at that time.”
Assistant Professor Melissa Burt has joined the ADVANCEGeo Partnership to reduce hostile and exclusionary workplace behaviors that contribute to low diversity in the earth and space sciences and other STEM disciplines. The partnership formed in 2017, funded by a National Science Foundation ADVANCE award. Today ADVANCEGeo announced the NSF ADVANCE Program has contributed an additional $1.2 million to expand the partnership’s work.
The ADVANCEGeo program aims to catalyze behavioral and cultural change through interventions at the individual and collective level, including bystander intervention education and organizationally through the development of ethical codes of conduct that frame harassment, bullying and discrimination as scientific misconduct. The new award will support development of a workplace climate intervention program for academic STEM departments and training programs.
Burt, who is also the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, is one of eight principal investigators from six universities and the American Geophysical Union.
Professor James Hurrell, who is also the Scott Presidential Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering, was interviewed by Denver television station 9News about Colorado State University’s research on climate intervention.
“No climate scientist is advocating that we do climate intervention at this point in time, but we feel that it’s important to do the research on this,” Hurrell said in the interview.
Professor Elizabeth Barnes was presented with the Professor of the Year award for the 2021-22 academic year during the New Student Welcome Picnic Aug. 31. Atmospheric Science graduate representatives determine the recipient based on which professor received the most feedback for teaching excellence on course evaluations by students.
Graduate representative Emily Gordon presented Barnes with the award, noting that she was the professor most likely to be recommended to other grad students for both her fall and spring courses. She had one of the highest survey response rates.
Gordon shared a few excerpts from the surveys:
“She explains things so thoroughly and I felt like I learned so much in her class. The subject she taught I hated in undergrad, but being in her class actually made me appreciate and love dynamics.”
Students commented on her passion and dedication for teaching and the clarity of her explanations.
Barnes said this award is especially meaningful to her. This is the second time she has been named Professor of the Year; the first time she received the honor was in 2016.
We welcomed our incoming graduate students with a picnic at Spring Canyon Park on Aug. 31. Following a brief but productive rainstorm, faculty introduced their new students and postdoctoral fellows and shared a little about the research each will be doing.
Photo of the 2022 incoming class, from left to right: Charles Davis, Mitchell Gregg, Andrew Feder, Leif Fredericks, Angelie Nieves Jiménez, Camille Mavis, Michelle Kanipe, Joshua Quinnett and Ying-Ju Chen. Not pictured: Matthew King, Katurah McCants and Jesse Turner. (Nova, front and center, is not an incoming student but a welcome addition to the group nonetheless. 😉 )
The American Meteorological Society will recognize three Colorado State University researchers for their outstanding contributions to weather, water and climate science.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor V. Chandrasekar will receive the prestigious Verner E. Suomi Technology Medal. Eric Maloney, professor and department head of Atmospheric Science, and Mark DeMaria, senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, will be named AMS Fellows.
Pat Keys, formerly the lead scientist with Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability, has joined the Department of Atmospheric Science as an assistant professor. Keys focuses on climate change impacts and human adaptation, creative scenarios developed through machine learning and science fiction storytelling, and societal interaction with the atmospheric water cycle.
Prior to joining SoGES, Keys founded an environmental consultancy that worked with local and international partners. His fieldwork has taken him all over the world, from exploring climate impacts in Vietnam to documenting indigenous perspectives on conservation in American Samoa. He studied agricultural water policy in Morocco, the link between drought and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa, and municipal responses to extreme heat and wildfire smoke in Fort Collins.
Keys presented the keynote address to the United Nations General Assembly’s 2nd committee in 2019, speaking on the challenges of achieving global sustainability. He is a member of the advisory council for CSU’s Center for Environmental Justice and the African Futures Advisory Board based at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
The American Meteorological Society announced today the recipients of its 2023 awards and honors. Among them is Department Head Eric Maloney, who was named a fellow, and several other scientists with close ties to the department.
Alumnus Mark DeMaria (M.S. 1979, Ph.D. 1983), a CIRA Fellow and senior research scientist, also was named an AMS Fellow. Fellows are elected based on their extensive record of contributions to atmospheric or related sciences. No more than two-tenths of one percent of all AMS members are considered for the honor any given year.
V. Chandrasekar, CIRA Fellow, University Distinguished Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a close collaborator of the department, was selected for the Verner E. Suomi Technology Medal for leadership in developing techniques to observe precipitation processes using dual-polarization and spaceborne radar.
Alumnus Bruce Albrecht (M.S. 1974, Ph.D. 1977) was awarded the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, the highest award the society can bestow upon an atmospheric scientist. Albrecht was honored for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere.
Alumna Julie Demuth (M.S. 2001, Ph.D. 2015) was named the 2023 AMS Walter Orr Roberts Lecturer for groundbreaking interdisciplinary research to improve hazardous weather risk communication and dedicated work promoting the exchange of knowledge across the meteorology and social sciences communities. She also was conferred fellowship. Demuth was selected as an ATS Outstanding Alum in 2020.
Alumna Jennifer Mahoney (M.S. 1992) and alumnus David Changnon (Ph.D. 1991) also were named fellows. Mahoney won the ATS Outstanding Alum Award in 2019.
Chih-Chi Hu, Allie Mazurek and Marqi Rocque have been selected for ASCENT (Assisting Students, Cultivating Excellence, Nurturing Talent) scholarships to fund international research opportunities. ASCENT is a department program established to enrich the graduate experience.
Hu, advised by Professor Peter Jan van Leeuwen, will use the scholarship to collaborate with scientists at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in the United Kingdom to build and test the research group’s newly developed non-Gaussian observation error model into the ECMWF system.
“We hope to improve the all-sky satellite radiances assimilation,” Hu said. He will spend two months in the U.K.
Mazurek, advised by Professor Russ Schumacher, will collaborate with scientists at the University of Pretoria and the South African Weather Service on a project related to understanding and forecasting severe convective storms in South Africa.
“I hope to improve short-range predictions of severe hazards, such as tornadoes, in the region, which will help inform my work on forecasting hazardous weather in the U.S.,” Mazurek said.
Rocque, advised by Associate Professor Kristen Rasmussen, will work with Professor Rachel Albrecht and her team at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, studying the microphysical and electrical characteristics of severe storms in South America.
“I will learn more about lightning-observing platforms and better understand how the land surface and terrain impact cloud and precipitation processes in the region,” Rocque said. “I hope to witness some of the extreme storms I study in person!”
Congratulations to our interns on completing the NSF-funded REU Site in Earth System Science summer research program! The students presented their work from the past 10 weeks in oral presentations Tuesday and a poster session Thursday. The program is coordinated by Assistant Professor Melissa Burt and Senior Research Scientist Charlotte DeMott.
From left to right, Tom Juliano, Jennifer Seth, Shay Magahey, Hannah McDaniel, Kenny Tam, Abe Tekoe, Marshall Baldwin, Linda Arterburn and Eli Flicker.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers have reduced their forecast slightly but continue to call for an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2022, citing the likely persistence of La Niña as a primary factor for the continued anticipation of an active season. Sea surface temperatures averaged across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean are slightly warmer than normal. A warmer than normal tropical Atlantic provides more fuel for developing storms. However, sea surface temperatures are only slightly above normal, so the forecast team considers this a mostly neutral factor for the remainder of the season.
The tropical eastern and central Pacific currently has La Niña conditions; that is, the water temperatures are below average. CSU researchers anticipate that these waters will likely remain cooler than normal for the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season. Consequently, they believe that El Niño is extremely unlikely this year. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
The primary reason for the reduction in CSU’s forecast from early July was a decrease in the statistical and statistical/dynamical model guidance that underpins these outlooks, along with some anomalous cooling in the subtropical Atlantic. When the subtropical Atlantic is cooler than normal, it can sometimes favor increased shear in the tropics, potentially counteracting some of the reduced shear typically observed in La Niña years.
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Spring Creek Flood of July 27-28, 1997, when unprecedented extreme rainfall on the western edge of Fort Collins caused a flash flood that killed five residents and caused $140 million in damages to Colorado State University’s campus.
CSU’s Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering had a unique role in helping the community to move forward after the disaster.
Even as the waters receded from the Engineering building, two of the college’s departments were tapped to help the city understand what had happened, and what could be done to reduce the impact of similar storms in the future.
Atmospheric scientists, who research forecasting, detection and reporting of extreme weather, watched the storm develop from their vantage point on the Foothills Campus. Civil engineers, who study urban infrastructure for flood events, had front row seats as the waters inundated the lower levels of their own building.
Nolan Doesken, then assistant state climatologist and later state climatologist for 11 years, recalled that morning clearly. Heavy rains the night before had left the ground saturated. More storms were in the forecast, and one irrigation ditch he passed on the way to the Foothills Campus was already “full to the brim – fuller than I had ever seen it.”
A trusted volunteer had measured an astounding 10 inches of rain in nearby LaPorte. The sophisticated National Weather Service radars in the region showed nothing so remarkable. Faculty in the Atmospheric Science department were puzzled, recalled Doesken. “Where did all that rain come from, and how had it escaped detection by the world’s best national radar system?”
Image: A rainfall contour map from the storm shows dramatic variation in accumulations across short distances. Image courtesy of Colorado Climate Center.
Associate Professor Kristen Rasmussen has been recognized by the American Meteorological Society’s Scientific and Technological Activities Commission. Rasmussen received the Outstanding Early Career Award from the AMS Committee on Mountain Meteorology for “advancing the scientific understanding of complex interactions between terrain and convective precipitation.” The award is given to early career scientists who have made significant contributions to the discipline and are on a path to becoming science leaders in the community.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award, as it represents the community I have been part of since I was an early-stage graduate student,” Rasmussen said. “In fact, my first conference presentation was at an AMS Mountain Meteorology conference, so this award is particularly meaningful for me.”
The AMS Mountain Meteorology STAC committee presented Rasmussen with the award at the 20th Conference on Mountain Meteorology at the end of June. The Scientific and Technological Activities Commission (STAC) is composed of committees and boards, which are made up of hundreds of volunteers who are primarily AMS members.
While climate change is taking effect everywhere on Earth, the Arctic Circle is feeling those effects most of all, in the form of glacial melt, permafrost thaw and sea ice decline.
Key players in climate change include the clouds that cover the Earth’s surface and the microscopic, airborne aerosols called ice nucleating particles that seed the formation of ice in those clouds. This dance of ice nucleation, cloud cover and heat all have major roles in climate. But those all-important ice-creating aerosols, which can be mineral dust, microbes or sea spray, have scarcely been studied in the Arctic – where they need to be studied most of all – because little is known about their effects there, and not many scientists venture that far north.
Colorado State University scientists did, though. In 2019, an intrepid team including atmospheric research scientist Jessie Creamean boarded a ship, sailed north, gathered thousands of air, seawater, sea ice, snow and meltwater samples, and brought home the physical evidence needed to determine exactly how ice nucleation and clouds over the Arctic Ocean ebb and flow over time.
Photo of the Polarstern in the Arctic by Lianna Nixon.
Milky seas – the rare phenomenon of glowing areas on the ocean’s surface that can cover thousands of square miles – are not new to scientists at Colorado State University. They have previously demonstrated the use of satellites to see these elusive phenomena. What was missing were photographic observations of milky seas observed from the Earth’s surface and from space at the same time.
Until now.
In a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Steven Miller, professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science and director of CSU’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, compares satellite observations of a 2019 milky sea event off the coast of Java to photographic evidence from the sailing ship Ganesha, a 16-meter private yacht. The yacht happened to be sailing in the milky seas at the same time. Unsure of what they had encountered, the yacht’s crew provided CSU their enlightening footage after learning of its expertise in satellite observations, and Miller’s particular interest in capturing milky seas from space.
Image above: A 100,000-square-kilometer bioluminescent milky sea south of Java, as seen from space on Aug. 2, 2019, and from the Earth’s surface by the private yacht Ganesha. In the nighttime photo, the first of its kind, the ship’s deck appears as a dark silhouette against the glowing waters. Credit: Steven Miller/Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at CSU
Professor Eric Maloney stepped into the leadership role of Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science July 1 following Professor Jeff Collett’s 11 years of service as department head.
“While it is a daunting and humbling task to lead a world-class department such as our own, I look forward to the challenge,” Maloney said in response to the opportunity to become the department’s ninth leader.
Maloney has served as associate department head for three years, working with faculty, students and staff to recruit the next generation of Atmospheric Science students, enhance the student learning environment, address curricular issues and act as an adviser to the department head.
The Department of Atmospheric Science celebrated Professor Jeff Collett’s 11 years of service as department head June 24 and welcomed Professor Eric Maloney as the new chair, starting July 1. Faculty, former department heads, students and staff honored Collett’s leadership and character in a ceremony at the Atmospheric Science campus.
“Our department is widely considered a world leader in no small part due to what Jeff has helped build over the last decade,” Maloney said. “He has provided creative, inspirational and visionary leadership through both good and extremely challenging times over the last 11 years that will be hard to match.”
Collett hired 13 faculty members, more than half of the department’s total faculty. About half are women, increasing the number of women faculty from two to eight. He considers bringing so many outstanding faculty to the program a highlight of his career.
Postdoctoral researcher Frances Davenport wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Heavy rain combined with melting snow can be a destructive combination.
In mid-June 2022, storms dumped up to 5 inches of rain over three days in the mountains in and around Yellowstone National Park, rapidly melting snowpack. As the rain and meltwater poured into creeks and then rivers, it became a flood that damaged roads, cabins and utilities and forced more than 10,000 people to evacuate.
The Yellowstone River shattered its previous record and reached its highest water levels recorded since monitoring began almost 100 years ago.
Although floods are a natural occurrence, human-caused climate change is making severe flooding events like this more common. I study how climate change affects hydrology and flooding. In mountainous regions, three effects of climate change in particular are creating higher flood risks: more intense precipitation, shifting snow and rain patterns, and the effects of wildfires on the landscape.
Image at top: Fast-moving floodwater obliterated sections of major roads through Yellowstone National Park in June 2022.Jacob W. Frank/National Park Service
Kimberley Corwin, Gabrielle “Bee” Leung and Chen-Kuang “Kevin” Yang have been selected for the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) program. FINESST awards funding for research projects that are designed and executed by graduate students and contribute to NASA’s science, technology and exploration goals. Corwin’s, Leung’s and Yang’s proposals were three of 62 selected from 394 submitted to the Earth Science Division, out of 932 proposals overall. The grant may be applied for up to three years.
Corwin and her adviser, Associate Professor Emily Fischer, will research how wildfire smoke impacts solar energy generation in the U.S. using a combination of satellite observations, radiative transfer and atmospheric chemistry models, solar energy production datasets, and solar resource models. They will assess the historical exposure of solar resources to smoke and quantify associated changes in solar generation. Using estimates of future fire emissions that account for different climate, population and emissions scenarios, they will estimate changes to surface shortwave radiation and compare these results to solar energy capacity and cost projections across the U.S.
“We need to make sure that solar forecasting accounts for how wildfire smoke will affect solar panels, especially as wildfires grow larger and more frequent with climate change,” Corwin said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to work on an important interdisciplinary question and thankful for the support provided by NASA FINESST.”
Leung will work with her adviser, University Distinguished Professor Sue van den Heever, to understand how changes to land surface, for example through deforestation or urbanization, impact tropical cloud properties in conjunction with changes to the aerosol environment. They will focus on the Maritime Continent, a region of the world undergoing rapid changes to both land cover and aerosol emissions.
“There is still a lot of disagreement about whether land-cover changes in the region would increase or decrease precipitation overall,” Leung said. “It’s a very complicated problem, since changing the land cover consists of simultaneous changes to many physical parameters, such as latent and sensible heat fluxes, surface roughness and convergence, and aerosol sources.”
They will use a combination of satellite observations, realistic region-scale modeling and idealized large eddy simulations to quantify the magnitude of aerosol-land surface impacts on convection and explore the mechanisms driving those impacts.
Yang and his adviser, Associate Professor Christine Chiu, will assess the role of near-cloud aerosols in the radiation budget using retrievals from 3D radiative transfer and machine learning. They will develop a new method that incorporates 3D cloud radiative effects and aerosol hygroscopic growth for retrieving near-cloud aerosol properties, using shortwave reflectance observations from MODIS (the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite instrument). The project is expected to provide new global and regional estimates of aerosol direct radiative effects that include near-cloud aerosols for the first time. They also will exploit the new aerosol retrievals to study the variability of aerosol direct radiative effects with organizations of shallow cumulus and to understand the implication for a warmer climate.
“This research tackles the outstanding issue in the aerosol remote sensing community and could potentially change the current state of the aerosol direct radiative effect estimate,” Yang said. “I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity from NASA FINESST to do such exciting work.”
Three Colorado State University experts on science communication – Ashley Anderson, Nicole Kelp and our own Melissa Burt – explain why it’s important to humanize scientists in this Q&A about climate change, misinformation and social media.
“Spewing data and facts alone will not change people’s perceptions and oftentimes deters them. We need to meet our audiences where they are and figure out a way to talk about issues in a way that matters to them and addresses their values.” – Assistant Professor Melissa Burt
Photo above: Ashley Anderson, Nicole Kelp and Melissa Burt are professors and parents. They are motivated by the climate crisis and misinformation to humanize scientists and connect with new communities. Credit: Kellen Bakovich
In many parts of the world, heavy, frequent rainstorms are catastrophic events that cause mudslides, flooding and loss of life.
An international team of experts led by Colorado State University atmospheric scientists are spending this summer getting to the bottom of how and why the most violent rainstorms in the world occur. By identifying the key physical processes and environmental ingredients that cause high-intensity, long-duration rain events, their goal is to improve models for forecasters and eventually save lives.
Photo at top: Erin Dougherty of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (and ATS 2020 graduate) tweeted this photo of the CSU SEA-POL radar being set up in Yonaguni, Japan.
University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis will serve as interim Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs until the appointment of a new dean to replace Mary Stromberger. Kreidenweis will begin in the interim role following Dean Stromberger’s last day on July 1.
Kreidenweis is a University Distinguished Professor of atmospheric science and serves as Executive Associate Dean in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, where she also previously served as Research Associate Dean. She joined Colorado State University in 1991 to initiate the atmospheric chemistry program in the Department of Atmospheric Science. Kreidenweis is co-PI of the NSF Biology Integration Institute award to CSU, focused on the role of biological aerosols in ecology and climate.
Additionally, she has served on several NAS/NRC Committees, including the 2017 Decadal Survey Panel on Climate Variability and Change: Seasonal to Centennial. Kreidenweis is a past president and Fellow of the American Association for Aerosol Research, a past member of the executive committee and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Andrey Marsavin has been selected to receive a scholarship from the Rocky Mountain States Section of the Air and Waste Management Association. The scholarship is awarded to a deserving graduate student to advance air quality studies.
Marsavin, who is a member of Professor Jeff Collett’s research group, will use the funding to study air quality issues in national parks. The group is investigating the impact of oil and natural gas developments on ozone pollution in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico.
“I’m grateful to the A&WMA for supporting my research in air quality and atmospheric chemistry,” Marsavin said. “It’s reassuring to receive such recognition as a new graduate student, and I owe a lot of gratitude to my professors and mentors.”
Colorado State University hurricane researchers have increased their forecast and now predict a well above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2022. The odds of El Niño for this year’s hurricane season are now quite low, and the odds of La Niña conditions have increased relative to what was projected with the initial outlook in early April.
Sea surface temperatures averaged across the tropical Atlantic are now warmer than normal, while the eastern Atlantic is much warmer than normal. This type of sea surface temperature configuration is considered quite favorable for an active 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.
The tropical eastern and central Pacific currently has weak La Niña conditions; that is, the water temperatures there are somewhat below average. CSU researchers anticipate that these waters will likely remain slightly (e.g., cool neutral ENSO) to somewhat below normal (e.g., La Niña) for the Atlantic hurricane season. They believe that El Niño is extremely unlikely this year. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science welcomed a new cohort of summer interns this week. Through a National Science Foundation grant, the REU Site in Earth System Science offers paid summer undergraduate research internships in the department, where the students join world-class atmospheric scientists investigating clouds, climate, weather and modeling.
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program also gives interns the opportunity to attend scientific seminars, visit national laboratories and participate in professional development training. The program spans 10 weeks from late May through early August.
From left to right, front to back row: Shay Magahey, Jennifer Seth, Linda Arterburn, Hannah McDaniel, Marshall Baldwin, Eli Flicker, Tom Juliano, Abe Tekoe and Kenny Tam.
Ph.D. candidate Marc Alessi will study at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, Germany this summer thanks to a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service – known as DAAD in Germany.
Alessi will research uncertainty of temperature projections given different sea surface temperature patterns with Hauke Schmidt’s Global Circulation and Climate Research Group. The scholarship covers travel expenses, health insurance and a monthly stipend.
Alessi is advised by Assistant Professor Maria Rugenstein, who was a researcher at the Max Planck Institute before joining the department’s faculty.
Alex DesRosiers received an Outstanding Oral Presentation Award from the 35th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology for his talk, “Characterization of the Tropical Cyclone Vortex Height and Intensity Relationship in Observations.”
DesRosiers’ work used a large airborne radar dataset to quantify the strong relationship between vortex height and tropical cyclone intensity. He found differences in vortex height when accounting for current intensity were related to the rate at which the storm intensifies.
“The work motivates continued research to see if vortex height observations can be of use to tropical cyclone intensity forecasting,” he said.
DesRosiers was grateful for the opportunity to represent CSU and discuss science in person with the tropical meteorology community again.
“Research is a group effort and I am thankful for the guidance and assistance of my adviser and co-authors,” he said. DesRosiers is advised by Professor Michael Bell.
Research by Associate Professor Christine Chiu, Ph.D. student Kevin Yang, Professor Peter Jan van Leeuwen and several of their collaborators has been selected as a Science Highlight by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Only about 200 publications are highlighted each year.
CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability has selected two Atmospheric Science students and an Atmospheric Science postdoctoral fellow to be Sustainability Leadership Fellows for the next academic year. Ph.D. candidate Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano, advised by Emily Fischer; Ph.D. student Kathryn Moore, advised by Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott; and postdoctoral fellow Marybeth Arcodia, mentored by Elizabeth Barnes, were among 20 early-career scientists chosen for the program.
The Sustainability Leadership Fellows program prepares future innovators and thought leaders with science communication and career development training. They learn to effectively communicate science to the media and public, and how to build successful careers that incorporate meaningful engagement and an interdisciplinary approach to research.
Photos: From left to right, Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano, Kathryn Moore and Marybeth Arcodia.
Kevin Yang and Ting-Yu Cha were honored for outstanding student research in a ceremony May 6. Yang received the Herbert Riehl Memorial Award, and Cha received the Alumni Award.
Associate Professor Christine Chiu, Yang’s adviser, nominated him for the paper, “Near-cloud aerosol retrieval using machine learning techniques, and implied direct radiative effects,” which she expects will have a huge scientific impact.
“As a supervisor, the goals I set for myself are to train my students to have original ideas, to tackle the problem in a creative way, and to do their research independently. And this student has demonstrated all of these three from day one,” Chiu said in her introduction before revealing Yang as the winner.
The Herbert Riehl Memorial Award honors the department’s founder. It recognizes an M.S. or beginning Ph.D. student who has submitted the best technical manuscript in the past 18 months.
The Alumni Award recognizes outstanding Ph.D. research by a senior student.
Professor Michael Bell, Cha’s adviser, nominated her for the paper, “Polygonal Eyewall Asymmetries During the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Michael (2018).”
“This was outstanding work both in terms of observational analysis and theoretical analysis,” Bell said.
Cha will participate in the PRECIP campaign in Taiwan this summer. Following her graduation in the fall, she will continue her research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research through an Advanced Study Program Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Yang and Cha will present their research at the first colloquium of fall semester.
The department celebrated spring and summer graduates with a hybrid in-person and Zoom ceremony May 6. Advisers shared information about each graduate, and family and friends were able to attend.
We asked our graduating students about their plans following graduation and the most important thing they learned at CSU. Here are their responses.
Chloe Boehm
“I am staying here to work on my Ph.D.!”
“How important a great support system is and to always remain eager to learn from others.”
Ellie Casas
“I’ll be going to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA to do a postdoc with Scott Powell (a postdoc here a few years ago). My specific projects are currently TBD, but they will probably be some combination of shallow to deep cumulus convection and/or machine learning.”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU is how important a strong sense of community is for persistence, professional growth, and career satisfaction. I was fortunate to have been offered multiple opportunities due to the strong community at CSU, and I learned the hard way via the pandemic that research is much more satisfying when you can easily share it with others.”
Ali Cole
“I’m joining CPP Wind Engineering Consultants as an atmospheric scientist!”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU is the value of having a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints in any scenario. Everyone approaches situations differently, be it research or otherwise, and having that variety of perspectives is invaluable.”
Jacob Escobedo
“Defense for master’s on May 16, planning on staying at CSU working with Russ Schumacher to pursue my Ph.D.”
“I cannot control the unexpected, but I can control how I respond to it.”
Megan Franke
“My future plans are to finish up my master’s and defend next month! Plans for after graduation are still being decided but leaning towards staying for a Ph.D.”
“The most important thing I learned while being here at CSU is to not be afraid to ask for help! I have heard it all my life, but never really lived it until coming here….also coding :)”
Eric Goldenstern
“I’ll be sticking around at the department for my Ph.D.”
“The most important thing I’ve learned at CSU is that nothing is ever perfect… just good enough for the moment.”
Justin Hudson
“I will be staying at CSU for my Ph.D. and joining Steve Miller’s group to study milky sea events in the Indian Ocean.”
“How to deal with everything changing all at once.”
Nicole June
“I will be continuing into the Ph.D. program in Jeff Pierce’s group.”
“The most important thing I’ve learned so far is the importance of priorities and a support system.”
Emily Lachemayer
“I am taking a break from academia and heading to industry.”
“How to systematically approach and implement concepts that are outside of my comfort zone.”
Lilly Naimie
“I am staying in Jeff Collett’s group here in Atmos to pursue a Ph.D.!”
“I learned how important balance is; to work hard and take the time to go for a bike ride.”
Mike Natoli
“I am now working at NWS Cheyenne.”
“This was a tough one to answer since I’ve learned and grown as a person so much in my time at CSU, but to try to pick one thing, I’d say recognizing the importance of collaboration, sharing of knowledge, and a supportive environment in achieving personal and academic goals.”
Sam O’Donnell
“I’ll be staying on for a Ph.D.! I’ll be working on some tangential topics to my M.S. research.”
“Being here during COVID-19 taught me the importance of social connection (while social distancing), and work-life balance. Also, aerosol particles are awesome!”
Sagar Rathod
“I accepted a Postdoctoral Research Associate position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Public Affairs department.”
“In terms of academics, I appreciate the ‘always look at the big picture’ I learned from Tami and Jeff. In terms of life, I would say my experience with DEI initiatives across the campus is something I will definitely take from here.”
Rick Schulte
“I will be starting a postdoc at CSU working on the CloudSat and INCUS missions.”
“Ask around before tackling a tough problem, because someone else has probably already attempted it and has knowledge to share.”
Photo collage, from left to right, top to bottom row: Chloe Boehm, Lee Brent, Ellie Casas, Ali Cole, Jacob Escobedo, Megan Franke, Eric Goldenstern, Justin Hudson, Nicole June, Emily Lachenmayer, Lilly Naimie, Mike Natoli, Sam O’Donnell, Sagar Rathod and Rick Schulte.
Emily Gordon, a Ph.D. student in Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes’ research group, has been selected to receive the 2022-23 University Distinguished Professors Scholarship. The UDP scholarship is a merit-based award bestowed upon a graduate student for her/his academic accomplishments. Its purpose is to enhance the professional development opportunities of the awardees.
“This scholarship is invaluable to me at this time in my Ph.D.,” Gordon said. “I am really keen to visit other research institutions and make connections with people with similar research interests across the U.S. As an international student who started during the pandemic, these opportunities only opened up to me recently and I want to make the most of them before I finish at CSU.”
The scholarship was created by the University Distinguished Professors and is fully funded by them. Atmospheric Science is home to a considerable number of University Distinguished Professors: Sonia Kreidenweis, David Randall, A.R. Ravishankara and Sue van den Heever. Tom Vonder Haar and Graeme Stephens are UniversityDistinguishedProfessors Emeritus.
Five faculty members and researchers from the Department of Atmospheric Science were recognized during the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering All-College Meeting April 26. Nominations were submitted by colleagues and staff of the college’s eight departments and programs.
Outstanding Researcher Award:Charlotte DeMott
“For outstanding research achievements and international leadership in elucidating the role of ocean-atmosphere coupling as a driver of the Madden-Julien Oscillation, improving predictability of high-impact weather phenomena around the globe.”
Outstanding Researcher Award – Rising Star: Russell Perkins
“For outstanding achievements in exploring new and cutting-edge scientific directions, exceptional research productivity and adaptability, and selfless contribution to the success of students and the entire research team.”
George T. Abell Award for Teaching and Mentoring: Emily Fischer
“For being a fearless leader, a devoted educator, and an impeccable mentor who is committed to supporting the next generation of scientists through inclusive excellence, mentoring and engagement.”
George T. Abell Award for Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty: Russ Schumacher
“For his exceptional research contributions across a broad range of atmospheric science topics. He is a thoughtful teacher and mentor, and has unmatched service both through his role as State Climatologist and as a faculty member supporting CSU and the wider research community.”
George T. Abell Award for Outstanding Research Faculty: Sue van den Heever
“In recognition of wide-ranging and high-impact studies of the development and impacts of atmospheric convective storms through numerical simulations as well as in situ and remote sensing observations, including leadership of the new NASA INCUS satellite mission.”
Ph.D. student Ting-Yu Cha has been selected for a National Center for Atmospheric Research Advanced Study Program Postdoctoral Fellowship. Following her graduation in the fall, Cha will move to Boulder in January 2023 to work with the NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory, where she will investigate the asymmetric mechanisms that impact tropical cyclone intensity and structure changes using observations and numerical models. Cha, who is advised by Professor Michael Bell, hopes this research ultimately will enable improved prediction and lead to better risk communication and weather warnings to the public.
“I am truly honored to be selected as an ASP postdoctoral fellow,” Cha said. “The program gives me the flexibility to conduct research I’m passionate about and an opportunity to grow independently. I am looking forward to collaborating with NCAR scientists and learning new science and skills!”
Associate Professor Emily Fischer will begin a term as associate department head on Aug. 15. The ADH position, with primary oversight of recruitment and the learning environment of ATS students, has significantly improved department support for our graduate students.
“Emily has outstanding ideas related to student mentoring, core courses and equity that she will bring to the role,” incoming Department Head Eric Maloney said in an announcement to the department. “I thank Emily for her willingness to take on this important service role within the department and am excited to work closely with her during the coming years.”
Professor Scott Denning wrote this piece for The Conversation, as part of the Curious Kids series for children of all ages. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Sometimes it may seem that humans have altered the Earth beyond repair. But our planet is an incredible system in which energy, water, carbon and so much else flows and nurtures life. It is about 4.5 billion years old and has been through enormous changes.
At some points in Earth’s history, fires burned over large areas. At others, much of it was covered with ice. There also have been mass extinctions that wiped out nearly every living thing on its surface.
Our living planet is incredibly resilient and can heal itself over time. The problem is that its self-healing systems are very, very slow. The Earth will be fine, but humans’ problems are more immediate.
Image at top: The Earth viewed from the Apollo 8 lunar mission on Dec. 24, 1968. Credit:NASA
Loveland High School students experienced atmospheric science in action March 28, thanks to a visit by Colorado State University graduate students.
Lance Niño, who received his M.S. from CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science in 2021, teaches meteorology at the high school and invited the atmospheric science grad students to visit his classes. Nick Falk, Sean Freeman, Gabrielle Leung and Allie Mazurek demonstrated how they use radiosondes and drones to collect atmospheric data.
“I arranged this event partly so my students could get some hands-on experience in meteorology, but partly because I have fond memories of launching balloons and flying drones,” Niño said. “I wanted to share these amazing experiences with my students.”
Photo at top: Loveland High School students watch a drone flight demonstration by CSU atmospheric science graduate students. Courtesy of Lance Niño.
Professor Susan van den Heever’s brilliant scientific mind, her tremendous stature in the field of atmospheric science, and her record of leadership guiding national and international planning of large-scale efforts to advance knowledge of the aerosol-cloud-climate system led to her nomination as University Distinguished Professor, the highest academic recognition awarded by Colorado State University.
The title is bestowed upon a very small number of full professors at any one time on the basis of outstanding scholarship and achievement. Professors with this title hold the distinction for the duration of their association with CSU.
There are approximately 25 UDPs across CSU. Van den Heever joins current ATS Professors Dave Randall, Sonia Kreidenweis and A.R. Ravishankara as UDPs. Tom Vonder Haar and Graeme Stephens are UniversityDistinguishedProfessors Emeriti.
About four and a half years from now, a set of three small satellites – each not much larger than a microwave oven – will launch into low-Earth orbit and begin a two-year mission in space, providing scientists a top-down view of rain, hail and lightning-laden storms in the tropics.
Called INCUS, or Investigation of Convective Updrafts, this newest NASA Earth-observing mission will be broadly aimed at increasing scientists’ understanding of storm physics and related climate processes. Its principal investigator is Colorado State University’s Susan van den Heever, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, who is also the first woman to lead a NASA Earth Venture Mission.
For van den Heever, a veteran storm observer and respected authority on cloud physics and mesoscale meteorology, launch day 2026 will be an auspicious milestone in a high-stakes technological achievement, as the nimble INCUS satellites begin collecting never-before-seen data that could change the game for storm forecasting and climate modeling. But launch day certainly won’t be the start of the INCUS story.
Image at top: An artist’s rendering of the INCUS satellites flying in formation. Credit: NASA/JPL
Colorado State University hurricane researchers are predicting an active Atlantic hurricane season in 2022, citing the likely absence of El Niño as a primary factor. Tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are near their long-term averages, while Caribbean and subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are warmer than their long-term averages. The warmer Caribbean and eastern part of the subtropical Atlantic also favor an active 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.
The tropical Pacific currently has weak La Niña conditions, that is, water temperatures are somewhat cooler than normal in the eastern and central tropical Pacific. While La Niña may weaken and transition to neutral conditions by this summer, the CSU researchers do not currently anticipate El Niño for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
While tropical Atlantic water temperatures are currently near their long-term averages, the warmer-than-normal subtropical eastern Atlantic typically forces a weaker subtropical high and associated weaker winds blowing across the tropical Atlantic. These conditions then lead to warmer waters in the tropical Atlantic for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Daniel Hueholt has been selected for a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support.
Hueholt will use the funding to investigate rapid detection of the climate response to solar climate intervention using explainable artificial intelligence.
“The GRFP also will allow me the freedom to explore all of the new ideas we uncover along the way,” Hueholt said. “I am very grateful for the help and advice I received in preparing my application. I particularly want to thank my advisers Jim Hurrell and Elizabeth Barnes, my fellow Barnes group members Kirsten Mayer and Charlotte Connolly, and CSU’s GRFP application editing program. I’m so excited to see what the next three years bring!”
Amanda Bowden and Spencer Hill received NSF GRFP honorable mentions.
Colorado State University researchers will receive nearly $1 million from the Environmental Protection Agency to expand air quality monitoring in communities impacted by wildfires and improve communication of health risks from smoke exposure.
Researchers will work with community partners throughout Colorado to add low-cost air quality monitors in places that aren’t currently monitored. They will create real-time, high-resolution maps to help people understand air pollution in their community and make decisions to minimize smoke exposure.
Emily Fischer, associate professor of atmospheric science, will lead an interdisciplinary team of scientists from the Departments of Atmospheric Science, Journalism and Media Communication, and Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences.
Professor Jeff Pierce is co-PI on a Global Challenges Research Team selected for funding by the CSU School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES). The team will investigate wildfire smoke impacts on U.S. solar energy resources and agrivoltaic systems. Associate Professor Emily Fischer and Ph.D. candidate Kimberley Corwin also will contribute to the project.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Colorado State University produced a video about Professor Sue van den Heever and her distinction as the first woman to lead a NASA Earth Venture Mission. The mission, INCUS, is a $177 million project that will study storms in the tropics, to improve weather and climate models.
The Investigation of Convective Updrafts mission will deploy three small satellites, known as SmallSats, to explore why convective storms, heavy precipitation and clouds form exactly when and where they do, and why only some storms produce extreme weather. INCUS is expected to launch in late 2026 or early 2027.
In the video, van den Heever encourages others to follow their passions and not give in to self-doubt.
“Imposter syndrome always tries to make us not trust ourselves or downplay who we are. Trust yourself.”
Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen has been selected for the Nelson Family Faculty Excellence Award through the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. The award recognizes exceptional performance and effective student engagement in teaching and research.
Peggy and Jim Nelson created the award to advance the careers of outstanding mid-career engineering faculty and foster international collaborations. Funding from the award will help support Rasmussen’s activities for three years.
Rasmussen is an award-winning adviser and nationally recognized leader in mesoscale meteorology. She has actively engaged her students and students from other universities in international research through the RELAMPAGO campaign in Argentina and the upcoming PRECIP campaign in Taiwan. Rasmussen has made significant contributions to the department’s curriculum by developing a new course on mountain meteorology and contributing to a course on social responsibility in atmospheric science.
“I am honored to receive this award and grateful to the Nelson family for their generous support in enhancing international collaborations in my group’s research and education activities,” Rasmussen said. “This award will provide new opportunities for students to participate in international field research and collaborations.”
Climate scientist Elizabeth Barnes uses neural networks and explainable artificial intelligence to answer pressing questions about Earth’s climate. These cutting-edge, machine-learning methods help unravel the complexity of the Earth system, but they can be difficult to comprehend.
Barnes wanted to break down these concepts in a few easy-to-understand videos, so she commissioned an artist to visually communicate her group’s research.
“When you watch these videos, it becomes clear that our work is rooted in the fundamentals of climate science – we just use AI as a tool for exploring the data,” said Barnes, an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science.
Professor Emeritus Bill Cotton wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
On mountain peaks scattered across Colorado, machines are set up to fire chemicals into the clouds in attempts to generate snow. The process is called cloud seeding, and as global temperatures rise, more countries and drought-troubled states are using it in sometimes desperate efforts to modify the weather.
But cloud seeding isn’t as simple as it sounds, and it might not be as promising as people wish.
As an atmospheric scientist, I have studied and written about weather modification for 50 years. Cloud seeding experiments that produce snow or rain require the right kind of clouds with enough moisture, and the right temperature and wind conditions. The percentage increases in precipitation are small, and it’s difficult to tell when snow or rain fell naturally and when it was triggered by seeding.
Photo at top: Cloud-seeding equipment near Winter Park in Colorado. Credit:Denver Water
Several students brought home presentation awards from the American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society annual meetings.
Rick Schulte – AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Award
Kimberley Corwin – AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Award
Emily Gordon – AMS first-place Oral Presentation Award for the Joint Session with the 27th Conference on Probability and Statistics
Gabrielle “Bee” Leung – AMS second-place Student Oral Presentation Award for the Mesoscale Processes conference
Charlotte Connolly – AMS second-place Outstanding Student Presentation Award for the 21st Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science
Jamin Rader – AMS third-place Oral Presentation Award for the Joint Session with the 27th Conference on Probability and Statistics
Kevin Yang – AMS honorable-mention Outstanding Student Presentation Award for the 21st Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science
REU interns Victoria Chavez and Emily Luschen also received AMS Outstanding Student Conference Poster Awards for presenting their research conducted during their 2021 internships at ATS.
From left to right, top to bottom row: Rick Schulte, Kimberley Corwin, Emily Gordon, Gabrielle “Bee” Leung, Charlotte Connolly, Jamin Rader, Kevin Yang, Victoria Chavez and Emily Luschen.
The CPMSG brings together members of the ARM instrument operations, engineering, and translator teams with the ARM science community to improve the performance and science impact of ARM’s cloud and precipitation measurements.
An active member of the ARM/Atmospheric System Research (ASR) community since 2003, Chiu has worked extensively alongside ARM instrument mentors and science team members for data products and observational strategies.
Department Head and Professor Jeff Collett has been honored with the American Meteorological Society Scientific and Technological Activities Commission Outstanding Service Award. Collett was recognized for “outstanding service to the AMS Committee on Atmospheric Chemistry and for raising the stature of atmospheric chemistry within AMS.” The commission selects only those who are outstanding in their field for this award.
Collett has served as chair of the AMS Committee on Atmospheric Chemistry and also served several years as chair/co-chair of the AMS Atmospheric Chemistry Conference.
“Jeff’s leadership has not only helped elevate the atmospheric chemistry sessions at the annual meeting but has been instrumental in establishing atmospheric chemistry as an integral part of the AMS,” University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis said.
The Scientific and Technological Activities Commission (STAC) is composed of committees and boards, which are made up of hundreds of volunteers who are primarily AMS members.
C3LOUD-Ex, the CSU Convective Cloud Outflows and Updrafts Experiment led by Professor Susan van den Heever, is featured on the cover of January’s issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The innovative project involved flying drones into thunderstorms to capture hard-to-collect data on updrafts and cold pools.
The article features comments from van den Heever and members of her research group, Leah Grant, Sean Freeman and Peter Marinescu, along with photos from the field campaign.
Alumna and longtime director of CSU’s REU Site in Earth System Science, Melissa Burt has been appointed to the department faculty. Burt will continue in her role as Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, while taking on her new position as assistant professor.
Burt will conduct research and teach classes related to social responsibility, science identity, mentorship, and social justice in STEM, with a particular focus in atmospheric science. She also will continue to support department efforts to build a more inclusive environment and recruit and train a more diverse graduate student body.
“I am thrilled to join the ATS faculty and continue to work towards nurturing and supporting an inclusive, equitable, and just atmospheric science community,” Burt said.
Burt has been developing diversity and inclusion initiatives in the department for more than a decade. In 2018 she was named Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion by Dean David McLean. She leads strategic planning and implementation of diversity, inclusion, and equity goals, and contributes to Universitywide diversity and inclusion initiatives.
CSU recognized Burt in 2021 with the President’s Council on Culture Award, for her efforts to create an inclusive and equitable culture. Also in 2021, the American Meteorological Society honored Burt with the Charles E. Anderson Award, for her outstanding contributions to the promotion of diversity in atmospheric science and broader communities through education and community service.
Jeffrey L. Collett, Jr. professor and department head in Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science, has been named the next Technical Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, one of the oldest peer-reviewed journals covering the fields of air quality and waste management. His appointment begins April 1.
Collett has extensive prior academic publishing and editing experience, having authored or co-authored over 220 peer-reviewed articles in over 40 scientific journals, including in JA&WMA. He has also served as associate editor on the editorial board for PeerJ (2017-present), Atmosphere (2019-2020), and Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research (2020-present) and served as associate/guest editor for special issues of Atmospheric Research and Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
“The journal has made important progress in recent years, and I am excited to collaborate with A&WMA’s staff and many volunteers that support and oversee the publication, as well as A&WMA’s partners at Taylor and Francis to chart a path for raising the journal’s profile in support of its critical mission,” Collett said.
The department recognized 2021 Outstanding Alum Tristan L’Ecuyer Dec. 9 in a hybrid ceremony held both virtually and at ATS.
Department Head Jeff Collett introduced L’Ecuyer and presented him with the trophy. Collett shared a passage from L’Ecuyer’s cover letter submitted with his application to the graduate program in 1997.
“‘I am a hard-working student who is very eager to learn and have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the scientific community,'” Collett quoted. “Clearly, Tristan, you have made more than one significant contribution to the community, so congratulations.”
L’Ecuyer said the award was a pleasant surprise. “It’s such a meaningful award because it’s coming from the people I’ve worked with, the people I’ve known for many years,” he said. “For all the great alumni we’ve had from this department over the years, to be considered among that group was a huge honor – probably the biggest honor I’ve received so far in my career.”
L’Ecuyer gave a talk linking his dissertation work on tropical diabatic heating to his current research leading NASA’s PREFIRE mission, the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment. He credited his research group at the University of Wisconsin for much of the work he shared.
“When you win an award like this, it’s really because so many great people have worked with you over the years,” he said.
L’Ecuyer shared some notes he scribbled during his first meeting with his adviser, Graeme Stephens, and pointed out that a lot of the elements he still works on today are represented in that original diagram.
“I’m really indebted to my time here at Colorado State and the atmospheric science department for everything I’ve done in my career,” he said.
The department celebrated fall graduates with a hybrid in-person and Zoom ceremony Nov. 30. Advisers shared information about each graduate, and family and friends were able to attend.
We asked our graduating students about their plans following graduation and the most important thing they learned at CSU. Here are their responses.
Michael Cheeseman
“I will continue working with Jeff and Bonne to investigate air pollutant exposure disparities at the intersection of education, race, and poverty. Then I hope to be an outdoor adventure guide for a couple months.”
“The most important thing I have learned at CSU is to be patient and kind with my own life and career.”
Kyle Chudler
“I accepted a job offer at RTI International as a hydrometeorologist at their water resources office in Fort Collins!”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU Atmos was how important having a great community is. I enjoyed doing my research here, but what made my time in grad school truly special was all of the friends I’ve made and still get to hang out with all of the time!”
Michael DeCaria
Michael will continue on to the Ph.D. program.
“Time management/setting priorities both for life and work. It was especially difficult during the pandemic, making it a hard-learned skill for the future.”
Nick Falk
“I am staying here for a Ph.D.!”
“I’m still in the middle of this, but the most important thing I have learned at CSU is the process of starting with a novel hypothesis/idea and developing it through to a full-fledged research project, then getting the results published in a peer-reviewed journal.”
Wei-Ting Hsiao
“I am and will still be here to continue my Ph.D.!”
“Living a cool life feels way better than being ‘successful.’ “
Allie Mazurek
“I am transitioning into the Ph.D. program, where I will continue working with my adviser (Russ).”
“The most important thing I’ve learned at CSU is the power of having a great support system in both research and non-academic settings.”
Yasutaka Murakami
“I moved back to Japan in August.”
“This is a tough question, but if I have to choose one, I would say time management.”
Chelsea Nam
“I am going to stay here at CSU and continue to work with Michael Bell as a post-doc fellow.”
“This is a hard question! I’d say all the nuts and bolts for tropical cyclone research.”
Jamin Rader
“I am continuing here at CSU in the Ph.D. program.”
“I’ve learned so many important things during my M.S. … I have most appreciated participating in a collaborative data science group, and challenging traditional methods alongside the many other bright minds in the Barnes group.”
Naufal Razin
“I will be moving next door to CIRA as a postdoctoral fellow.”
“This is a tough question because I’ve learned so many things. But if there is one thing that encapsulates my experience at CSU, it is: Surround yourself with great people and you will succeed.”
Justin Whitaker
“NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship at NASA Marshall.”
“Your friends and communities are an important part of grad school.”
Kevin Yang
“I will be staying here for my Ph.D. (excited to do more great science).”
“Understand your true value and always remain eager to learn and grow.”
Photo collage, from left to right, top to bottom row: Michael Cheeseman, Kyle Chudler, Michael DeCaria, Nick Falk, Wei-Ting Hsiao, Allie Mazurek, Yasutaka Murakami, Chelsea Nam, Jamin Rader, Naufal Razin, Justin Whitaker and Kevin Yang.
Fall 2021 Graduates
Michael Cheeseman*
Ph.D.
Adviser: Jeff Pierce
Kyle Chudler*
Ph.D.
Adviser: Steven Rutledge
Michael DeCaria*
M.S.
Adviser: Peter Jan van Leeuwen
Nick Falk*
M.S.
Adviser: Susan van den Heever
Wei-Ting Hsiao
M.S.
Advisers: Eric Maloney/Elizabeth Barnes
Allie Mazurek
M.S.
Adviser: Russ Schumacher
Yasutaka Murakami
Ph.D.
Advisers: Chris Kummerow/Susan van den Heever
Chelsea Nam*
Ph.D.
Adviser: Michael Bell
Jamin Rader
M.S.
Adviser: Elizabeth Barnes
Naufal Razin*
Ph.D.
Adviser: Michael Bell
Justin Whitaker
Ph.D.
Adviser: Eric Maloney
Kevin Yang
M.S.
Adviser: Christine Chiu
*Completed defense fall semester but technically will graduate spring semester
In a hybrid ceremony Tuesday, held in person and on Zoom, Kathryn Moore received the David L. Dietrich Honorary Scholarship and Ting-Yu Cha received the Shrake-Culler Scholarship. After announcement of their awards, Moore and Cha each briefly presented their work.
Moore’s advisers, University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott, nominated her for the Dietrich Scholarship based on her academic achievement and her skills as an aerosol scientist. Moore works at the intersection of air quality and climate science. During her M.S. studies, she participated in one of the most comprehensive sets of aerosol measurements ever collected over the Southern Ocean, sailing on a ship from Tasmania to the edge of Antarctica. She was responsible for the quality control of all the aerosol measurements on that voyage. Moore has participated in a wide variety of other studies as well.
“There is virtually no project that our group has done in the last three or four years that she hasn’t assisted in one manner or another, and that’s reflected in about 18 co-authored publications already at this stage of her graduate studies,” DeMott said in presenting the award.
The Dietrich Scholarship recognizes a CSU student who has demonstrated outstanding ability in air quality research and education. Fort Collins-based Air Resource Specialists Inc. funds the Dietrich Scholarship each year. It is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich.
Cha was nominated by her adviser, Professor Michael Bell, based on her strong work ethic and enthusiasm for higher education. Her primary research is on radar and tropical meteorology. One of Cha’s papers was selected by the American Geophysical Union as an Editors’ Highlight, a designation given to fewer than 2 percent of AGU journal articles. It also won third place in the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences competition.
“She’s one of the hardest working students I’ve known,” Bell said. “In evidence of her enthusiasm for higher education, she took a high-performance computing class on main campus in C++. She was the only female student in the class, the only atmospheric science student, and she got an A. I think she might have gotten the highest grade in the class.”
Bell noted that Cha was instrumental in the PRECIP campaign. “She’s one of the top students I’ve worked with over the years,” he said.
The Shrake-Culler Scholarship is given annually to a senior Ph.D. student. The student must have passed their preliminary exam, have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and demonstrate a strong work ethic and enthusiasm for higher education.
The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was above average – in line with forecasts issued by Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project. Twenty-one named storms formed in 2021 (the third most on record), with seven of these storms becoming hurricanes and four reaching major hurricane strength. The average Atlantic hurricane season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Seven named storms and two hurricanes made landfall in the continental United States, with Hurricane Ida striking the central Louisiana coast as a Category 4 hurricane. In addition to devastating winds and storm surge damage near where Ida made landfall, heavy rain from the hurricane’s remnants also brought catastrophic flooding to the mid-Atlantic states.
“The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was above average, especially when evaluated by named storm frequency. Overall, our seasonal forecasts did an excellent job of predicting an above-average season, with predictions of hurricanes, major hurricanes and Accumulated Cyclone Energy being very close to what actually occurred,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the forecast. Accumulated Cyclone Energy is an integrated metric accounting for intensity and duration of storms. Seasonal Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) was approximately 120% of the 1991-2020 average.
The report summarizes all tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic basin during the 2021 hurricane season and compares the team’s seasonal and two-week forecasts to what occurred.
University of Wisconsin professor and director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies Tristan L’Ecuyer was selected as the 2021 recipient of the department’s Outstanding Alum Award. He will receive the award and present a seminar on his work Dec. 9 at ATS.
L’Ecuyer earned his Ph.D. from the department in 2001, under the supervision of Graeme Stephens, who is now a professor emeritus. His dissertation was “Uncertainties in Space-Based Estimates of Clouds and Precipitation: Implications for Deriving Global Diabatic Heating.”
Following his Ph.D., L’Ecuyer spent a decade at CSU as a postdoc and research scientist, working extensively on the CloudSat mission. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin.
Since 2018, L’Ecuyer has served as director of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). In 2020, he led the successful re-competition of CIMSS, ensuring the continuation of this crucial partnership with NOAA in satellite meteorology.
L’Ecuyer’s research lies at the intersection of satellite remote sensing and climate science. He has published more than 150 papers, and his work is widely cited.
L’Ecuyer runs an active research program, including current leadership of the NASA Earth Venture-Instrument PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment).
He has graduated nine Ph.D. students in his first decade at Wisconsin and continues to advise a large research group. In 2020, he was honored with the American Geophysical Union Ascent Award.
Note from Tristan:
I want to express my genuine appreciation to everyone in the Department of Atmospheric Science for recognizing me with the Outstanding Alum Award. It is an honor to be counted among the long list of very accomplished scientists that graduated from our department. I am and always will be proud to be a CSU Ram!
I owe my interest in atmospheric science and my enthusiasm for pushing the envelope of what global observations can tell us about our environment to my time at CSU and my adviser Graeme Stephens. Coming from a theoretical physics background, ATS gave me my first true taste of the atmospheric and climate science fields.
I still remember discussing elements of Earth’s energy budget in my first meeting with Graeme. Little did I know I’d still be trying to refine estimates of those quantities more than two decades later! From being able to independently explore ideas to opportunities to interact with leaders in the field, my experience at CSU has been fundamental to shaping my career.
I am also indebted to the many great students and long list of collaborators I’ve been fortunate to work with since leaving the Foothills Campus. I’m especially grateful for my students. This award is really recognition of their hard work, and they, in turn, benefit from ATS as I pass on the lessons I learned during my time at CSU.
It is especially rewarding to now be able to highly recommend the ATS graduate program to our best undergraduate students here at Wisconsin. I hope I’ve prepared them for graduate school as well as CSU prepared me for my career!
Sincerely, Tristan L’Ecuyer
NASA has announced a $177 million Earth science mission led by Colorado State University that will study the behavior of storms in the Tropics, with the goal of better representing these storms in weather and climate models.
The mission will be a collection of three small satellites, flying in tight coordination, and is called Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS). It is expected to launch in 2027 as part of NASA’s Earth Venture Program.
INCUS’ principal investigator is Susan van den Heever, professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, whose expertise is in cloud physics, cloud dynamics, and mesoscale meteorology and modeling. The team includes Kristen Rasmussen, assistant professor in atmospheric science; and Steven Reising, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. CSU’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere will perform data processing for the mission, overseen by Phil Partain.
Researchers in Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science have developed a tool for predicting heavy rainfall that is now used daily by the Weather Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service.
By working with the Weather Prediction Center over the past several years, Associate Professor Russ Schumacher and his group were able to tailor the tool to suit forecasters’ needs.
Image at top: Example CSU-MLP forecast, for the extreme rainfall associated with the remnants of Hurricane Ida in the mid-Atlantic states in September 2021. The left panel shows the forecast probability of excessive rainfall, available on the morning of Aug. 31, over a day in advance of the event. The forecast includes a “high risk” (probability exceeding 50%) for an area from Maryland through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The right panel shows the resulting observations of excessive rainfall (including flash flood reports and rainfall totals exceeding specified thresholds). The CSU-MLP correctly highlighted the corridor where widespread heavy rain and flooding would occur.
Four Colorado State University researchers in earth and atmospheric sciences are among new Fellows of the American Geophysical Union who have “made outstanding achievements and contributions by pushing the frontiers of our science forward.” AGU is a 62,000-member organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists formed in 1919.
AGU Fellows serve as global leaders and experts who have propelled the world’s understanding of geosciences. Since 1962, AGU has elected fewer than 0.1% of its members to join its group of fellows.
Elizabeth Barnes, associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, was honored with the AGU James B. Macelwane Medal for early-career scientists this year, for which she was also conferred the title of fellow.
Three Colorado State University atmospheric scientists have been recognized by the American Geophysical Union. Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes was selected for the James B. Macelwane Medal, Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott has been elected a Fellow, and Professor Emeritus Wayne Schubert was chosen to deliver the Jule Gregory Charney Lecture. They will be honored at the AGU Fall Meeting Dec. 15 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Early-career excellence
Barnes will receive the Macelwane Medal for “significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding early career scientist.” Along with the medal, the AGU also will confer fellowship to Barnes.
DeMott’s work ‘groundbreaking and influential’
DeMott, an international leader in the study of ice nucleation and aerosol-cloud interactions, was elected an AGU Fellow for his research achievements and outstanding contributions to the field.
Making the complex understandable
The Charney Lecture is presented to a prominent scientist who has made exceptional contributions to the understanding of weather and climate. Schubert, now retired from teaching but not research after 47 years with the department, has made pioneering discoveries in his research of tropical cyclones, moist convection, and the dynamics of mesoscale and synoptic-scale phenomena.
Amy Sullivan, Ilana Pollack, Associate Professor Emily Fischer and Professor Jeff Pierce will study urban emissions and air quality as part of $2.2 million in grants received by CSU researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Climate Program Office at NOAA has announced research funding that increases understanding of emissions – and chemical transformation of those emissions – in the urban atmosphere. Four of the 10 new projects have gone to Colorado State University researchers, totaling over $2.2 million to CSU.
The Society for Science is a nonprofit organization that promotes the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement.
Now in its third year, the award is given to one scientist included in the Science News SN 10, a list spotlighting 10 early- and mid-career scientists on their way to widespread acclaim. The Society for Science publishes both Science News and Science News for Students.
In 2021, rather than identify new scientists, Science News spotlighted 10 noteworthy SN 10 alumni. Fischer, who was included in the 2020 SN 10 list, was featured in the Oct. 9 special edition of Science News and will be featured again in the Oct. 23 edition.
Professor David Randall wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
How complicated is the weather and climate system?
Weather is what you see hour to hour and day to day. Weather involves just the atmosphere. Climate is the average weather over decades and is influenced by the oceans and the land surfaces.
Weather and climate are complicated because they involve many different physical processes – from the motion of air to the flow of electromagnetic radiation, such as sunlight, to the condensation of water vapor – across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.
Phil Klotzbach, research scientist and lead author of CSU’s annual hurricane forecast, will speak at FORTCAST’s first “What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate” event this semester. Klotzbach will discuss hurricanes, how we predict them and the impacts of climate change.
Discussion followed by Q-and-A will begin 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, upstairs at Tap & Handle.
“What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate” is a series of informal talks where you can meet fellow members of the Northern Colorado weather and climate community and learn about their research.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
Abstract:
“The 2021 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season and the Relationship between Hurricanes and Climate Change”
This presentation will discuss the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season in detail including the atmospheric and oceanic causes of this very active season. Landfalling hurricane activity in 2021 will also be examined, with a focus on Hurricane Ida – a $50+ billion natural disaster. The skill of seasonal forecasts issued by CSU, NOAA and other groups will also be considered.
The remainder of the presentation will examine the relationship between hurricanes and climate change. Topics will include observed trends in hurricane frequency, intensity and damage. Lastly, climate model forecasts of future changes in hurricane activity associated with continued global climate change will be discussed.
Residents of Erie, Colorado now have access to detailed data about the air they’re breathing, thanks to a sophisticated air quality monitoring network deployed by Colorado State University atmospheric scientists and environmental data company Ajax Analytics.
The Town of Erie recently announced the launch of a public portal to view data collected by the monitoring stations, which were deployed in phases over the summer as part of the town’s Air Quality Monitoring Program. A map of the monitoring station locations is available on the town’s website.
Jeff Collett, professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science and a respected researcher in air toxics emissions from oil and gas operations, is leading CSU’s data collection and analysis as part of a contract with the Town of Erie. Collett’s team works in close partnership with Ajax Analytics, a Fort Collins-based firm that provides sensitive and real-time air quality data and maintains public-friendly dashboards to report the information to non-scientists.
The Biology Integration Institutes: Regional OneHealth Aerobiome Discovery Network, or BROADN – including atmospheric scientists, agricultural biologists, microbiologists and sociologists from across Colorado State University – aims to improve our fundamental understanding of the aerobiome during this five-year project.
The aerobiome plays an important role in human, animal, plant and overall ecosystem health. Bacteria in clouds can even influence precipitation, but we don’t yet understand how weather, seasons and environmental stresses such as drought, agriculture and fire affect these microorganisms in the air.
BROADN plans to gather enough data through their joint effort to inform predictive models and mitigation strategies for problems as critical as the airborne transport of pathogens.
Photo at top: Russell Perkins examines instruments atop a tower at the Central Plains Experimental Range, one of the NSF NEON sites University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott’s group will use for the BROADN project.
Professor Emeritus Bill Cotton wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Wildfires burn millions of acres of land every year, leaving changed landscapes that are prone to flooding. Less well known is that these already vulnerable regions can also intensify and in some cases initiate thunderstorms.
Wildfire burn scars are often left with little vegetation and with a darker soil surface that tends to repel rather than absorb water. These changes in vegetation and soil properties leave the land more susceptible to flooding and erosion, so less rainfall is necessary to produce a devastating flood and debris flow than in an undisturbed environment.
Burn scars can also initiate or invigorate thunderstorms, raising the risk both of flooding and of lightning that could spark more fires in surrounding areas, as my research with fellow atmospheric scientist Elizabeth Page has shown.
Three members of Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science will be honored at the 102nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting Jan. 23-27 in Houston. Professor Steven Rutledge will receive the Verner E. Suomi Technology Medal, and Melissa Burt, Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering assistant dean for diversity and inclusion, will receive the Charles E. Anderson Award. The meeting also will feature a symposium named for Professor Emeritus Richard Johnson.
“We continue to be grateful to the American Meteorological Society for recognizing the excellence in the Colorado State University Atmospheric Science department,” said David McLean, dean of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. “Our researchers and emeritus faculty have set the standard for addressing pressing issues related to climate change and understanding of the atmosphere.”
Professor Jeff Pierce was selected as the Professor of the Year for the 2020-21 academic year, based on evaluations by students, administered by the department’s graduate representatives. Students fill out surveys for each course throughout the year, and grad reps then determine which professor received the most feedback for teaching excellence.
Grad rep Kimberley Corwin presented Pierce with the award Sept. 1 at the New Student Welcome Picnic. Corwin shared highlights from the evaluations, praising Pierce’s “hands-on, engaging teaching style that easily facilitates learning” and adaptability and innovation around teaching during COVID.
“He promotes a healthy learning environment that inspires students to participate and ask questions,” Corwin said.
Students noted that Pierce conveys both his interest in the subject and in student success.
Pierce teaches Intro to Air Pollution, and he incorporated topical events such as COVID and wildfires into the course.
“I am so proud of this department and how we’ve worked together to help each other over the past 18 months,” Pierce said.
He praised the faculty, students and staff for working so hard to adapt quickly during the pandemic, and expressed his gratitude for the students’ strength and perseverance.
“In particular, to the students who moved to Fort Collins during the pandemic, I hope you all appreciate what you have accomplished,” Pierce said.
This is the second time Pierce has been chosen for the award; he also was honored in 2018.
An annual tradition found its way back into our routine Sept. 1 when the department welcomed its incoming graduate students with a picnic at Spring Canyon Park. Last year’s event was canceled due to the pandemic.
Faculty introduced their new students and shared a little about the research each will be doing. It was a good opportunity to take a photo of the incoming class (above) as well as last year’s cohort (below).
Photo at top: Fall 2021 incoming class. Front row, left to right: Tyler Barbero, Jack Cahill, Christine Neumaier, Yiyu Zheng, Zaibeth Carlo-Frontera, En Li and Nico Gordillo. Middle row, left to right: Casey Zoellick, Anindita Chakraborty, Weixin Zhang, Zoe Douglas, Olivia Sablan, Erin (Lexi) Sherman and Amanda Bowden. Back row, left to right: Brian Heffernan, Dhyey Solanki, James Larson, Andrey Marsavin, Jon Thielen, Ben Ascher, Joe Kelly, Spencer Jones, Emily Lill and Ivy Glade.
Fall 2020 incoming class. Front row, left to right: Daniel Veloso Águila, Ann Casey Hughes, Charlotte (Charlie) Connolly, Gabrielle Leung, Emily Gordon, Madison Shogrin and Kimberley Corwin. Back row, left to right: Daniel Hueholt, Nicolas Leitmann-Niimi, Kyle Shackelford, Nicole June, Marc Alessi, Ryan Patnaude and Weixin Zhang.
At the picnic, we also had the good fortune to meet talented photographer Abdulaziz Yusufjanov (970.690.2580), who took the excellent photos in the gallery below.
Colorado State Climatologist and Professor Russ Schumacher wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Record downpours from Hurricane Ida overwhelmed cities across the Northeast on Sept. 1, 2021, hitting some with more than 3 inches of rain an hour. Water poured into subway stations in New York City, and streets flooded up to the rooftops of cars in Philadelphia. The storm had already wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast after hitting Louisiana three days earlier as a Category 4 hurricane.
Ida had weakened well below hurricane strength by the time it reached the Northeast, so how did it still cause so much rain?
Two major factors likely contributed to its extended extreme rainfall.
First, Ida’s tropical moisture interacted with developing warm and cold fronts.
Second, evidence is mounting that, as the climate warms, the amount of precipitation from heavy rainstorms is increasing, especially in the central and eastern U.S.
Image at top: Rainfall totals over 24 hours, Sept. 1-2, 2021.CoCoRaHS Mapping System
Professor Emeritus William Cotton has been chosen for an honor given to only one member of the cloud physics community every four years. He has been elected as an Honorary Member of the International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation, an organization based in the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences.
Every four years, the commission organizes the International Conference on Clouds and Precipitation, a top forum for atmospheric scientists to share their research on clouds and precipitation, in Pune, India. Cotton has attended the conference since the early 1970s. This year he spoke at the virtual event in August and accepted his award acknowledging his “career of outstanding scientific contributions to cloud and precipitation physics.”
Cotton joined CSU’s atmospheric science faculty in 1974. He has received numerous honors from the college and university over the years, including the Engineering Dean’s Council Award for excellence in atmospheric research, the Abell Faculty Research Graduate Program Support Award, the Research Foundation Researcher of the Year Award, and the Jack Cermak Distinguished Advisor Award. His Ph.D. alma mater, Penn State University, gave him the Charles L. Hosler Alumni Scholar Award, and the Weather Modification Association presented him with the Schaefer Award for scientific and technological discoveries that constituted a major contribution to the advancement of weather modification.
Cotton is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA). He has published more than 190 papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored nine book chapters, one book, and a memoir, and co-authored two additional books. He considers the most significant achievement of his career to be advising students, including 44 Ph.D.s, 44 M.S. students and 12 postdocs.
Ph.D. student Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano has been selected as a 2021 Next Generation Fellow by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). She was awarded the Earth Science fellowship as part of the program’s fifth cohort.
The Next Generation Fellowship gives financial and academic support to Earth system science students from historically underrepresented groups. UCAR will support the fellows with two years of graduate school funding. The fellows also will receive professional development and experience through summer internships with UCAR and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). You can more about the fellowship and its three 2021 recipients here.
During the first summer, Juncosa Calahorrano will work with Alessandro Franchin and her CSU mentors to use a commercially available inertial inlet to separate particle- from gas-phase reactive nitrogen to get a true gas-phase measurement of oxidized nitrogen (NOy). The second summer, she will work with Gabriele Pfister on incorporating observations from the Transformation and Transportation of Ammonia (TRAN2AM) field intensive into the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-chem) to aid the interpretation of the observations and to validate and improve model outputs and parameterization.
“I am super excited for this opportunity and look forward to working with Ale and Gabi and getting to know the NCAR family better,” Juncosa Calahorrano said.
In her home of Quito, Ecuador, Juncosa Calahorrano was inspired to study environmental engineering as a solution to pollution of the local water and atmosphere. Her goal has been to better understand the processes that lead to pollution of natural systems and the ways informed policies can improve ecosystem and societal well-being. In particular, she was drawn to study air quality and atmospheric science.
Juncosa Calahorrano earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), and a master’s degree in atmospheric science from Colorado State University (CSU). Now Juncosa Calahorrano is working toward her doctorate at CSU, where her research focuses on investigating the impacts and effects of reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere from wildfire smoke plumes and concentrated animal feeding operations. Her career goals are to be a professor and mentor the next generation of rising scientists while also making the atmospheric chemistry research in Latin America more globally visible.
During her fellowship, Juncosa Calahorrano will be utilizing the expertise and resources available at NCAR’s atmospheric chemistry laboratory for instrumentation testing and modeling capabilities.
“This fellowship will allow me to learn from a group of world-class scientists specializing in both atmospheric chemistry instrumentation and regional modeling,” said Juncosa Calahorrano. “Our goal is to develop a new technique that will better measure oxidized nitrogen, as well as incorporate measurements from a recent field campaign into an atmospheric chemistry model. This will ultimately help improve our knowledge of the impacts of reactive nitrogen.”
Ph.D. student Ting-Yu Cha received third place in the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences competition. The paper she submitted, “Polygonal Eyewall Asymmetries During the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Michael (2018),” highlights the importance of coastal radar observations with high temporal resolution and the single Doppler radar wind retrieval algorithm, which can help to improve tropical cyclone intensity forecasts and investigate real-time TC intensity and structure changes. This paper also was selected as an Editors’ Highlight by Eos in 2020. Cha’s co-authors on the paper were her adviser, Professor Michael Bell, Wen-Chau Lee and Alex DesRosiers.
“I would not have accomplished the work without Michael’s guidance and Wen-Chau’s and Alex’s contributions,” Cha said. “I am grateful that the research and my graduate experiences as a female international student were acknowledged by the selection committee, which motivates me even more to improve our scientific understanding of tropical cyclones.”
Colorado State University hurricane researchers have reduced their forecast slightly but continue to call for an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2021, citing the likely absence of El Niño as a primary factor.
Sea surface temperatures averaged across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean are now warmer than normal. A warmer than normal tropical Atlantic and Caribbean is considered favorable for an active 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, since a warmer than normal tropical Atlantic provides more fuel for developing storms.
The tropical eastern and central Pacific currently has cool neutral El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions, that is, the water temperatures are slightly below average. CSU researchers anticipate that these waters are likely to remain cooler than normal for the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season. Consequently, they believe that El Niño is extremely unlike this year.
Professor Scott Denning wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
You probably remember your grade school science teachers explaining that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. That’s a fundamental property of the universe.
Energy can be transformed, however. When the Sun’s rays reach Earth, they are transformed into random motions of molecules that you feel as heat. At the same time, Earth and the atmosphere are sending radiation back into space. The balance between the incoming and outgoing energy is known as Earth’s “energy budget.”
Our climate is determined by these energy flows. When the amount of energy coming in is more than the energy going out, the planet warms up.
The Sun over Earth, seen from the International Space Station. NASA, CC BY-NC
Professor Scott Denning wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Summer isn’t even half over, and we’ve seen heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Canada with temperatures that would make news in Death Valley, enormous fires that have sent smoke across North America, and lethal floods of biblical proportions in Germany and China. Scientists have warned for over 50 years about increases in extreme events arising from subtle changes in average climate, but many people have been shocked by the ferocity of recent weather disasters.
A couple of things are important to understand about climate change’s role in extreme weather like this.
First, humans have pumped so much carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that what’s “normal” has shifted. Extreme heat waves that were once ridiculously improbable are on their way to becoming more commonplace, and unimaginable events are becoming possible.
Second, not every extreme weather event is connected to global warming.
Ellie Casas, a doctoral candidate in the Atmospheric Science department, is working this summer as one of the instructors of the ENcourage Engineering Math Program, which is intended to help incoming first-year students be calculus-ready. Engineering Source talked with Casas about the experience.
How did you get involved with this program?
I was recommended for this position after having been a Graduate Teaching Fellow in Fall 2020 for ENGR-101: Grand Challenges of Engineering. This course is designed to help first-year engineering students understand what the differences are between each engineering major at CSU, as well as learn about the largest societal challenges that need new and innovative engineering. ENGR-101 is a great course for those who want to make more informed decisions about which engineering major is right for them, and I found that ENGR-101 is a course that meets the gold standard of effective teaching due in part to its student-led design project. I had a great time learning how to teach first-year engineering students in the most effective ways for both in-person and remote instruction methods, and it was very rewarding to watch as students gained confidence in their engineering and teamwork skills and discover their vocations.
Marqi Rocque has been selected for a Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) fellowship. Her proposal was one of 58 selected out of 351 submitted for the Earth science division of the FINESST competition.
Rocque will work with her adviser, Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen, to investigate the relationship between storm electrification, kinematics and microphysics and provide insight into how satellite-based lightning observations from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper can improve forecasts and the predictability of severe weather. They also will explore the impacts a warming climate will have on storm location, duration and intensity in subtropical South America.
“Having this award gives me the flexibility to explore a new topic that I have always been interested in but haven’t been able to study,” Rocque said. “I am looking forward to learning about different and novel ways of observing and modeling the electrical properties of severe storms, especially in subtropical South America where some of the most intense thunderstorms on Earth are known to occur.”
Research scientist and Colorado State University alumnus Steven Miller has been named director of CIRA, the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. Miller will hold a joint appointment as professor in the CSU Department of Atmospheric Science.
As one of 15 cooperative institutes partnering with NOAA, CIRA works with the department to conduct cutting-edge atmospheric science research that benefits the nation. CIRA’s research encompasses satellite meteorology, numerical forecasting, tropical storm prediction, air quality monitoring and data dissemination.
Miller has led important research initiatives, developed new programs and pursued new avenues for funding as CIRA’s deputy director since 2007. In August, he will replace the current director, Christian Kummerow, who is stepping down after 11 years to focus on his research as a CIRA Fellow and professor in Atmospheric Science.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers are maintaining their forecast for an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2021, citing the likely absence of El Niño as a primary factor. Sea surface temperatures averaged across portions of the tropical Atlantic are near normal, while the subtropical Atlantic is much warmer than average. This type of sea surface temperature configuration is also considered favorable for an active 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
The tropical eastern and central Pacific currently has cool neutral ENSO conditions, that is, the water temperatures are slightly below average. CSU researchers anticipate that these waters will likely remain near average for the Atlantic hurricane season. Consequently, they believe that El Niño is extremely unlike this year. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
While the tropical Atlantic currently has water temperatures near their long-term averages, the warmer-than-normal subtropical Atlantic typically forces a weaker subtropical high and associated weaker winds blowing across the tropical Atlantic. These conditions then lead to warmer waters in the tropical Atlantic for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Assistant Professor Maria Rugenstein has been selected to receive a NASA grant to support her early-career research. Her project is among the 38 NASA will fund through its New Investigator Program in Earth Science, out of 238 submitted.
Rugenstein will use her grant to study a key element for predicting climate change. She will examine how radiative feedbacks might change in time. Radiative feedbacks are processes that balance excess heat in the atmosphere.
Recently, scientists have found that radiative feedbacks depend on surface temperature patterns and are not constant in time as assumed for several decades. While this “pattern effect” has been simulated and understood in climate models, it has not been observed in the real world – mostly because radiative feedbacks are hard to quantify. To do so requires accurate long-term observations of both sea surface temperature patterns and top-of-the-atmosphere radiative imbalance, the difference between solar energy absorbed by Earth and the amount radiated back to space.
Rugenstein will use the 20-year record of NASA’s radiation measurements to compare observations to climate models.
“The observational record is likely too short to detect the effect, but we will try hard to detect it,” Rugenstein said. “The idea is to compare observations and climate models on equal footing by accurately sampling the internal variability of climate models. One major problem is that we do not know how small errors in the models’ ocean-atmosphere interaction might influence the top-of-the-atmosphere radiation.”
A better understanding of the interaction between surface temperature and the top-of-atmosphere radiative imbalance in the observations will help us improve climate models, understand their limits and ideally constrain projections of climate change into the future.
Rugenstein, who joined CSU’s faculty last year from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, is excited to work with NASA and satellite data on her first U.S. grant.
Ph.D. candidate Chelsea Nam received the Best Student Oral Presentation Award from the 14th International Conference on Mesoscale Convective Systems and High-Impact Weather in East Asia (ICMCS-XIV). Nam’s presentation, “Bifurcation Points for Tropical Cyclone Genesis in Sheared and Dry Environments,” was co-authored by her adviser, Professor Michael Bell, and Dandan Tao, a former research scientist in the Bell group.
Nam presented her research virtually to the hybrid format conference in Nanjing, China. The 10-hour time difference meant the conference started at 6:30 p.m. local time.
Nam was excited to share her results and receive feedback from colleagues.
“I realized I have been missing opportunities to interact with fellow scientists and just how important these conferences are to motivate and encourage graduate students like me,” Nam said.
“I am so grateful for this award, especially because the research that went into the presentation was not the easiest task for me. … It was my first time dealing with very large WRF ensemble data sets – a definite learning-curve experience.”
Naufal Razin and Jon Martinez received awards at the 34th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology on May 14. Razin won the first-place student poster award for “Tropical Cyclone Precipitation, Infrared, Microwave, and Environmental Dataset (TC PRIMED).” Martinez won the second-place student poster award for “Characterizing the Nature and Evolution of Asymmetric Structures in Idealized Simulations of Rapidly Intensifying Tropical Cyclones,” as well as the conference’s top award, the Max Eaton Student Prize for “On the Contributions of Incipient Vortex Circulation and Environmental Moisture to Tropical Cyclone Expansion.”
The Max Eaton Prize is given every two years for the outstanding combination of presentation and paper at the AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology. The prize was established to recognize Max A. Eaton’s lifelong contributions to tropical meteorology and the encouragement he gave to young researchers.
“It’s an honor to have two of my research projects acknowledged with such valuable awards at the Hurricane Conference,” Martinez said. “Both awards represent the culmination of collaborative research projects, and I’m grateful that our ideas are permeating throughout the community!”
Co-authors on Razin’s poster included Chris Slocum, Paula Brown and John Knaff, and Chelsea Nam co-authored Martinez’ Max Eaton paper and presentation.
“These awards would not have been possible without their significant contributions,” Professor Michael Bell, Razin’s and Martinez’ adviser, acknowledged the co-authors. Bell noted that TC PRIMED was supported by an ATS/CIRA PRSE grant.
“This project is a heavily collaborative effort, and I couldn’t have done it without my TC PRIMED team from ATS and CIRA,” Razin said.
Kevin Barry and Jennie Bukowski were honored for outstanding student research in a virtual ceremony May 14. Barry received the Herbert Riehl Memorial Award for his paper, “Observations of Ice Nucleating Particles in the Free Troposphere From Western US Wildfires,” based on his research from the WE-CAN wildfire smoke campaign. Bukowski received the Alumni Award for “Dust Radiative Effects in Haboobs,” based on her Ph.D. research on the lofting and transport of mineral dust, dust radiation interactions, and the representation of these processes in numerical models.
Barry was nominated by his advisers, University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott, and also by Research Scientist Tom Hill. DeMott presented Barry with his award.
“Some things that characterize Kevin since he has joined our department are his willingness and fearlessness in diving into any task, his desire to learn, and his always seeking to be helpful,” DeMott said.
DeMott noted that the groundbreaking nature of Barry’s work was recognized in a research spotlight by AGU’s Eos. Barry also presented his work in the CSU Graduate Showcase, which led to his invitation to the university-wide three-minute thesis challenge. Based on his presentation, “Can wildfires influence ice in clouds?,” Barry was awarded a Vice President for Research Graduate Fellowship.
“The novelty of Kevin’s work is that no one had previously performed systematic and comprehensive measurements of the role of wildfires in generating and lofting these cloud-active aerosols at plume-injection heights where they actually enter clouds,” DeMott said.
Herbert Riehl, Jr. attended the award ceremony remotely. The Herbert Riehl Memorial Award honors his father, who founded the department.
The Alumni Award recognizes outstanding Ph.D. research by a senior student. In Professor Sue van den Heever’s introduction of this year’s recipient, she kept Bukowski’s identity secret for as long as possible, a department tradition.
“This student’s scientific mantra really is twofold: to ensure that you conduct the best science possible and then to apply that science to enhance societal benefits,” van den Heever said. “While most of us believe that this twofold approach is important, many of us end up focusing on either the first or the second of these goals. This student really actively strives to achieve both of those goals.”
van den Heever recognized Bukowski’s work as highly interdisciplinary, given the importance of dust to human health, radiation, ocean fertilization and ice nucleation.
“Jennie has made some really novel and original contributions to the field by examining the interaction of radiation with the large amounts of dust transported within haboobs, as well as the role played by land surface processes in determining haboob intensity,” van den Heever said. “This research has not only enhanced our theoretical understanding of haboob processes, but has also contributed to the way in which we represent haboobs in models.”
Barry and Bukowski each gave a brief technical presentation on their research following announcement of their awards.
The department celebrated spring and summer graduates with a Zoom ceremony May 14. Advisers shared information about each graduate, and family and friends were able to attend.
We asked our graduating students about their plans following graduation and the most important thing they learned at CSU. Here are their responses.
Ali Akherati
“I am a postdoc at University of California, Davis.”
“I learned how to live, not just how to do science and how important other aspects of life are. Being successful is not just being good at your work but also how to be a useful person in different aspects in society. Having a good work-life balance makes you a better person and more successful. I got a new family, friends and life in Fort Collins.”
Jennie Bukowski
“I’m a postdoc with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, working at NCAR with Daniel Swain and James Done researching spatially/temporally connected extreme precipitation events.”
“That science can and should be kind. After all, we’re humans first and scientists second.”
Jhordanne Jones
“I’m heading to a postdoctoral position at Purdue University to work with Dan Chavas’ group.”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU was that a strong, supportive community makes good science. I really appreciated being a part of the Atmos community and learned from so many experts and fellow students while here.”
Drew Koeritzer
“I am employed as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service at the Lubbock, TX forecast office.”
“The value of learning from and engaging with others. Teamwork and collaboration really are crucial to success!”
Michael Needham
“I am continuing on to the Ph.D. program, still in Dave Randall’s group.”
“The most important thing I learned is the value of building relationships, especially when you tend to be introverted.”
Casey Patrizio
“In September I am very excited to be starting a postdoc position at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) in Bologna, Italy.”
“Among many important things I learned during my time at CSU was the value of balance in life (this is also still very much an ongoing process).”
Kate O’Dell
“I am starting a post-doc at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in August.”
“I’ve learned so much at CSU! I think one of the most important lessons for me was to not be afraid to say, ‘I don’t know,’ and ask questions. Asking the right questions with the right people is how great research happens.”
Kristen Van Valkenburg
“Still at CSU through the summer and on the job hunt now!”
“Teamwork! Classes/homework are best accomplished with many minds working to solve problems. Research is also always a team effort, so I learned to ask for help when I needed it and tried to be there when others needed me.”
Photo collage: From left to right, top to bottom row, Ali Akherati, Jennie Bukowski, Jhordanne Jones, Drew Koeritzer, Michael Needham, Lance Niño, Kate O’Dell, Casey Patrizio and Kristen Van Valkenburg.
Spring 2021 Graduates
Ali Akherati
Ph.D.
Advisers: Shantanu Jathar/Jeff Pierce
Jennie Bukowski
Ph.D.
Adviser: Sue van den Heever
Adam Clayton*
M.S.
Adviser: Steven Rutledge
Drew Koeritzer
M.S.
Adviser: Chris Kummerow
Yoonjin Lee*
Ph.D.
Advisers: Chris Kummerow/Milija Zupanski
Alex Naegele*
Ph.D.
Adviser: David Randall
Michael Needham
M.S.
Adviser: David Randall
*Recognized in fall ceremony
Summer 2021 Graduates
Jhordanne Jones
Ph.D.
Adviser: Michael Bell
Lance Niño
M.S.
Adviser: Sonia Kreidenweis
Kate O’Dell
Ph.D.
Advisers: Jeff Pierce/Emily Fischer
Casey Patrizio
Ph.D.
Advisers: David Randall/David Thompson
Kristen Van Valkenburg
M.S.
Advisers: Steven Rutledge/Sue van den Heever
The Air & Waste Management Association awarded scholarships to two department students this year. Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano and Lilly Naimie were recognized for their exceptional air quality research and studies. In addition to receiving financial support for their educational pursuits, they each will be granted a one-year membership in the association. They also will be honored virtually in an awards ceremony June 16.
“It is extremely exciting to get opportunities to keep working in air quality research,” Juncosa Calahorrano said. “The Air & Waste Management Association does great work on air quality research and provides amazing opportunities for young scientists to thrive in their research careers. I am extremely grateful for this recognition that motivates me even more to keep researching air quality on the Colorado Front Range. Thanks to Emily Fischer for being an amazing adviser and to Jeffrey Pierce for being a great mentor.”
Naimie plans to use the funds to further her work with Professor Jeff Collett’s group to investigate the impact of ammonia emitted in the eastern Colorado plains on nitrogen deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park.
“Our hope is that with a better understanding of ammonia deposition in the park, we can help get Rocky beneath the critical load for nitrogen deposition and protect our national park land,” Naimie said. “I feel honored to be recognized by the AWMA. I am new to this community and looking forward to being a part of a group focused on protecting the environment from harmful pollutants.”
Colorado State Climatologist Russ Schumacher and Assistant State Climatologist Becky Bolinger wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Anyone who listens to weather reports has heard meteorologists comment that yesterday’s temperature was 3 degrees above normal, or last month was much drier than normal. But what does “normal” mean in this context – and in a world in which the climate is changing?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released updated “climate normals” – datasets that the agency produces every 10 years to give forecasters and the public baseline measurements of average temperature, rainfall and other conditions across the U.S. As the state climatologist and assistant state climatologist for Colorado, we work with this information all the time. Here’s what climate normals are, how they’ve changed, and how you can best make sense of them.
When the President’s Council on Culture put out its call for nominations for notable contributions to the culture of Colorado State University, the response was a bright light in what has been an especially difficult year amid the ongoing pandemic.
Nominations for the Culture Award, part of Celebrate! Colorado State, started pouring in, with peers recognizing numerous individuals and units for going above and beyond to effect culture change at CSU. That made for a very difficult deliberation for council members, but PCC Chair and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Sue James said it was a good position to be in because it revealed just how much work is being done across CSU.
“It was impressive to see the number of submissions and to read the passionate cases made for recognizing nominated faculty, staff and units. As we read through the nominations, it was clear we were not going to be able to select just one award recipient as we had intended,” James said. “There were just so many who were deserving to be recognized, but Melissa Burt and the WGAC staff stood out as major agents of change.”
Professor Scott Denning wrote this piece for The Conversation. Colorado State University is a contributing institution to The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving to eliminate a class of chemicals widely used as coolants in refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps.
If that feels like déjà vu, it should.
These chemicals, called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, were commercialized in the 1990s as a replacement for earlier refrigerants that were based on chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. CFCs were destroying the ozone layer high in the Earth’s atmosphere, which is essential for protecting life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.
HFCs are much less harmful than CFCs, but they create another problem – they have a strong heat-trapping effect that is contributing to global warming.
Two department members were honored during this year’s Celebrate! Colorado State Awards. Associate Professor Emily Fischer was named a Monfort Professor, one of CSU’s highest honors, and Melissa Burt, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, received the President’s Council on Culture Award.
Burt was recognized for her individual effort to be a change agent – promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within her department, her college and across campus. The award acknowledges significant and positive contributions to creating a University culture.
Monfort Professorships are awarded to faculty who are rising stars in their fields. The two-year awards provide $50,000 each year for recipients to work on specific research projects and are made possible by the Monfort Family Foundation. Fischer’s Monfort action plan will take advantage of improving low-cost sensor technology to identify impacts of air pollution on economically disadvantaged and minority communities.
Fischer joins a growing list of ATS faculty members who have been honored over the years as Monfort Professors, including Scott Denning, Dave Thompson, Sue van den Heever and Jeff Pierce.
Alumnus Walt Petersen (M.S., ’92; Ph.D., ’97) has been named the Science Research and Projects Division Chief within the Science and Technology Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Petersen will begin his new role May 9, managing MSFC’s Earth, Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science portfolio, partnerships, workforce and the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility.
Petersen has more than six years of supervisory and organizational leadership experience at two NASA centers, as well as significant science leadership and collaboration experience. His career began when he served as an aerographer’s mate in the U.S. Navy, and then a meteorological technician, before pursuing a degree in mathematics at Southern Utah University and advanced degrees at Colorado State University in atmospheric science.
Petersen joined Marshall Space Flight Center in 2008 as an Earth scientist. In 2011, he transferred to the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility, where he served as the GSFC field support office branch chief, responsible for leading a successful NASA Earth Science research program in atmospheric and oceanic remote sensing. In 2015, he returned to MSFC, serving in many roles including as a deputy project scientist for the NASA-JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission. Petersen became deputy division chief of the Science Research and Projects Division in June 2019. He also was named a fellow of the American Meteorological Society in January 2021.
The award is meant to encourage and recognize research significant to the field of applied climatology. In addition to a plaque and cash award, Childs will receive one year of associate membership in the AASC and paid attendance to present his research at the AASC Annual Meeting in June.
“It is quite an honor to be recognized by the AASC for my Ph.D. work on the impacts of climate and population on a changing hailstorm and tornado landscape across eastern Colorado,” Childs said. “I am thankful to Dr. Russ Schumacher for the nomination as well as the key contributions from him and other collaborators toward this research, particularly Dr. Stephen Strader. The hope is that this work will raise awareness of the potential future human impacts of these two major weather hazards for Coloradans and shed light on the overlapping influences of both climate change and population dynamics in assessing the future risk from hailstorms and tornadoes.”
The coronavirus pandemic has led researchers to switch gears or temporarily abandon projects due to health protocols or not being able to travel. But for Patrick Keys and Elizabeth Barnes, husband and wife scientists at Colorado State University, this past year led to a productive research collaboration.
They teamed up with Neil Carter, assistant professor at the University of Michigan, on a paper published in Environmental Research Letters that outlines a satellite-based map of human pressure on lands around the world.
Keys, lead author and a research scientist in CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability, said the team used machine learning to produce the map, which reveals where abrupt changes in the landscape have taken place around the world. The map shows a near-present snapshot of effects from deforestation, mining, expanding road networks, urbanization and increasing agriculture.
“The map we’ve developed can help people understand important challenges in biodiversity conservation and sustainability in general,” said Keys.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers are predicting an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2021, citing the likely absence of El Niño as a primary factor. Tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are near their long-term averages, while subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are much warmer than their long-term average values. The warmer subtropical Atlantic also favors an active 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
The tropical Pacific currently has weak La Niña conditions, that is, water temperatures are somewhat cooler than normal in the eastern and central tropical Pacific. While these waters may warm slightly during the next few months, CSU does not currently anticipate El Niño for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
While the tropical Atlantic currently has water temperatures near their long-term averages, the warmer-than-normal subtropical Atlantic typically forces a weaker subtropical high and associated weaker winds blowing across the tropical Atlantic. These conditions then lead to warmer waters in the tropical Atlantic for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine tackles a controversial question: Is solar geoengineering – an approach designed to cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight back into space or modifying clouds – a potential tool for countering climate change?
The report, produced by a committee of 16 experts from diverse fields, does not take a position but concludes that the concept should be studied. It calls for creating a multidisciplinary research program, in coordination with other countries and managed by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, that seeks to fill in the many knowledge gaps on this issue.
The study emphasizes that such research is not a substitute for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and should be a minor part of the U.S. response to climate change. It notes that “engineering the climate” would not address the root cause of climate change – greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. And it calls for a research program that draws on physical science, social science and ethics and includes public input.
These perspectives from three members of the study committee underline the complexity of this issue.
Three options, many questions
By James W. Hurrell, Professor and Scott Presidential Chair of Environmental Science and Engineering
Solar geoengineering strategies are very controversial within and beyond the climate science community. It is a major step forward to have 16 experts from different disciplines agree that now is the time to establish a research program on this topic. Our committee traveled a long road to reach this recommendation, working through many complex and contentious issues to reach consensus, but we did it collegially and productively. Each of us learned a great deal.
The three options we considered raise many questions.
Over the past several years, we have witnessed the terrible trend of violence targeted against individuals in our community. From the recent attack in Boulder, which we are still seeking to understand, to the shootings in Atlanta, whose motives we understand all too well, we behold these terrible actions, and their aftermath, which we all must collectively bear. We further note that anti-Asian sentiment and violence has increased nationwide in the form of verbal harassment online or in person, and in the form of actual physical attacks, including the horrific tragedy in Atlanta that took the lives of eight individuals, including six Asian women. We abhor and condemn any action that seeks to neglect, disrespect, or abuse our Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander (AAAPI) colleagues.
As with so many of the events of this past year, these actions continue to highlight the fact that racism and gender-crimes are long-standing systemic issues in the U.S. The Department of Atmospheric Science and CIRA stand in solidarity with our AAAPI community members. Hand-in-hand with our research activities, our AAAPI community forms valuable and real partnerships and friendships, and as such, is an integral component of our academic, professional, and personal lives within ATS and CIRA.
We hear the voices of our AAAPI community members who have informed us that they feel unseen or unrecognized. While not all of us have personally felt the sting of racist and intolerant behavior, we know it exists, and we see you. We are here for you. Moving forward, we will work with you to ensure that you know you are a welcomed, valued, and critical part of our community.
CSU has started taking action, which ATS and CIRA support, including the following steps led by the University Vice President for Diversity:
Supporting local Asian-owned businesses, many of which have seen a decline in business since the start of the pandemic;
Supporting nonprofits like Stop AAPI Hate and Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
Our ATS and CIRA community fully supports these activities and share the sentiment in the message shared with the entire university by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity. Moving forward, we at ATS and CIRA want to work with you to find more ways to strengthen our community, and we encourage you to contact us, your student or staff representatives, or the ATS/CIRA DEI committee with concerns, thoughts, and ideas. The DEI committee is planning to provide a safe space for AAAPI students, staff, and faculty to process these events. We will keep you posted.
We all recognize that the shootings in Atlanta are tragic, but they may impact us differently. You are not alone; we have resources to help you.
Jeff Collett, ATS department head Eric Maloney, ATS associate department head Chris Kummerow, CIRA director
ATS/CIRA DEI Committee members: Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano Charlotte DeMott Emily Fischer Leah Grant Dave Randall Sagar Rathod Matt Rogers Alex Sokolowsky Sarah Tisdale Melissa Burt
Maria Molina from the National Center for Atmospheric Research will give the final What’s Brewing in Weather and Science talk of the academic year Tuesday, March 30. Molina will discuss navigating a career in STEM, how to prioritize the aspects of your career that are important to you and not being afraid to chart your own path.
The virtual talk will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Q-and-A session. FORTCAST will send out the meeting link closer to the event.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott received the Outstanding Researcher Award and Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes received the Faculty Excellence Award during the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering All-College Meeting on March 22. Nominations were submitted by colleagues and staff of the college’s eight departments and programs.
DeMott was recognized for “sustained, exceptional research achievements leading to fundamental advances in understanding and measurement of ice-nucleating particles, and for raising international recognition of the profound impacts of ice nuclei on clouds and climate.”
DeMott acknowledged his many colleagues deserving of the award and thanked collaborator University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and his wife Charlotte DeMott, who is also a research scientist in the department.
“I’m honored and really humbled to be acknowledged this way, since I feel surrounded by so many really excellent and high-achieving individuals in our department and in this college,” DeMott said. “I’m really fortunate to have been here at CSU for such a rich and rewarding career.”
Barnes was recognized for “her contributions of astonishing quality and quantity to climate dynamics research.” The award citation noted, “She is a sought-after collaborator, an award-winning mentor and teacher, and a leader in service to CSU and her research field.”
Barnes credited her students and postdocs as the foundation of the great research and science done by her group. “I want to start with acknowledging them,” she said.
Barnes expressed gratitude to the department, college and university for their support over the past year, with all its pandemic-related challenges.
“I could never have continued to do science and research and teach without so many faculty who had different challenges stepping up, working late at night, working on weekends to make the machine run when I couldn’t,” she said. “I really want to stress how important it has been to me that so many of you have been working so hard to help out others.”
Three atmospheric scientists and one epidemiologist from Colorado State University will interpret NASA data for public benefit as part of NASA’s Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team. The team’s goal is to translate information from NASA satellites, models and surface observations to help officials make decisions to protect public health.
Jeff Pierce, associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, was chosen as one of 14 principal investigators from universities and government offices across the U.S. who will serve during this four-year term. His co-investigators are atmospheric scientists Bonne Ford and Associate Professor Emily Fischer, and Sheryl Magzamen, epidemiologist and associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences.
“We are tasked to work with various end users to facilitate the use of NASA data in their work and decision-making more easily,” Pierce said.
The CSU collaborators received $500,000 in funding to combine NASA observations into a dataset that can identify the concentrations of various pollutants in the air on any given day, in any location in the contiguous U.S., from 2006 to the present. The dataset they create will inform studies connecting air quality to health outcomes, which could be used to craft regulations.
Allie Mazurek, an M.S. student advised by Associate Professor Russ Schumacher, received an Outstanding Student Poster Award for the work she presented at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting.
Mazurek’s research used a high-density rain gauge network and radar data from southeast Texas to examine the relationship between extreme surface precipitation rates and embedded mesoscale rotation in the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda (2019). After conducting an ingredients-based analysis of the case, she subjectively identified small-scale rotation in the system, then matched the rotation spatially and temporally to surface rainfall data.
“The virtual poster allowed me to present more of my research than a printed poster, but I did miss the face-to-face interaction and feedback that you get with an in-person conference,” Mazurek said. “I’m grateful that I was still able to interact with a few other scientists in creative ways, though!”
Smoke from local wildfires can affect the health of Colorado residents, in addition to smoke from fires in forests as far away as California and the Pacific Northwest.
Researchers at Colorado State University, curious about the health effects from smoke from large wildfires across the Western United States, analyzed six years of hospitalization data and death records for the cities along the Front Range.
They found that wildfire smoke was associated with increased hospitalizations for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and some cardiovascular health outcomes. They also discovered that wildfire smoke was associated with deaths from asthma and cardiovascular disease, but that there was a difference in the effects of smoke from local fires and that from distant ones.
Photo at top:The Cameron Peak and East Troublesome wildfires leave a heavy smoke plume over Fort Collins in October 2020. Credit: CSUPhotography
A CSU team found that distancing indoors, even 6 feet apart, isn’t enough to limit potentially harmful exposure to airborne viruses, because confinement indoors allows particle volumes to build up in the air. Such insights aren’t revelatory, in that most people avoid confinement in indoor spaces and generally feel safer outdoors. What their paper shows, though, is that the effect of confinement indoors and subsequent particle transport can be quantified, and it can be compared to other risks that people find acceptable.
Co-authors Jeff Pierce in atmospheric science and Jay Ham in soil and crop sciences helped the team understand atmospheric turbulence in ways that could be compared in indoor and outdoor environments.
Pierce said he sought to constrain how the virus-containing particles disperse as a function of distance from the emitting person. When the pandemic hit last year, the public had many questions about whether it was safe to run or bike on trails, Pierce said. The researchers found that longer-duration interactions outdoors at greater than 6-foot distances appeared safer than similar-duration indoor interactions, even if people were further apart indoors, due to particles filling the room rather than being carried away by wind.
“We started fairly early on in the pandemic, and we were all filled with questions about: ‘Which situations are safer than others?’ Our pooled expertise allowed us to find answers to this question, and I learned a lot about air filtration and air exchange in my home and in my CSU classroom,” Pierce said.
Charlie Wilkins, who made instruments for the department and worked as a weather research engineer in one of the many fulfilling careers throughout his life, passed away Feb. 13. His obituary can be viewed online. A funeral service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 27.
Wilkins, a U.S. Air Force veteran, flew several aircraft for weather research projects during his time at CSU: a T-28, Queen Aire, McDonnell F-101B (the Grey Ghost) and Cessna 207. He ran the department machine shop for many years.
“He was very helpful to many students and was just a very approachable and friendly person,” Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott said.
Wilkins was married to Jane Wilkins, who served as assistant to the department head and graduate student coordinator from 1987-98.
Three papers authored by students in the department recently have been highlighted by the American Geophysical Union. The papers by Ph.D. candidate Ting-Yu Cha and recent graduates Ben Toms and Steven Brey were featured in the AGU publication Eos.
Cha’s research presents the first observational evidence of the evolving wind asymmetries of a polygonal eyewall during rapid intensification to Category 5 intensity, by deducing the winds from coastal radar observations.
“Our results highlight the value of coastal radar observations to investigate physical mechanisms of hurricane intensity and structure evolution, and can potentially help to improve intensity forecasts in the future,” Cha said.
AGU Research Spotlights summarize the research and findings of the best accepted articles for the broad Earth and space science community.
Image at top: Radar reflectivity scans of Hurricane Michael as it developed at six time intervals on Oct. 10, 2018. Credit: Cha et al. [2020]
You can shape your career path based on your passions. FEMA public affairs specialist Minh Phan will share how he has done just that at FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Science talk Tuesday, Feb. 16. Minh will discuss how his interest in weather contributed to his career and research.
The virtual talk will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Q-and-A session. FORTCAST will send out the meeting link closer to the event.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
Melissa Burt and Emily Fischer are accomplished climate researchers – familiar faces at scientific meetings, and around the halls of Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science.
But to millions of Americans meeting Burt and Fischer for the first time, they are moms – and that’s what they hope will be the difference.
Burt, Fischer and their adorable families are stars of a national media campaign called Science Moms that launched just as America got a new president in January. The campaign’s urgent message about the realities of climate change tugs at the fierce protective instincts of its target demographic: mothers.
“Science Moms is a different kind of messaging,” said Burt, a research scientist in atmospheric science and assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. “This is a group who we know will do anything for their kids.”
Science lost a brilliant researcher and the planet lost a steadfast advocate with the death of Paul Crutzen on Jan. 28. Crutzen, an atmospheric scientist, was one of the first to link human activities to ozone deterioration, leading to the worldwide ban on ozone-depleting substances. He was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland, for discovering the chemical processes that cause ozone depletion.
Crutzen pioneered many other significant scientific discoveries. He was the first to explore biomass burning’s impact on the atmosphere; he warned that nuclear war would lead to nuclear winter; he proved the Earth is in a new epoch influenced by humans, which he termed the Anthropocene; and he started the debate on potential geoengineering to abate the effects of greenhouse gases.
“Any one of these would be a major life’s work for most of us. Yet, they are only a few examples of so many of Paul’s contributions,” said University Distinguished Professor A.R. Ravishankara, a friend of the late professor. “You cannot pick up an important atmospheric chemistry paper without seeing a reference to Crutzen’s work.”
Prior to directing the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, from 1980 to 2000, Crutzen was an adjunct professor in Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science, from 1976-81. Around the same time, he served as a senior scientist and director of the Air Quality Division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.
M.S. student Sam O’Donnell, advised by Associate Professor Jeff Pierce, was recognized with a first-place Outstanding Student Poster Presentation Award by the American Meteorological Society’s 23rd Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry.
O’Donnell’s poster covered his research using aircraft and surface-based data to investigate the profile and drivers of atmospheric new particle formation as it relates to planetary boundary layer dynamics. He and his colleagues developed a 1-D model to help elucidate the processes behind the observed nucleation and growth of particles.
O’Donnell appreciated the virtual nature of the conference because he was able to watch and re-watch presentations throughout the conference.
“I missed many of the in-person interactions, but the conference did allow me to talk to a broader audience,” he said.
Ph.D. student Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano was selected as the fourth-place winner of the Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award by the American Meteorological Society’s 23rd Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry.
Juncosa Calahorrano presented her research on the evolution of Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (PAN) in western U.S. wildfire smoke plumes using a new dataset from the Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS). She and her colleagues looked at the 2018 wildfire season and complemented their analysis with in-situ observations from the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption, and Nitrogen (WE-CAN).
“You have clearly demonstrated the outstanding qualities we look for in our student recipients of this award,” read the notification letter from AMS.
The virtual meeting allowed Juncosa Calahorrano to participate from Ecuador, where she was renewing her student visa. She said the virtual nature of the meeting was an excellent opportunity for international researchers, who are not always able to attend these events that are crucial for career development.
“I want to thank Emily Fischer and the past and present Fischer group members!” Juncosa Calahorrano said. “I have grown so much in the art of giving effective oral presentations thanks to their feedback!”
Research scientists Jessie Creamean and Thomas Hill wrote this Research Brief, a short take about interesting academic work, for The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public.
Permafrost – frozen soil in the far north – is thawing, releasing greenhouse gases and long-lost microbes. But one thing that scientists have not studied extensively is whether permafrost contains certain kinds of particles that could affect clouds and weather.
As atmospheric scientists, we found in a recent study that thawing permafrost contains lots of microscopic ice-nucleating particles. These particles make it easier for water droplets to freeze; and if the ones in permafrost get airborne, they could affect Arctic clouds.
In the summer of 2018, one of us, Jessie Creamean, went to Fairbanks, Alaska, and collected samples of permafrost from a research tunnel deep underground. These samples ranged from 18,000 to 30,000 years old, and our team tested them to see how many ice-nucleating particles are hiding in permafrost.
It turns out permafrost contains a ton of them – up to 100 million highly active individual particles per gram of mostly dead microbes and pieces of plants. This density is on par with what is found in fertile soils, which are some of the most concentrated sources of ice-nucleating particles on Earth. Everywhere in the world, ice-nucleating particles typically play a major role in cloud behavior, and the strength of that effect is still being studied.
Photo at top: This 18,000-year-old permafrost sample contains millions of ice-nucleating particles per gram. Credit: Thomas Hill, CC BY-ND
Jeffrey Collett, professor and chair of the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, has been named to the national U.S. Department of Agriculture Air Quality Task Force.
Collett and the 25 other members of the task force will advise the Secretary of Agriculture on air quality issues related to agriculture based on science and research.
Members serve a two-year term and are chosen for their expertise in farming, industry, health and science. They review research on agricultural air quality, promote intergovernmental coordination on policy, and ensure that conservation practices supported by the USDA are based on peer-reviewed research and are economically feasible for agricultural producers.
The department celebrated fall graduates with a Zoom ceremony Jan. 8. Advisers shared information about each graduate, and family and friends were able to attend.
We asked our graduating students about their plans following graduation and the most important thing they learned at CSU. Here are their responses.
Alex DesRosiers
“I will be continuing on as a Ph.D. student at CSU.”
“Just because you don’t have the slightest idea how to even start something at first does not mean you can’t do it.”
Andrea Jenney
“I’m a NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine.”
“I particularly value the example that this department sets for being a collaborative, welcoming, and non-competitive work environment; values that I have learned to prioritize in my own career.”
Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano
“I am continuing my Ph.D. program with the Fischer group. I will spend my Ph.D. understanding the emissions, abundances and loss processes of ammonia from animal feeding operations.”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU is to take my space in the room.”
Nicholas Kedzuf
“Staying at CSU to pursue my Ph.D. under the guidance of Christine Chiu.”
“Embrace criticism, always be willing to learn, and don’t compare yourself to others too much.”
Yoonjin Lee
“I’ll be working as a postdoc at CIRA – glad that I’m staying here!”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU is to cooperate with people, not competing. (I met so many good ‘scientists’).”
Jingyuan Li
Jingyuan has moved to San Diego, California.
“How to ask the right questions, and how to deal with uncertainty in research projects.”
Alex Naegele
“I recently started a postdoc in climate risk at Woodwell Climate Research Center.”
“CSU has so much to offer! Don’t be afraid to pursue any and all interesting opportunities, even if they seem non-traditional for someone in our field.”
Marqi Rocque
“Currently a Ph.D. student in Kristen Rasmussen’s group (working on RELAMPAGO analysis).”
“How to efficiently manage my time.”
Ben Toms
“I started a company called Intersphere, focused on seasonal to sub-decadal forecasts (intersphere.earth).”
“One of the most important elements to any research project is the human element. Teams operate best if people know they’re appreciated as part of the team and that their work has a broader purpose.”
Ben Trabing
“I am a research associate at CIRA, but am working at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.”
“I learned quite a bit at CSU, but overall the most important thing I learned was how to be a good scientist. I learned the skills required to think critically about difficult problems and potential solutions.”
Photo collage: From left to right, top to bottom row, Alex DesRosiers (left), Andrea Jenney, Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano, Nicholas Kedzuf, Yoonjin Lee, Jingyuan Li, Alex Naegele, Marqi Rocque, Ben Toms and Ben Trabing.
Fall 2020 Graduates
Adam Clayton
M.S.
Adviser: Steven Rutledge
Alex DesRosiers
M.S.
Adviser: Michael Bell
Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano
M.S.
Adviser: Emily Fischer
Andrea Jenney
Ph.D.
Advisers: David Randall and Elizabeth Barnes
Nicholas Kedzuf
M.S.
Adviser: Christine Chiu
Yoonjin Lee
Ph.D.
Advisers: Chris Kummerow and Milija Zupanski
Jingyuan Li
Ph.D.
Adviser: David Thompson
Alex Naegele
Ph.D.
Adviser: David Randall
Marqi Rocque
M.S.
Adviser: Steven Rutledge
Ben Toms
Ph.D.
Adviser: Elizabeth Barnes
Ben Trabing
Ph.D.
Adviser: Michael Bell
The department recognized 2020 Outstanding Alums Bob Rauber and Julie Demuth in a virtual ceremony Dec. 10.
“2020 has been for all of us a really challenging year, so it’s especially nice when we have opportunities like today to celebrate good things, like the accomplishments of our outstanding alumni, and we have two great examples today,” Department Head Jeff Collett kicked off the ceremony. “Sometimes universities give these awards to big donors. We really like to focus on the outstanding accomplishments in science, community-building and outreach of our alumni.”
Bob’s and Julie’s nominators shared reasons for their selection, before the Outstanding Alums each gave a brief presentation on their research and experiences at CSU.
Julie, a scientist at NCAR, was nominated by Andrea and Russ Schumacher, who both have worked on research with her. The Schumachers commented on the significance of Julie’s work.
“As a field, as we continue to appreciate the importance of communicating our science and figuring out how people understand it, Julie’s work is really at the forefront of that area and continues to push things forward as far as not just doing good science, but making sure that it is relevant and useful,” Russ said.
Julie has mentored some of Russ’s students, and Andrea encouraged her to continue this relationship with the department.
Julie thanked Andrea and Russ, who she said “are two scientists and people I respect so incredibly much.”
“I really am speechless and stunned about this award,” she said.
Julie gave an overview of her work on hazardous weather risk communication and examples of her research. She also shared her fondest memories from CSU, including a summer retreat at Pingree Park and her adviser, University Distinguished Professor Tom Vonder Haar, encouraging students to “sit under a tree” and think about research.
Professor Larry Di Girolamo, a colleague of Bob’s at the University of Illinois, lauded Bob’s giving and helpful nature as his greatest accomplishment.
“Bob never reacts to a situation; he always acts. He acts by giving his time to solve problems, big or small, often ones he’s not even responsible for. I believe it’s this giving nature that is Bob’s greatest accomplishment that CSU should be most proud of in recognizing Bob for this alumni award,” Larry said.
Bob said he was humbled by the award. “It’s really an honor to represent the department at CSU. Truly one of the joys of my life was spending my time at Colorado State.”
Bob, a University of Illinois professor and director of its School of Earth, Society, and Environment, honored his adviser, the late Professor Emeritus Lew Grant, and his “spiritual adviser,” Professor Emeritus Bill Cotton. He talked about doing his master’s and Ph.D. work in Steamboat Springs and the record he holds as the first grad student at CSU to type his thesis on a word processor. His typing partner later became his wife.
“The thing I took from Colorado State University that is the true gem in my life is Ruta,” he said of his wife.
Bob characterized CSU as the roots of his career, leading to 21 field campaigns and 35 years of field research.
“The opportunities I’ve had go back to the opportunities I was given at Colorado State,” he said.
Using Web of Science citation data, experts from the Institute for Scientific Information identify influential researchers who rank in the top 1 percent of citations for field and year. Out of nearly 8 million researchers in the world over the past decade, less than 1 percent qualify for the distinction by publishing multiple papers frequently cited by their peers.
DeMott was one of only three scientists from CSU to be named to the list this year. The others were William Parton and Matthew Wallenstein.
DeMott, a researcher in University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis’ research group, studies aerosol-cloud interactions, particularly ice phase transitions of atmospheric particles. His work is important to the fundamental issue of how aerosols affect climate indirectly by impacting the radiative properties of clouds, latent heating of the atmosphere and precipitation.
Kreidenweis called DeMott’s naming to the list “well-deserved recognition of [his] impact on our science.”
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was extremely active. This heightened level of hurricane activity was relatively well anticipated by Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project. The season broke the single-season Atlantic named storm record with 30 named storms and also featured 13 hurricanes and six major hurricanes – both the second most on record. Twelve named storms, of which six were at hurricane strength, made landfall in the continental United States with the strongest of these hurricanes being Category 4 Hurricane Laura, which made landfall in southwest Louisiana.
“The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was extremely active, especially when evaluated by named storm frequency and the number of tropical cyclones hitting the United States. Overall, our seasonal forecasts somewhat underestimated the number of named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes but were quite accurate for Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE),” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the forecast and a research scientist in the CSU Department of Atmospheric Science. Accumulated Cyclone Energy is an integrated metric accounting for intensity and duration of storms. Seasonal Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) was approximately 170 percent of the 1981-2010 average. The latter part of the season was extremely active, with four of the six major hurricanes that formed in 2020 occurring in October-November. No season on record prior to 2020 had more than two Atlantic major hurricane formations in October-November.
In a virtual ceremony Friday, Kate O’Dell received the David L. Dietrich Honorary Scholarship and Sean Freeman received the Shrake-Culler Scholarship.
O’Dell’s advisers, Professors Jeff Pierce and Emily Fischer, nominated her for the Dietrich Scholarship and announced her as the recipient.
“Kate’s just a wonderful person, who’s hard-working and easy to work with, who has made terrific contributions to air pollution research,” Pierce said.
“Kate’s work has enabled many other collaborators to estimate the impact of smoke on human health and most recently crime,” added Fischer.
O’Dell’s research has been overall to quantify people’s exposure to wildfire smoke as well as assessing how smoke concentrations have been changing in the U.S. over recent decades, understanding what hazardous air pollutants are in smoke and quantifying smoke health effects. She also volunteers as a mentor for undergraduates.
The Dietrich Scholarship recognizes a CSU student who has demonstrated outstanding ability in air quality research and education. Fort Collins-based Air Resource Specialists Inc. funds the Dietrich Scholarship each year. It is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich.
Freeman was nominated by Professors Sue van den Heever, his adviser, and Sonia Kreidenweis for “his academic achievements, significant contributions to research activities both within ATS and the broader community, and his enthusiasm for graduate education, along with his incredible can-do attitude.”
Freeman focuses on the microphysical and dynamical processes of convective clouds in his research. Currently he’s looking into the role of various environmental factors, including thermodynamics, radiation and aerosols, on the life cycle of tropical convection.
“Those of you who know Sean know he has this remarkable suite of technical capabilities and skills, and he has put this to great use in a number of recent field campaigns,” van den Heever said.
Freeman oversaw all of the drone instrumentation, communication and data as well as the training of student pilots during the C3LOUD-Ex campaign. He also helped establish the CSU Drone Center. During the CAMP2Ex campaign, Freeman was one of only two students selected to be part of the flight planning team and served as the flight scientist on one of the 19 research flights.
The Shrake-Culler Scholarship is given annually to a senior Ph.D. student. The student must have passed their preliminary exam, have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and demonstrate a strong work ethic and enthusiasm for higher education.
O’Dell and Freeman each briefly presented their work, an added feature to this year’s ceremony. In the past, winners were not notified in advance.
Two exceptional alumni from the department will receive the OutstandingAlum Award this year, Bob Rauber and Julie Demuth.
Rauber earned his M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1985) from the department, studying with Professor Lew Grant. His dissertation was “Physical Structure of Northern Colorado River Basin Cloud Systems.”
Rauber joined the faculty of the atmospheric sciences department at the University of Illinois in 1987, where he has been an award-winning teacher. He served as department head from 2008-18 and led the development of the Illinois atmospheric sciences undergraduate degree program, now among the largest in the country. In 2018 Rauber was appointed director of the U of I School of Earth, Society, and Environment.
Rauber’s research spans many topics in physical meteorology, radar meteorology and mesoscale meteorology, and he has led many major field programs. His research includes cloud and mesoscale modeling and extensive work with conventional, dual-Doppler and airborne radars, radiometers, and other aircraft, ground-based and satellite instruments.
Rauber is a prolific author and has published highly successful textbooks on radar meteorology, severe and hazardous weather, and Earth science. He is well known for his dedicated service to the atmospheric science community, including nine years as chief editor of the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology and extensive service to AMS and UCAR. AMS recognized Rauber with the Charles Franklin Brooks Award for outstanding service to the society in 2019. He has been an AMS Fellow since 2006.
Demuth received her M.S. from the department in 2001 and was advised by University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Tom Vonder Haar. Her M.S. thesis was “Objectively Estimating Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Wind Structure Using the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit.”
After leaving CSU, Demuth worked for the National Research Council Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate before beginning a successful career at NCAR. While at NCAR, Demuth completed a CSU Ph.D. in public communication and technology. Her dissertation was “Developing a Valid Scale of Past Tornado Experiences.”
Demuth has pioneered a new and important research area that addresses pressing questions about how atmospheric science intersects with society. Her research and publications have broken new ground at the intersection of atmospheric science and risk communication.
Demuth’s work is highly cited, she is frequently invited to address high-profile conferences, and she has provided important feedback to the NWS concerning best practices and improved responses during major weather events.
Demuth co-founded the grassroots Weather and Society*Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) movement, dedicated to changing the weather enterprise by comprehensively and sustainably integrating social science into meteorological research and practice. Over the years, Demuth has been an outstanding mentor to many who have worked to integrate societal relevance into their research activities.
Rauber was nominated for the ATS OutstandingAlum award by Larry Di Girolamo, and Demuth was nominated by Andrea and Russ Schumacher.
A virtual celebration will be held 3 p.m. Dec. 10 to honor the winners and so they can share their work with the department.
Note from Bob Rauber:
I want to sincerely thank everyone in the Department of Atmospheric Science for considering me for this honor. The Department truly launched my career with opportunities I could get nowhere else.
I am particularly indebted to my advisor, Prof. Lewis O. Grant, for opening my eyes to the excitement of field research. Lew gave me responsibilities for both managing field campaigns and developing novel analysis approaches to field data that I carry through to this day. I was so sad to learn of his passing some years ago, but happy that I was able to honor him before his passing when the Department invited me back in 2016 to give a talk at the Department anniversary celebration. Lew was in the audience and had no idea that the title of my talk would be “Career lessons I learned from Lew.”
I am also deeply grateful for the advice and friendship of Prof. Bill Cotton. I ran so many miles with Bill around the foothills that I’m sure the tracks are still there from our footprints. Our discussions on these runs were instrumental to completing my degree, and in all future aspects of my career.
As my career as a professor at the University of Illinois developed, I have continually benefited from my experiences at CSU. Those who know me know that I love fieldwork — my experiences at the Department helped me lead or participate in 23 field campaigns after graduating. What a trip! I also have had the wonderful experience of guiding my own students through their degrees and helping launch their careers.
Would I do it all over again? You bet! I tell our undergraduates here at the University of Illinois who are considering graduate school that they should have CSU on their radar screen. They can’t go wrong if they choose to go to CSU, a department with a long history of excellence, and a great place to launch a career.
Note from Julie Demuth:
I’m incredibly humbled. It’s such a tremendous honor to be chosen for this distinguished award and to be among so many accomplished, talented past honorees.
This award is especially meaningful in that I can trace my interest in studying the intersection of the atmospheric and social sciences back to when I was pursuing my M.S. at CSU. For one of my classes, I read a research paper (by a scholar who is now a dear friend and collaborator) about public perception of hazardous weather and climate change. I was fascinated, and I came to realize the research represented a nascent field of study.
I’m intrigued by how the atmosphere works and by the predictability – and predictability limitations – of hazardous weather. I’m also intrigued by how people perceive and respond to the risks posed by hazardous weather and its intrinsic uncertainty. Tying together these research threads has been challenging but incredibly rewarding. There are so many important, interesting, and complex science questions and pressing societal needs that fall at the interface of atmospheric science and risk communication (in addition to other social science disciplines)!
I’m so grateful for all the friends and colleagues whom I’ve learned from along the way and with whom I have the joy of collaborating to investigate these complex problems. I’m thankful that there is support for this kind of convergence science in the meteorological community, including in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science. And, I’m especially appreciative of Andrea and Russ Schumacher for nominating me and of the selection committee for this honor.
Thank you kindly, Julie
Photos at top: Bob Rauber with his grandsons, Max and Henry, and Julie Demuth.
Alex Trebek has been a part of my life for literally as long as I can remember, and the heartbreaking news of his death has brought back a flood of memories.
I started watching Jeopardy! as a young kid, and couldn’t wait to get home from school each day to see that day’s answers and questions. I tried out for the show and got the call in 2003 (17 years ago!) while I was a graduate student here at CSU. I still remember being in the studio for the first time, and as another former contestant, Brandon Blackwell, put it, “Ask any contestant – we’ll tell you it wasn’t being under the lights, walking onto the set, or getting in front of the cameras. The moment being on Jeopardy! finally hits you is when you see Alex Trebek in the flesh for the first time. Truly larger than life.”
Jeopardy! went on to pay for an engagement ring, a wedding, and a down payment on a house over the next few years, but I figured that was the end of it. (In the meantime, I had finished my Ph.D., moved away, and then moved back to Fort Collins again to work at CSU.) Then the “Battle of the Decades” tournament came around in 2014, and I got to see Alex and the crew again. And more importantly, to share the experience with a whole new set of friends and family, including our (at the time, very young) son.
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Center for Climate Sciences will host an invited talk by Professor Steve Rutledge at noon (MST) Thursday, Nov. 19, as part of its Distinguished Climate Lecture series. Title, abstract and WebEx meeting info are below.
“Atmospheric Electricity, Lightning and Convection”
Benjamin Franklin is considered to be the father of modern-day studies of atmospheric electricity, starting with his famous sentry box experiment in 1749. This clever but risky experiment demonstrated that convective clouds are electrified, yet, even today, there is not a complete theory for how electrified clouds lead to lightning. In this talk I will first discuss the role of thunderstorms in maintaining the global circuit. Some have argued that long-term monitoring of the global circuit can yield information about climate change. Current theories for cloud electrification will then be summarized. Charge structures and lightning flash rates as measured by Very High Frequency (VHF) Lightning Mapping Arrays will be presented, leading to a discussion of how lightning is tied to cloud dynamical and microphysical processes. Finally, data from the new Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) will be discussed, in particular for so called “electrically inverted” storms. I will also touch on land-ocean lightning differences and the sensitivity of convection to increasing aerosol concentrations.
Meeting link Meeting number (access code): 199 161 6708 Meeting password: CCSDISTINGUISHED
The ski slopes of the Rocky Mountain West are facing new challenges as a shifting climate brings shorter winters and more severe droughts.
Few people, of course, are more aware of this than those in charge of running these ski resorts. But new research by the Colorado State University-based Colorado Climate Center found that these same ski managers often lack the tools and information to integrate the latest and most local climate data into operations and in planning for a successful future.
The interdisciplinary center, which is housed in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, recently conducted in-depth interviews with 21 ski area managers and critical staff members from 11 Rocky Mountain ski resorts, including seven in Colorado, about their use of climate data.
Properly informed planning can help ensure the survival of this critical regional industry, which provides not only a popular pastime but also generates $4.8 billion and creates 46,000 jobs annually in Colorado alone.
Colorado State University Distinguished Professor A.R. Ravishankara, a professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric Science, has been named a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), effective January 1, 2021.
Established in 1935, the INSA promotes science in India, harnessing scientific knowledge for the cause of humanity and national welfare. The INSA is comprised of scientists from all branches of science and technology. Currently, there are a total of 930 fellows and 94 foreign fellows.
Through his recent research specific to India, Ravishankara has been able to identify the effect of pollution on the community’s health in India – where it comes from, how it is harming India, and how it can be reduced. He has brought these findings to the scientific community as well as to the public.
David Lerach, an associate professor of meteorology at the University of Northern Colorado and a member of the Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol, will discuss avalanche awareness and backcountry safety at FORTCAST’s next What’s Brewing in Weather and Science talk Tuesday, Oct. 20.
At UNC, Lerach uses the RAMS model to explore aerosol-cloud microphysical impacts on the evolution of deep convective systems. He also volunteers with the ski patrol to promote backcountry and avalanche safety.
The virtual talk will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Q-and-A session. FORTCAST will send out the meeting link closer to the event.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
Smoke from the many wildfires burning in the West have made air quality hazardous for millions of people in the United States. And it is the very tiniest of the aerosol particles in that air that make it particularly harmful to human health. But for decades, we haven’t known how long these particles actually stay aloft.
New research by Colorado State University scientists is giving us a much better understanding of this process, which can help not only in air quality forecasting, but also in global climate modeling.
Aerosol particles, whether from wildfire smoke or car exhaust, play a large role in how much heat is absorbed or deflected by the atmosphere. However, we haven’t entirely understood how quickly these tiny particles were pulled out of the air – especially in the absence of moisture. This has added substantial uncertainty to already-complex climate models.
Delphine Farmer, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry in the CSU College of Natural Sciences, knew it was time we could do better. Farmer and her colleagues, including Associate Professor Jeff Pierce, postdoctoral fellow Kelsey Bilsback and recent graduate Anna Hodshire, recently announced that they have been able to detect, in real-world environments – from forests to grasslands – the rate at which these important particles actually leave the atmosphere.
Photo at top: Instrumentation inlets and the view from the top of the tower at the Manitou Experimental Forest Observatory near Woodland Park, Colorado. Photo by Delphine Farmer
Though it has been only eight years since Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes earned her Ph.D., she already has significantly impacted her field and assembled a talented research group at the forefront of climate science. Recognizing her climate science research and advances, the atmospheric sciences section of the American Geophysical Union has awarded Barnes the Future Horizons in Climate Science: Turco Lectureship.
The Turco Lecture is intended to identify future areas of research for solving the problem of global warming and related issues. Barnes will present the lecture during the AGU Fall Meeting in December.
In nominating Barnes for the award, Tim Woollings, an Oxford associate professor in physical climate science, cited the quality and quantity of her work. Her research already has achieved high impact, he noted, with 19 of her 79 peer-reviewed papers receiving more than 50 citations each.
“She has advanced the field of atmospheric science in these few years more than many of us do in our whole careers,” Woollings wrote in his nomination letter. “Her work is trustworthy, authoritative and expertly targeted to make real, concrete advances in our understanding of the climate system.”
Colorado State University atmospheric scientist Emily Fischer has been selected by Science News as one of 10 scientists to watch – a distinction that recognizes early- and mid-career scientists age 40 and under who are significantly contributing to their fields.
Fischer, an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, was honored in part for her wildfire smoke research. She will be featured in the Oct. 10 issue of Science News and on its website.
“Fischer, an atmospheric chemist, pulled together a diverse team of 10 lead scientists, and scores more graduate students and postdocs, to pull off the most comprehensive analysis of wildfire smoke ever attempted, a project dubbed WE-CAN. She combines analytical chemistry with high-flying techniques to understand where air pollution comes from and how it changes as it moves through the air,” Science News wrote in its spotlight on Fischer.
Photo at top: WE-CAN scientists Frank Flocke, Emily Fischer and other collaborators aboard the NSF/NCAR C-130, loaded with instrumentation for studying wildfire smoke. Photo by Bill Cotton, Jr.
Colorado State University Atmospheric Science Professors David Randall and James Hurrell will collaborate with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to create a high-resolution version of an Earth system model used by scientists around the world. The National Science Foundation will fund the nearly $5 million, five-year “EarthWorks” project led by CSU.
The project will extensively modify a recent version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), which is an open-source model used by many researchers to improve our understanding of the complex interplay of atmospheric, oceanic, land surface and sea ice processes that comprise the Earth system.
Though extremely useful and powerful for many science applications, such as investigating the impacts of a changing climate, the current model has limitations, including an inability to explicitly simulate thunderstorms and other relatively small-scale phenomena at its current low spatial resolution. Instead, storms, cloud formation and other similar processes are parameterized, or represented statistically.
While some Earth system models have sufficient resolution to simulate thunderstorms – called global storm-resolving models – none of them are freely available to the research community. EarthWorks aims to bring this global storm-resolving capability to their version of the community model, so all researchers can utilize it.
“The fact that this is a community model that’s shared openly with everybody is unique and very valuable,” said Randall, EarthWorks’ principal investigator and a University Distinguished Professor. “Our intention is that everyone will be able to use what we’re building.”
Image at top: This graphic shows a coarse version of the EarthWorks grid superimposed on an image of the Earth. The actual EarthWorks grid will be much finer than this, with grid spacing about 100 times smaller than what is shown here. Credit: William Skamarock/NCAR
Postdoctoral fellow Aaron Hill was one of three invited speakers for the National Weather Association’s virtual annual meeting in September. Hill discussed the future of machine learning in operational forecasting of high-impact weather, citing a recently published article on forecasting severe weather hazards.
Hill has conducted extensive research in predictability of convection and targeted observing during his graduate research at Texas Tech University, and has participated in numerous large-scale field campaigns including VORTEX-SE and TORUS. In his work with Associate Professor Russ Schumacher’s group, Hill is advancing machine learning techniques to probabilistically forecast convection hazards, including extreme rainfall, severe wind, hail and tornadoes.
Hill serves as an associate editor for the journal Monthly Weather Review and is program chair for the next American Meteorological Society Weather Analysis and Forecasting/Numerical Weather Prediction conferences.
Don’t ask Maria Rugenstein about the weather. The new assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science likely hasn’t checked the forecast, and she’s more concerned with how the climate will change in the coming decades to centuries.
“Whether or not it rains or snows today — so what, next week will be different,” Rugenstein said. “I care about decadal and basin-wide averages, even though I’m aware that nobody experiences this in their backyard.”
Rugenstein is interested in large-scale interactions of the atmosphere and ocean. How does the ocean influence the atmosphere, and how does it store and redistribute heat? Understanding these things will improve our ability to predict how the climate will change under certain conditions.
“The ocean can be a heat source or sink but also shapes sea surface temperatures, which modulate the atmospheric feedbacks,” Rugenstein said. “For example, how does the ocean influence clouds, and how do the clouds influence large-scale ocean circulation?”
Photo at top: Maria Rugenstein and her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Frida, recently went on their first hike since moving to the U.S. – in Wyoming, due to the wildfires in Colorado.
The geosciences don’t look like they did several decades ago, and decades from now they’ll look different than today. Scientific advances along with a greater diversity of scientists have strengthened the field, and improving the latter will lead to more of the former. That’s the ultimate goal of a $3.5 million National Science Foundation project led by Colorado State University researchers Emily Fischer and Melissa Burt.
Through their work on PROGRESS, a program for PROmoting Geoscience Research, Education and Success, Fischer and Burt proved that mentoring is key to retaining undergraduate women in STEM fields. The mentoring program they created helped students by increasing their science identity and sense of belonging.
“Given that it works, we need to make a scalable version, so we can offer this kind of mentoring program to as many women as possible,” said Fischer, an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science.
Their most recent study, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, identified three essential components for a successful mentoring program: inspiration through exposure to geoscience careers via women role models, inoculation through training on how to grow their mentor network and overcome obstacles, and an introduction to a local female geoscientist mentor.
Photo at top: STEM students complete a mentor map exercise during a PROGRESS workshop in 2019.
Wildfire smoke and community preparedness for extreme weather are relevant and timely topics. Tanja Fransen of NOAA-NWS Glasgow, Montana, will address these and other subjects at FORTCAST’s virtual What’s Brewing in Weather & Science talk Tuesday, Sept. 22.
With 26 years of experience working for the National Weather Service, Fransen is the meteorologist-in-charge at NOAA-NWS Glasgow. She helped start the NWS Mentoring Program and has served on the AMS Council. Her work has been recognized and awarded by members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Fransen will present “Weather Ready Nation and Wildfire Smoke Intrusions, AND Anything Else you Have on Your Mind” 6:30 p.m. Sept. 22, followed by a Q-and-A session. Meeting link to come.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
How much water evaporates from the ocean surface is an important factor in climate projections. Evaporation rates in existing climate models do not match measurements taken at the ocean surface. A study led by CSU Department of Atmospheric Science researcher Charlotte DeMott, and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aims to bridge the gap between observations and models, improving the accuracy of climate projections.
The evaporation rates calculated by climate models might not be far off from the true rate, but slight differences in evaporation can impact clouds significantly. DeMott and collaborator Carol Anne Clayson, a scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will evaluate how small changes in the way we compute ocean surface evaporation in climate models affect our understanding of clouds – an important consideration in predicting climate.
Ocean surface evaporation varies based on wind, temperature and humidity of the air over the surface. Climate models use slightly different methods, or algorithms, to estimate evaporation according to these environmental factors. These algorithm differences result in different evaporation rates.
“Our project seeks to understand how these algorithm differences contribute to differences in cloud patterns among climate models and the uncertainties surrounding how clouds regulate the Earth’s temperature, both today and in the future,” said DeMott, principal investigator on the project.
As partners in a five-year, $20 million NSF-funded program led by the University of Oklahoma, CSU will work to greatly expand how AI is used in environmental research, with a critical focus on making sure that the answers we get are not only accurate and fast, but trustworthy.
Research Professor Imme Ebert-Uphoff, working in both the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and CIRA at CSU, is leading CSU’s delegation in the new NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography announced Wednesday. Ebert-Uphoff is joined in the project by Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes, Professor Chuck Anderson of the Department of Computer Science, and other CSU researchers, focusing on AI algorithm development, environmental applications, and workplace education and advocacy.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere under the skin of our modern world – our cars have sensors that detect traffic patterns and avoid collisions. Our phones recognize our faces and automatically unlock. Modern retail relies on artificial intelligence for stocking and logistics – everything from medical supplies to the tomatoes in the grocery store are now governed by algorithms that recognize patterns and guide purchasing and shipping decisions. And opportunities to apply AI in research fields abound.
The importance of artificial intelligence is such that the National Science Foundation introduced for the first time a $100 million program to fund institutes to study and develop newer and better AI algorithms – by far and away, the most significant direct commitment to AI that the NSF has ever provided. Five such institutes were funded under the program, including the OU-led program that CSU has partnered with.
Photo at top: Imme Ebert-Uphoff of CIRA and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes
When fossil fuel or biomass burns, soot – also known as black carbon – fills the air. Black carbon is an important short-term climate driver because it absorbs solar energy and can affect the formation and composition of clouds.
The extent of black carbon’s impact on clouds has been the subject of debate for 30 years. A study recently published by Colorado State University atmospheric scientists aims to settle the debate and improve climate models.
Previous studies done in the laboratory conflicted on whether black carbon was effective at ice nucleation, a process important to cloud formation. Soot particles, like other types of aerosol particles in the air, can act as the foundation for ice crystal growth. Lab results on soot ranged wildly from no ice nucleation activity to efficient ice formation.
“One reason these results could span such a range is that combustion processes that form black carbon are extremely complicated and differ depending on fuels burned, and on whether combustion is carefully controlled, as in a diesel engine, or uncontrolled, as in wildfires,” said Gregory Schill, first author on the study and a former NSF postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Atmospheric Science.
Photo at top: Gregory Schill samples a prescribed burn in the CSU Mobile Laboratory at the Konza Prairie Biological Station in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Credit: Barb van Syke
As an atmospheric chemist who studies wildfire smoke, Associate Professor Emily Fischer knew better than most the danger heading her way when she saw a plume of smoke while backpacking with family Thursday.
“I immediately shouted to my husband, ‘We have to get out now.’ We just grabbed the kids’ hands and we ran out six miles,” Fischer said.
She and her family are safe. But Colorado’s air might not be.
Photo at top: Smoke billows from the Cameron Peak Fire north of Rocky Mountain National Park on Aug. 13, 2020. Photo by Emily Fischer and Peter Girard
As a Ph.D. student in the 1960s, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Tom Vonder Haar obtained the first measurements of Earth’s radiation budget, the balance of incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy from the Earth. In the 1980s, he led NASA’s Earth Radiation Budget Experiment that launched three satellites to begin continuously collecting data on Earth’s radiation budget. Now he is senior adviser on NASA’s latest project that will extend the 40-year continuous record and provide clues about our climate.
This new, nearly $130-million project called Libera not only will continue an important record of the solar radiation entering the atmosphere and the amount absorbed, reflected and emitted by Earth, it will improve the record’s accuracy and give us more details about this balance. We know from past observations that extreme events, such as major volcanic eruptions and El Niño, have disrupted this energy exchange. The more specific wavelength ranges gathered by Libera will help scientists better understand changes to Earth’s climate system, including whether the planet is getting brighter or darker, and heating up or cooling down.
“The instruments are much, much better now, in all respects,” said Vonder Haar. “They can measure things with much higher accuracy than we could back in those days.”
Image at top: A graphic of what the Libera instrument might look like onboard NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-3. Credit: Martha Lageschulte, Ball Aerospace
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Melissa Burt has been chosen for two unrelated National Science Foundation-backed honors. On July 21, she was named an IAspire Leadership Academy Fellow. She also recently was appointed to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee that will provide guidance to the NSF.
Burt applied for the leadership academy, but the committee assignment took her by surprise. The study committee is tasked with advising the NSF on how to conduct Earth studies using an interdisciplinary approach.
“I’m honored to be a part of this exceptional committee, to really think through the process of how we can study the Earth in a more interdisciplinary way,” said Burt, who is also a scientist in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science.
In serving the committee, Burt will draw upon both her atmospheric science research background and experience in incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion into institutional systems.
“From my perspective, it’s really thinking about diversity and inclusion in the workforce, and how does that fit in to the ways we study the Earth,” she said.
John Knaff, a CIRA colleague and NOAA scientist, was selected for an Editor’s Award “for providing multiple rigorous, timely, and constructive reviews across three AMS journals, and also for contributing consistently excellent reviews over a period of many years.”
Walt Petersen, deputy manager of the Science Research and Projects Division at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, has been elected a fellow. Those considered for fellowship “have made outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years.”
Florida State University Professor Eric A. Smith was chosen for the Verner E. Suomi Technology Medal “for innovative technological achievements that fundamentally changed the use of satellite observations in meteorology and hydrometeorology.”
University of Arizona Professor Xubin Zeng, who also received the 2018 Outstanding Alum Award, was selected for the Charles Franklin Brooks Award for Outstanding Service to the Society. He is honored for “skillful and effective service in senior leadership roles that has materially improved the Society’s meetings and other activities.”
“In my 51 years with the department, I have never seen such an annual group of department awards from our professional society!” said University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Tom Vonder Haar, an AMS Honorary Member, Fellow and Charney Medal winner.
Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science is one of the top programs of its kind, a reputation established by its remarkable faculty, who lead the field in research and education. But don’t take our word for it, just ask their peers.
The American Meteorological Society will recognize three CSU professors this year with prestigious honors. Russ Schumacher will receive the Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award; Susan van den Heever will be inducted as a fellow; and James Hurrell will be the first recipient of the Warren Washington Research and Leadership Medal. Their nominations were led or co-led by atmospheric science colleagues from other universities.
First of its kind
Hurrell will receive the inaugural Warren Washington Research and Leadership Medal for his “highly influential climate system research, and a distinguished and impactful record of national and international leadership,” according to the AMS citation.
Fellowship and fundamental advances
van den Heever has been elected a fellow for her extensive record of contributions to atmospheric science. No more than two-tenths of one percent of all AMS members are considered for the honor any given year.
Early-career distinction
Schumacher, associate professor and Colorado State Climatologist, will receive the Meisinger Award for his innovative analyses of observations and model simulations that improve our understanding of flash floods and other weather phenomena.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers have increased their forecast and now predict an extremely active Atlantic hurricane season in 2020, citing very warm sea surface temperatures and very low wind shear in the tropical Atlantic as primary factors. Tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures averaged over the past month are at their fourth-highest levels since 1982, trailing only the very active Atlantic hurricane seasons of 2005, 2010 and 2017. Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures provide more fuel for tropical cyclone formation and intensification. They are also associated with a more unstable atmosphere as well as moister air, both of which favor organized thunderstorm activity that is necessary for hurricane development.
Vertical wind shear during July was also extremely weak across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean. Strong vertical wind shear tears apart hurricanes as they are trying to develop and intensify, and vertical reduced wind shear aids in hurricane development. When vertical wind shear is low in July, it also tends to be low during the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season from August-October.
The tropical eastern and central Pacific currently has cool neutral ENSO conditions, that is, the water temperatures are slightly below average. CSU anticipates that we will either continue to have cool neutral ENSO conditions or potentially weak La Niña conditions for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form. Atlantic hurricane seasons tend to be much more active when the tropical Pacific has either cool neutral or La Niña conditions.
Zack recently joined the Barnes group as a postdoctoral researcher in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science. Engineering Source caught up with him while he was still unpacking, for a chat about his work.
Q: You just completed your doctorate – congratulations! What factors led you to choose CSU as your next step?
It was Libby [Barnes]. She gave a presentation at a conference on Arctic/mid-latitude interactions, and seemed really enthusiastic about the science. I was interested in her new work on machine learning and climate change variability, and I wanted to expand my skill set. So I thought it’d be a good post-doc position to add another tool to my toolbox for analyzing climate change.
The work the Barnes group is doing is state-of-the-art – new science, new methods. It’s really important.
The DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility has selected Jessie Creamean and Tom Hill as its designated experts to manage an expanded effort to collect and analyze samples of ice-nucleating particles.
Creamean and Hill are both experts on these rare particles that are important to cloud formation. The two research scientists have the specialized skills necessary to measure INPs. ARM’s decision was partly based on the pair’s efficient, precise and clean technique they have perfected over the past several years.
“Combined, we have a gamut of expertise with the DOE community and field deployments, INP sampling and measurements, including using tethered balloons, and sample processing using our ice spectrometer,” Creamean said in an ARM news feature. “Additionally, the measurement involves field collection, offline sample analysis, and data analysis, which is quite time-consuming. It made sense to have two of us.”
Photo at top: Tom Hill works in the lab at CSU. Photo by Kevin Barry
The American Geophysical Union has selected M.S. student Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano for the Paros Scholarship in Geophysical Instrumentation. Three students are chosen for this scholarship each year, to build a solid pool of talent working on geophysical instrumentation.
Juncosa Calahorrano, advised by Associate Professor Emily Fischer, proposed three laboratory experiments to minimize the uncertainties in ambient measurements of total reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) by separating the gas and particle phases. NOy species play an essential role in the atmosphere, influencing human health, nitrogen deposition and climate.
“The engineer in me is very excited to go back to the lab to start building and testing this system!” Juncosa Calahorrano said. “I also look forward to working with Dr. Ilana Pollack and Dr. Emily Fischer on this project. They have been amazing mentors during my time at CSU. I want to thank both of them and Dr. Ravishankara for their guidance and support during the preparation of this proposal.”
Increasing gender diversity has been a long-sought goal across many of the sciences, and interventions and programs to attract more women into fields like physics and math often happen at the undergraduate level.
But is representation enough to improve gender diversity in science? In a new study, Colorado State University researchers, including Brittany Bloodhart and Emily Fischer, say there’s more to the story: They’ve found that even when undergraduate women outnumber men in science courses, women may still be experiencing gender biases from their peers.
The CSU team, combining expertise in gender psychology, instructional intervention and physical sciences, conducted a survey-based study among both physical and life science undergraduate courses at CSU, asking students how they perceived each other’s abilities within those courses. Their results were published online June 25 in the journal PLOS ONE.
A hot desert wind is carrying a massive cloud of Saharan dust into the southern United States this week. Dust plumes from the Sahara routinely blow westward across the Atlantic at this time of year, but this event is a doozy – by some measures, the biggest in decades. And a second plume appears to be forming about a week behind the big one.
Across the southeastern U.S., from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas and potentially as far north as Indianapolis and Cincinnati, dust effects will likely be visible in the coming days. Trillions of dust grains will reflect sunlight in every direction, creating milky white skies. The dusty haze reflects some sunshine back to space, cooling the surface a bit where the plume is thickest.
Longer waves of red and orange light tend to penetrate the dusty haze, so sunrises and sunsets are likely to be especially beautiful. On the downside, where the plume mingles with showers or thunderstorms, downdrafts may carry desert dust to Earth’s surface. This will impair air quality and could trigger allergic reactions and asthma attacks. The more dust reaches an area, the more pronounced the effects will be.
Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science will no longer consider Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores for admission to the program. Faculty voted unanimously at their Friday meeting to remove the requirement based on their determination that the GRE is not an accurate measure of the skills needed to be a good scientist in the field.
“We anticipate this decision will lead to a higher number of strong applicants and a more diverse and representative applicant pool,” said Professor and Associate Department Head Eric Maloney, who led the effort to remove the requirement.
Prior to the vote, faculty reviewed information on which measures determine graduate school success, including resources from the American Geophysical Union and American Geosciences Institute. They found the GRE is not a good predictor of Ph.D. completion or student publication rate. The GRE, a standardized test used for graduate admissions since the 1950s, also has proven to be biased against women and people of color.
The Southern Ocean is a vast band of open water that encircles the entire planet between Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere landmasses. It is the cloudiest place on Earth, and the amount of sunlight that reflects off or passes through those clouds plays a surprisingly important role in global climate. It affects weather patterns, ocean currents, Antarctic sea ice cover, sea surface temperature and even rainfall in the tropics.
But due to how remote the Southern Ocean is, there have been very few actual studies of the clouds there. Because of this lack of data, computer models that simulate present and future climates overpredict how much sunlight reaches the ocean surface compared to what satellites actually observe. The main reason for this inaccuracy is due to how the models simulate clouds, but nobody knew exactly why the clouds were off. For the models to run correctly, researchers needed to understand how the clouds were being formed.
Photo at top: Kathryn Moore, pictured here, used these sampling instruments to capture airborne bacteria and determine where the air, and the particles that start the clouds, came from.
Thunderstorms are common across North America, especially in warm weather months. About 10% of them become severe, meaning they produce hail 1 inch or greater in diameter, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 miles per hour), or a tornado.
The U.S. recently has experienced two rarer events: organized lines of thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds, known as derechos.
Derechos occur mainly across the central and eastern U.S., where many locations are affected one to two times per year on average. They can produce significant damage to structures and sometimes cause “blowdowns” of millions of trees. Pennsylvania and New Jersey received the brunt of a derecho on June 3, 2020, that killed four people and left nearly a million without power across the mid-Atlantic region.
In the West, derechos are less common, but Colorado – where I serve as state climatologist and director of the Colorado Climate Center – experienced a rare and powerful derecho on June 6 that generated winds exceeding 100 miles per hour in some locations. Derechos have also been observed and analyzed in many other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and South America.
Photo at top: Derechos occur fairly regularly over large parts of the U.S. each year, most commonly from April through August. Dennis Cain/NOAA
By Will Bryan, ASRC Federal/Analytical Services
The lightning flash nearly blinded him and the crack of thunder was deafening. Yet that was all it took for Walt Petersen – now deputy manager of the Science Research and Projects Division at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – to get hooked on weather.
Petersen’s passion for weather came from an experience he had as a high school senior. While at a drive-in movie theater, lightning struck the speaker post nearest a friend in the car’s passenger seat – briefly shocking his friend, who was holding the attached speaker.
“I remember the flash was so bright and the thunder was instantaneous,” Petersen said. “That really motivated me. I thought weather would be a kind of a cool thing to be involved in.”
Photo at top: Walt Petersen, deputy manager of Marshall’s Science Research and Projects Division. Credit: NASA
Ph.D. candidate Ting-Yu Cha, advised by Associate Professor Michael Bell, has received a two-year Government Scholarship to Study Abroad from the Taiwan Ministry of Education to study heavy rainfall in Taiwan.
Cha’s proposed project is “Examination of Dynamic and Thermodynamic processes of Heavy Precipitation over Taiwan with the upcoming PRECIP field campaign observations.” PRECIP, the Prediction of Rainfall Extremes Campaign in the Pacific, aims to improve understanding of the multi-scale processes important for generating extreme rainfall in the moisture-rich environment of Taiwan and the western North Pacific.
“I hope the research can improve our understanding of the fundamental processes that produce heavy rainfall,” Cha said. “I look forward to participating in the PRECIP field campaign next year!”
Dear ATS and CIRA community,
Several months into being isolated in our homes due to the global pandemic, we are processing the devastating events happening across the country including the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others, and the resulting protests against the pattern of police violence against black people and people of color.
These events continue to highlight the fact that racism in our country is a long-standing systemic issue. The Department of Atmospheric Science and CIRA stand in solidarity with the black members of our community. Our departments’ success in research and outreach is very much a result of collaboration with diverse teams across the nation and world. While not all of us may have felt the direct result of systemic racism and discrimination, we see those who have and we stand with you. We are here for you.
AMS released a statement on racism and inequity with a call to action worth repeating: “We are all called to stand up when we see racial injustice and to understand our own implicit biases and how those impact our colleagues. Only in this way can we break down the structure of systemic racism and inequities and best serve society with our science.”
Now is the time to educate ourselves on racism and bias, take action on what we can do as individuals and as departments, and stand together to fight for equity.
ATS and CIRA are aware of the importance of action and have already taken several steps. Just this spring, ATS was one of 14 departments accepted into the AGU Bridge program. This program is focused on inclusive practices for recruiting, admitting and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in STEM graduate programs. Through this partnership, the department hopes to produce better science by having a more diverse student body.
The formation of the ATS/CIRA Diversity and Inclusion Committee has been another important step. The committee is exploring means of conducting a survey by a third party on the experiences and perceptions of diversity and inclusivity within ATS and CIRA. This assessment will be used to identify and prioritize areas of need so that appropriate workshops, seminars and trainings can be offered to the ATS/CIRA community. The committee also has started putting together a diversity and inclusion resource library as well as organizing student international lunch hours. There is much more that can be done. If you have ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out to members of the committee.
ATS/CIRA Diversity Committee Members: Libby Barnes Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano Emily Fischer Leah Grant Alex Naegele Dave Randall Sagar Rathod Matt Rogers Sarah Tisdale
Colorado State University hurricane researchers have increased their forecast slightly and now call for a very active Atlantic hurricane season in 2020, citing the likely absence of El Niño as a primary factor. Sea surface temperatures averaged across portions of the tropical Atlantic are somewhat above normal, while the subtropical Atlantic is much warmer than average. This type of sea surface temperature configuration is also considered favorable for an active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
The tropical eastern and central Pacific currently has cool neutral ENSO conditions; that is, the water temperatures are slightly below average. CSU anticipates that these waters will continue to cool relative to their long-term averages over the next several months, potentially reaching weak La Niña conditions by the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. Consequently, they believe that El Niño is extremely unlikely this year. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
The Caribbean and central tropical Atlantic are somewhat warmer than normal. Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures provide more fuel for tropical cyclone formation and intensification. They are also associated with a more unstable atmosphere as well as moister air, both of which favor organized thunderstorm activity that is necessary for hurricane development.
Image at top: Tropical Storm Cristobal making landfall in Mexico, June 3. Credit: NOAA/GOES-East
Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and her research group identified an atmospheric region unchanged by human-related activities in the first study to measure bioaerosol composition of the Southern Ocean south of 40 degrees south latitude. Kreidenweis’ group, based in the Department of Atmospheric Science, found the boundary layer air that feeds the lower clouds over the Southern Ocean to be pristine – free from particles, called aerosols, produced by anthropogenic activities or transported from distant lands. Their findings are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Weather and climate are complex processes connecting each part of the world to every other region, and with climate changing rapidly as a result of human activity, it’s difficult to find any area or process on Earth untouched by people. Kreidenweis and her team suspected the air directly over the remote Southern Ocean that encircles Antarctica would be least affected by humans and dust from continents. They set out to discover what was in the air and where it came from.
“We were able to use the bacteria in the air over the Southern Ocean as a diagnostic tool to infer key properties of the lower atmosphere,” said research scientist Thomas Hill, coauthor on the study. “For example, that the aerosols controlling the properties of SO clouds are strongly linked to ocean biological processes, and that Antarctica appears to be isolated from southward dispersal of microorganisms and nutrient deposition from southern continents. Overall, it suggests that the SO is one of very few places on Earth that has been minimally affected by anthropogenic activities.”
Photo at top: Aerosol filter samplers probe the air over the Southern Ocean on the Australian Marine National Facility’s R/V Investigator. Photo by Kathryn Moore.
Kyle Chudler and Michael Cheeseman have been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation to attend the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium. Normally held in Washington, D.C., the colloquium introduces participants to the policy process and covers timely weather and climate-related topics. Graduate students selected through a highly competitive process usually have the opportunity to meet policy makers and decision makers from Capitol Hill, federal agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
This year, the immersion workshop’s 20th, will be a little different, due to the global pandemic. Virtual sessions will run June 1-9, with a potential in-person meeting in late summer or early fall.
Chudler, a Ph.D. candidate with Professor Steven Rutledge, was drawn to the policy colloquium because he always has enjoyed leading science outreach. He looks forward to learning how effective communication of science can be used to shape government guidelines.
“As I start considering what I want to do with my career after CSU, I am excited to explore the new doors I expect to be opened through the experience gained and connections made at the colloquium,” Chudler said.
Cheeseman, a Ph.D. candidate with Associate Professor Jeff Pierce, has wanted to attend the policy colloquium since first hearing about it four years ago. He’s interested in a career that bridges the gap between the scientific community, policy makers and the public.
“I am excited to learn more about how science plays a role in Washington,” Cheeseman said.
Photos at top: Michael Cheeseman, left, and Kyle Chudler
In lieu of a spring commencement ceremony, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department recognized its spring and summer graduates with an online presentation. You can view the recording here.
We asked our graduating students about their plans following graduation and the most important thing they learned at CSU. Here are their responses.
Evie Bangs
“I’m currently working as a chemist for the USDA Wildlife Services.”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU was how to balance multiple research projects while still having fun with the science!”
Jared Brewer
“I have begun my post-doctoral research fellowship at Harvard with Professor Daniel Jacob, albeit remotely.”
“I learned how to write well, how to make a great presentation, and how to create good code. I also learned a lot about cooking. It was a wonderful time!”
Sam Childs
“I am not yet sure where I will end up. At present, I am applying for faculty and postdoctoral positions, with the goal of becoming a professor.”
“The most important thing I learned while at CSU is the importance forming collaborations, both within and outside of my field. I believe the greatest scientific advancements happen when people with expertise across multiple disciplines come together to address pressing research questions.”
Erin Dougherty
“I am going to NCAR for the Advanced Study Program (ASP) postdoctoral fellowship.”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU is the importance of building community. Community with peers for support, community with scientists across a wide variety of disciplines to spur innovative research, and community with the public to engage a wider audience in science.”
Aryeh Drager
“To be determined!”
“In terms of the subject matter, the most important thing I’ve learned at CSU is that the atmosphere does not exist in isolation. Rather, it is influenced by all sorts of internal and external factors that are easy to overlook, such as soil moisture, aerosol particles, ocean temperatures, and even vegetation! More broadly, I have also learned that science is not the product of a lone genius working in isolation, but is instead a nonlinear process that is most successful when many diverse perspectives are able to contribute toward solving the problem at hand.”
Will Lassman
“I am now a postdoc at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.”
“The most important thing I learned at CSU is to look around for interesting opportunity, and aggressively pursue the ones that speak to you.”
Jakob Lindaas
“I am moving to Washington D.C. in August to start an American Geosciences Institute/American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Science Fellowship in the U.S. Congress.”
“The most important thing I learned here at CSU is how teams can collaborate to do really neat things! And the people I’ve met all across CSU and Fort Collins have been wonderful to collaborate with and learn from!”
Peter Marinescu
“I will be starting as a postdoctoral fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) in Fort Collins, working on satellite data assimilation in the HWRF model.”
“I have learned so many important things at CSU, like roads that look flat (like Laporte Avenue) can definitely have significant inclines and that snakes are very present here in Fort Collins (😉), but the most important things I have learned at CSU are the importance of thorough research and that collaboration in research is essential because no one knows everything.”
Jonathan Martinez
“I will be starting a postdoctoral fellowship in late July through the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.”
“That your environment is integral to inspiring ideas.”
Kathryn Moore
“I will be staying at CSU to pursue my Ph.D.”
Yasutaka Murakami
“Continue staying at CSU and pursuing a Ph.D.”
“Always returning back to the basic principles.”
Minnie Park
“TBD. Stay tuned!”
“Good things take time. I have learned that the essential ingredients for a Ph.D. are patience and perseverance.”
Jeremiah Piersante
“After finishing up work at CSU over the summer, I’ll be moving back to New York to pursue a Ph.D. in atmospheric science at SUNY Albany, focusing on hurricanes. It was a very tough decision to make, and while I’m very excited for this new chapter, I’ll miss everyone here at CSU!”
“The most profound thing I’m taking away from CSU is confidence in using coding software to analyze and plot data. This wouldn’t have been possible without examples given to me by my advisors and professors. I am happy to have this skill for the rest of my career.”
Louis Rivoire
“I will move to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to attend Harvard University starting in July and study the age of air and circulation of the stratosphere.”
“That going down ‘rabbit holes’ always proves useful down the line.”
Bryn Ronalds
“I will be taking the Insight Data Science Fellows program this summer, which helps recent Ph.D. graduates transition from academia into industry in the field of data science.”
“My time at CSU taught me to believe in myself and my capabilities.”
Photo collage: From left to right, top to bottom row, Evie Bangs, Jared Brewer, Sam Childs (and his wife Swae), Erin Dougherty, Aryeh Drager, Will Lassman, Jakob Lindaas, Peter Marinescu, Jon Martinez, Kathryn Moore, Yasutaka Murakami, Minnie Park, Jeremiah Piersante, Louis Rivoire and Bryn Ronalds.
Congratulations to all of our graduates from this academic year!
Fall 2019 Graduates
Kevin Barry
M.S.
Advisers: Sonia Kreidenweis/Paul DeMott
Ryan Gonzalez
M.S.
Adviser: Chris Kummerow
Faith Groff
M.S.
Adviser: Russ Schumacher
Kirsten Mayer
M.S.
Adviser: Elizabeth Barnes
Joe Messina
M.S.
Adviser: Steve Rutledge
Spring 2020 Graduates
Sam Atwood
Ph.D.
Adviser: Sonia Kreidenweis
Evie Bangs
M.S.
Adviser: Jeff Collett
Jared Brewer
Ph.D.
Advisers: Emily Fischer/A.R. Ravishankara
Aryeh Drager
Ph.D.
Adviser: Sue van den Heever
Anna Hodshire
Ph.D.
Advisers: Jeff Pierce/Shantanu Jathar
Will Lassman
Ph.D.
Advisers: Jeff Pierce/Jeff Collett
Peter Marinescu
Ph.D.
Advisers: Sue van den Heever/Sonia Kreidenweis
Kathryn Moore
M.S.
Advisers: Sonia Kreidenweis/Paul DeMott
Yasutaka Murakami
M.S.
Advisers: Chris Kummerow/Sue van den Heever
Louis Rivoire
Ph.D.
Advisers: Thomas Birner/John Knaff
Bryn Ronalds
Ph.D.
Adviser: Elizabeth Barnes
Summer 2020 Graduates
Sam Childs
Ph.D.
Adviser: Russ Schumacher
Erin Dougherty
Ph.D.
Adviser: Kristen Rasmussen
Jakob Lindaas
Ph.D.
Adviser: Emily Fischer
Jonathan Martinez
Ph.D.
Adviser: Michael Bell
Jungmin (Minnie) Park
Ph.D.
Adviser: Sue van den Heever
Jeremiah Piersante
M.S.
Advisers: Kristen Rasmussen/Russ Schumacher
CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability has selected two Atmospheric Science students and two Atmospheric Science postdoctoral fellows to be Sustainability Leadership Fellows for the next academic year – the most fellows chosen from a single department. Ph.D. candidate Ali Akherati, advised by Jeff Pierce and Shantanu Jathar (Mechanical Engineering); Ph.D. candidate Michael Cheeseman, advised by Jeff Pierce; postdoctoral fellow Zachary Labe, mentored by Elizabeth Barnes; and postdoctoral fellow Zane Martin, mentored by Eric Maloney and Elizabeth Barnes were among 20 early-career scientists chosen for the program.
The Sustainability Leadership Fellows program prepares future innovators and thought leaders with science communication and career development training. They learn to effectively communicate science to the media and public, and how to build successful careers that incorporate meaningful engagement and an interdisciplinary approach to research.
Photos: From left to right, Ali Akherati, Michael Cheeseman, Zachary Labe and Zane Martin.
The Nature Index, a measure of institutional research performance, ranks Colorado State University as a “Rising Star” in Earth and environmental sciences. CSU is the only U.S. university in the top 25, and the 11th fastest riser in the Earth and environmental sciences category. Rising Stars are institutions that had the strongest growth in output since 2015, based on the institution’s share of articles published in 82 prestigious scientific journals selected by an independent panel of experts.
CSU ranks 31st on the list of top institutions from around the world in Earth and environmental sciences, just behind Harvard. Researchers in CSU’s Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, Warner College of Natural Resources, and College of Natural Sciences long have been leaders in Earth and environmental sciences and produced the majority of scholarly articles factored in the index.
“The Nature Index reflects the efforts of the Department of Atmospheric Science, multiple teams in the Warner College of Natural Resources, and numerous other Earth and environmental science research efforts across the university,” said CSU Provost Rick Miranda. “I am incredibly proud of the faculty, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students who contributed to CSU’s ranking in this index.”
The top contributors to CSU’s Earth and environmental sciences ranking are the Department of Atmospheric Science (16.9 shares, or fractional authorship contributions to indexed papers), Department of Geosciences (3), the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (2.8), Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology (2.3), Department of Chemistry (1.5), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (1.4), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1.2), Department of Statistics (0.7), Department of Mechanical Engineering (0.7), and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (0.6).
Graph at top: Earth and environmental sciences Nature Index share by CSU units.
Ben Toms and Andrea Jenney were honored in a virtual ceremony today for outstanding student research. Toms, nominated by his advisers Elizabeth Barnes and Imme Ebert-Uphoff, received the Riehl Memorial Award for his paper, “Physically Interpretable Neural Networks for the Geosciences,” based on his machine learning research. Jenney, advised by Professors Dave Randall and Barnes, received the Alumni Award for two published papers describing her observational study of the teleconnections through which the Madden-Julian Oscillation influences North American weather.
“Ben’s paper is truly revolutionary for how geoscientists think about and utilize machine learning (specifically neural networks) for scientific discovery,” Barnes and Ebert-Uphoff wrote in their nomination.
Toms was invited to present his work at AGU and AMS conferences, resulting in two AMS oral presentation awards this year.
“Although the paper [Ben] was nominated for was written at the very start of his Ph.D., it is the type of big thinking you often see at the end of a Ph.D. or during a postdoc,” Barnes said during the ceremony.
Jenney first came to CSU as a CMMAP intern in 2014. After enrolling in August 2015, she defended her M.S. in June of 2017 — much faster than most M.S. students, Randall noted.
Jenney’s work published in the Journal of Geophysical Research was featured in the second most viewed Eos Editor’s Highlight of all time. The same paper was in the top 10 percent of most downloaded papers over a two-year period following its publication.
Jenney recently received a prestigious NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Professor Mike Pritchard at the University of California, Irvine, on a project she proposed.
“She is an exceptionally talented early-career scientist with a brilliant future,” Randall said in his nomination.
Herbert Riehl, Jr. attended the award ceremony remotely. The Herbert Riehl Memorial Award honors his father, who founded the department.
Toms and Jenney each gave a brief technical presentation on their research following announcement of their awards. View the award ceremony and presentations here.
M.S. student Michael DeCaria has been selected to receive a Programs of Research and Scholarly Excellence summer fellowship. The award is made possible by the department’s designation as a Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence, for setting a standard of excellence in research, teaching and service.
DeCaria is excited to use his fellowship to apply the causal framework he and his adviser, Professor Peter Jan van Leeuwen, have been developing with colleagues at the University of Reading. They will use it on observation and model data to try to draw conclusions about the drivers of rapid intensification in tropical cyclones.
“We believe our framework will give us a fresh look at the problem, since we explicitly incorporate nonlinear interactions between drivers, something which is unique to our approach,” DeCaria said.
DeCaria and van Leeuwen are working with Associate Professor Christine Chiu and graduate student Matthew Lang on the framework’s first real-world application, while continuing to refine it. This summer’s study will be the first real-world application of their framework in its finished state.
The American Geosciences Institute has chosen Ph.D. candidate Jakob Lindaas as a William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow. Fisher Fellows spend a year in Washington, D.C., working as a staff member in the office of a member of Congress or with a congressional committee.
Lindaas, who studies atmospheric chemistry and air quality with Associate Professor Emily Fischer, is passionate about supporting geoscientists’ engagement in public policy decisions.
“Finding equitable and efficient solutions to many of our most pressing problems, whether it’s a global pandemic or climate change, not only relies on including rigorous science but benefits from having scientists from many different fields at the decision-making table,” Lindaas said in an AGI news release. “I am looking forward to learning more about how and when geoscientists in particular can be involved in federal policy during this next year as a Fisher Congressional Fellow.”
Photo at top: Jakob Lindaas was an American Meteorological Society Observing Delegate in November 2017 at the UN COP23 international climate negotiations.
In addition to reaching a significant milestone this spring, CoCoRaHS – the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network – celebrated another honor. The organization was selected to receive the 2019-20 CSU Distinguished Community Engagement Scholarship Award. The award, jointly established by the Office of the Provost & Executive Vice President and the Office of Engagement, recognizes a community-university partnership with a long-term record of sustained impact, achievement and scholarship.
Nearly 30 partners from across the country and Canada signed a letter supporting CoCoRaHS’ nomination. The National Weather Service submitted a second letter of support.
A citizen science movement based at Colorado State University hit a major milestone Sunday. The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network, known as CoCoRaHS, collected its 50 millionth daily precipitation report, a record 22 years and more than 48,000 volunteers in the making.
Kelby Ouchley, a retired wildlife biologist from Union Parish, Louisiana, logged the 50 millionth report. Ouchley has measured more than 700 inches of rainfall since he became a CoCoRaHS volunteer in 2009.
“I’ve always been a science data type of guy,” Ouchley said. “CoCoRaHS has an easy-to-use platform that allows me to store information with minimum effort. I also like the idea that my data are accessible for anyone to use.”
Photo at top: CoCoRaHS observer Kelby Ouchley from Union Parish, Louisiana, recorded the program’s 50 millionth daily precipitation report with the rain gauge pictured here.
Ph.D. candidate Sam Childs, advised by Associate Professor Russ Schumacher, received second place for his presentation at the AMS Societal Applications Symposium, held during the annual meeting in Boston in January. Childs’ presentation, “An agricultural perspective on severe hail,” conveyed results from his interviews of eastern Colorado farmers and ranchers. The study measured their perceptions of vulnerability and exposure to hailstorms and the perceived efficacy of warning messages for severe hail.
William Cotton began his long, impressive career at Colorado State University in 1974 as an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science. Over the course of 45 years, Cotton supervised and mentored 44 Ph.Ds., as well as M.S. students.
When Cotton first started at CSU, the campus was smaller and quieter, although not as quiet as today with all teaching and learning happening online. With the Atmospheric Science Department settled on the Foothills Campus to the west of the main campus, faculty and researchers formed a pretty close-knit family within the department. Over time, it has grown into a stronger department, according to Cotton.
“Throughout my time at CSU, the department has been a vibrant professional environment, attracting leading professors and having the pick of the top graduate student applicants,” Cotton wrote in his 2019 memoir, The Setting Sun: A Life’s Adventure.
Professor Sue van den Heever has accepted an invitation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be a scientist-in-residence in Fall 2021 as part of its Houghton Lectures. Houghton Lecturers share their expertise with MIT’s atmospheres, oceans and climate program, often presenting a short course to faculty and students.
“It is a great honor and a humbling experience to be included amongst the likes of previous winners of this award,” van den Heever said. “I am really looking forward to this opportunity of an extended stay at MIT, which will give me the chance to work with several great colleagues and friends.”
van den Heever plans to speak about the dynamics of deep convective storms including updrafts and cold pool dynamics, the representation of microphysical processes within numerical models, and aerosol-cloud interactions within convective storms.
The lectures are named for Henry Houghton, who served as head of MIT’s meteorology department for 25 years. Distinguished scientists from around the world, including CSU alumnus Bjorn Stevens, presented past lectures.
“Houghton himself did a lot of pioneering work on precipitation mechanisms and the ways in which precipitation processes may be modified by the presence of particles in the atmosphere,” van den Heever said. “Understanding the impacts of atmospheric aerosols on convective cloud processes is one of the primary foci of my research, and this research link makes winning this award all the more special.”
When Justin Whitaker is not studying or conducting research in atmospheric science at CSU, the Ph.D. candidate often is supporting athletes with special needs as a volunteer with Fort Collins Adaptive Recreation Opportunities. Over the past four years, Whitaker has dedicated several hours a week to Fort Collins ARO, which is run by the City of Fort Collins and affiliated with Special Olympics Colorado.
“I have a younger brother with autism, and Fort Collins ARO allows me to merge my love of sports with my passion to give back to people like him,” Whitaker said.
In recognition of his contributions to graduate students and Unified Sports, CSU’s Graduate Student Council selected Whitaker as the 2020 Spring Volunteer of the Month, an honor bestowed once a semester. He was nominated by two fellow students.
Photo at top: Justin Whitaker, standing at right in solid red, participates in a 2019 ARO basketball game, along with atmospheric science students Rick Schulte, Emily Bell and Sean Freeman.
Dougherty, who is advised by Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen, will investigate changes to the hydrologic cycle over the U.S. in a future climate, mainly through the lens of flood-producing storms. She hopes to better understand the atmospheric-hydrologic connection in these storms and how this translates to future flood risk in susceptible communities. Beginning in August, her research will be based at NCAR’s Research Applications Lab.
“I am really humbled to receive such an amazing opportunity to work with the top scientists in the field and to have the freedom to drive my own research forward,” Dougherty said. “Ultimately, I believe ASP will help me become the independent scientist I aspire to be.“
“I’m very interested in the work the Air and Waste Management Association does at the intersection of atmospheric science and policy,” said O’Dell, who participated in the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium in Washington, D.C., last June. The funding will support her air quality studies.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers are predicting an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2020, citing the likely absence of El Niño as a primary factor. Tropical and subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are currently warmer than their long-term average values and are consequently also considered a factor favoring an active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
The tropical Pacific currently has warm neutral ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) conditions; that is, the waters are slightly warmer than normal in the eastern and central tropical Pacific. CSU currently anticipates that these waters are likely to cool relative to their long-term averages over the next several months. Consequently, they do not anticipate El Niño for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
The tropical Atlantic is somewhat warmer than normal right now. Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic provide more fuel for tropical cyclone formation and intensification. They are also associated with a more unstable atmosphere as well as moister air, both of which favor organized thunderstorm activity that is necessary for hurricane development.
Image at top: The track of Hurricane Dorian, which devastated the northwestern Bahamas last year. Credit: National Weather Service
The 557 students and 32 faculty members who set sail Jan. 4 on the CSU Semester at Sea program were filled with expectations for an adventure across 11 countries. When the program ended abruptly March 14 due to the global pandemic, they disembarked with some unexpected lessons learned, meaningful bonds, and a unique perspective on the crisis overtaking the world.
“We learned to be flexible in the face of repeated setbacks and to make the most of constantly changing circumstances far beyond our control,” said Atmospheric Science Professor Scott Denning, who taught oceanography and global studies as part of the program. “We were bound together into a deeply connected community by our shared experience of loss and learning and resilience.”
After leaving Japan Jan. 28, the ship skipped its scheduled stop in China because of the coronavirus outbreak and resulting travel lockdown. Instead, it sailed straight to Vietnam for an extended stay, from Feb. 4-16. Before departing Vietnam, participants completed the first of several health screenings, including a detailed questionnaire, face-to-face evaluation by physicians, and temperature check. The ship then rerouted again to avoid stops in Malaysia and India, for fear a later outbreak in either location would make them a “pariah ship,” denying them port elsewhere. They docked in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, for fuel and supplies, but no one was allowed off the ship.
“This is a very selective program, and this honor is a testament to all of Jon’s hard work during his Ph.D.,” said Associate Professor Michael Bell, Martinez’s adviser.
Martinez will investigate how tropical cyclone frequency might change in Earth’s warming climate system by analyzing variability in the processes that contribute to tropical cyclone formation. Beginning in mid-August, his research project will be based at the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Laboratory, but he plans to collaborate with scientists from other NCAR labs as well.
“I’m sincerely honored to be selected as an ASP postdoctoral fellow and look forward to collaborating with NCAR scientists in bridging weather extremes and climate change research,” Martinez said.
Martinez hopes his research ultimately will inform risk projections of landfalling tropical cyclones among increasingly vulnerable coastal communities.
Photo at top: Jon Martinez on Hallett Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo by Mike Casas
Professor Sue van den Heever will present a talk March 24 as part of the American Geophysical Union’s webinar series, “From the Past Into the Future.” The live webinars, hosted by AGU’s Atmospheric Sciences section, are held Tuesdays at 10 a.m. through April 21.
The series content stems from the AGU centennial meeting, where invited speakers shared transformative discoveries in atmospheric science, along with grand challenges. Topics included ozone depletion and recovery, weather and climate prediction, detection and attribution of climate change, and extreme events, among others.
You are invited to view those lectures online as the speakers present them a second time. Registration is simple and only requires your name and email address, so AGU can send you connection information. Each webinar features two speakers and lasts approximately one hour.
For more information and to register, please visit the AGU Atmospheric Sciences webinar series page. Recordings of the talks also can be viewed from this page following the webinar.
Andrea Jenney has been accepted into a notable federal program founded to train the next generation of climate researchers. After graduating with her Ph.D. this summer, Jenney will move on to the University of California, Irvine, where she will work with Associate Professor Mike Pritchard on a project she proposed for her NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship.
“I’m thrilled to have, for the first time ever, successfully obtained funding to work on a project that I designed myself,” said Jenney, who is co-advised by Professors David Randall and Elizabeth Barnes. “I’m also looking forward to working with awesome new mentors and collaborators and learning new science, tools and skills.”
Jenney and Pritchard will explore the role of small-scale features in the atmospheric temperature profile of convection using high-resolution simulations, in order to improve our understanding of the processes that create clouds and rain in our atmosphere. NOAA recognizes that understanding the connections between weather and climate is key to comprehending the effects of climate change. Jenney’s project will fit their weather results into the broader context of climate, with the ultimate goal of advancing weather and climate simulations.
Over the past 30 years, NOAA’s Climate and Global Change program has supported 230 fellows, who are hosted with mentoring scientists at universities and research institutions across the U.S.
Emeritus Professor William Cotton has been chosen for an honor given to only one member of the cloud physics community every four years. He has been elected as an Honorary Member of the International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation, an organization based in the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences.
Every four years, the commission organizes the International Conference on Clouds and Precipitation, a top forum for atmospheric scientists to share their research on clouds and precipitation. Cotton has attended the conference since the early 1970s. This year he will speak at the event to be held in August in Pune, India.
Cotton joined CSU’s atmospheric science faculty in 1974. He has received numerous honors from the college and university over the years, including the Engineering Dean’s Council Award for excellence in atmospheric research, the Abell Faculty Research Graduate Program Support Award, the Research Foundation Researcher of the Year Award, and the Jack Cermak Distinguished Advisor Award. His Ph.D. alma mater, Penn State University, gave him the Charles L. Hosler Alumni Scholar Award, and the Weather Modification Association presented him with the Schaefer Award for scientific and technological discoveries that constituted a major contribution to the advancement of weather modification.
Cotton is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA). He has published more than 190 papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored nine book chapters, one book, and a memoir, and co-authored two additional books. He considers the most significant achievement of his career to be advising students, including 44 Ph.D.s, 44 M.S. students and 12 postdocs.
Kevin Barry, advised by University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott, was among 31 CSU graduate students to compete in the Vice President for Research Graduate Fellowship Three Minute Challenge on Feb. 10. The competitors, who were chosen as top communicators in the Graduate Student Showcase in November, had to explain their research clearly and concisely, with the use of only one static PowerPoint slide, in three minutes or less. Barry was selected by the panel of judges to receive a VPR fellowship, along with 15 other presenters.
Barry presented on his research regarding the potential of ice-nucleating particles from wildfires in the western U.S.
“It was challenging but important to condense my whole research (background, methods, results) to under three minutes for a general audience,” Barry said. “It allowed me to focus on the significance and think about my research from a broader prospective.”
The presenters represented seven colleges and 18 disciplines, including animal science, atmospheric science, chemistry, communication studies, food science and human nutrition, physics and microbiology. Fellows are eligible for up to $4,000 in scholarship and travel support, as well as opportunities for professional development through workshops, mentorship, and leadership and engagement opportunities over the 2020-21 academic year.
“I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the diverse set of research in the event, although the timer was nerve-racking!” Barry said.
“Real People, Real Climate, Real Changes” – a traveling exhibit launched by the National Center for Atmospheric Research or NCAR – is on display at the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering this spring.
The interactive exhibit will be open to the public in the Scott Bioengineering Building atrium through March 12. The college and NCAR will also host a panel March 3 featuring some of the top climate scientists in the field. Registration is required for the event.
The exhibit builds on NCAR’s popular onsite climate exhibit, which draws more than 100,000 visitors a year to the research center’s Mesa Laboratory in Boulder. “Real People, Real Climate, Real Changes” was developed by NCAR and the UCAR Center for Science Education to help share the science of climate change and how it impacts people’s lives. This exhibition was made possible with funds provided by the National Science Foundation.
Photo at top: Student ambassadors in the Scott Bioengineering Building explore the NCAR climate exhibit in February 2020.
Lorena Medina Luna will share her outreach work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and discuss nontraditional Earth science careers at FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate talk Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Medina Luna is an education and outreach specialist at NCAR. She organizes the NCAR Explorer Series, which features NCAR scientists in quarterly lectures and highlights field campaigns in short videos. She also has led the scientific communication workshop for the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program.
Prior to her work with NCAR, Medina Luna was a bilingual educator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, leading classes for K-12 school groups in topics ranging from biological to space sciences. Medina Luna received her Ph.D. in geology from the University of Michigan, where she investigated earthquake-generating stresses, following her M.S. in geology from California State University and her B.S. in earth and environmental science from UC Irvine.
Discussion followed by Q-and-A will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
Learn about how we bond to music, why it impacts us, and what music does for humans around the world at March’s Teen Science Café. CSU assistant professor of music John Pippen will give an interactive presentation on music and culture March 11 at this free event. Pippen’s research demonstrates how people create music and social connections.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 11 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: CSU assistant professor of music John Pippen
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
After months of construction, the department officially unveiled its new community space, housed in the former department office, with an open house and ice cream social Feb. 17. Here’s a gallery of photos showing the facade and interior before, during and after construction.
Chih-Chi Hu, advised by Professor Peter Jan van Leeuwen, won a Best Student Presentation award at the 24th AMS Conference on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS) in January.
Hu’s presentation, “A Particle Flow Data Assimilation Method for High-Dimensional Systems,” examined how a nonlinear data assimilation method, the mapping particle filter, can improve the forecast in a high-dimensional system with nonlinear observation operators.
“I feel really honored to receive this award,” Hu said. “I am very grateful to Peter Jan for giving me so much support in my research and opportunities to present my work at a conference during my first year.”
Jon Martinez, advised by Associate Professor Michael Bell, won second place for the poster he presented at the Schubert Symposium during the AMS Centennial Meeting in January. The symposium honored Emeritus Professor Wayne Schubert.
“Wayne’s research has inspired many of the ideas that constitute this project,” said Martinez. “I’m grateful to have participated in the Wayne Schubert Symposium, and I’m truly honored to receive the award.”
His poster, “Characterizing the nature and evolution of asymmetric structures in idealized simulations of rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones,” was intended to better understand how tropical cyclones rapidly intensify in order to produce extended, reliable intensity forecasts. Martinez’s research examined whether asymmetric structures contribute to or interfere with tropical cyclone rapid intensification.
Photo at top: Jon Martinez with his award-winning poster at the Schubert Symposium. Photo by Nikki Perrini
Three graduate students in Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes’ research group recently were awarded honors from the American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society. Ben Toms won two awards, an Outstanding Oral Presentation Award from the AMS 33rd Conference on Climate Variability and Change, and a second-place Student Oral Presentation Award from the AMS 26th Conference on Probability and Statistics. Both Andrea Jenney, who is co-advised by Professor Dave Randall, and Savini Samarasinghe, an electrical engineering student co-advised by Imme Ebert-Uphoff, received Outstanding Student Presentation Awards from the 2019 AGU Fall Meeting.
“We have a talented team in the Barnes group working on machine learning and climate predictability problems,” Toms said. “It’s exciting that the community also recognizes this through these awards!”
In Toms’ second-place presentation, “Physically interpretable neural networks for the geosciences,” he showed that a few neural network interpretability methods open the door to using neural networks for science. In “Using neural networks to identify forecasts of opportunity for decadal prediction,” he discussed how to identify climate states that lead to increased predictability on decadal timescales using neural networks and neural network interpretability methods.
The circulation of the atmosphere is expected to weaken in a future warmer climate. Despite a predicted increase in precipitation, the average strength of stormy updrafts is anticipated to decrease near the surface. Jenney’s talk, “Scale Dependence of Changes in Large-Scale Vertical Motion and Convective Mass Fluxes in a Future, Warmer Climate,” demonstrated that while circulation weakens, the stormy updrafts actually can strengthen aloft, due to changes in the clouds and vertical motion between the storms.
Samarasinghe’s poster, “Using Causal Discovery Methods to Explore Subseasonal Teleconnections in a Changing Climate,” presented collaborative research with Barnes, Ebert-Uphoff, and Lantao Sun, a research scientist with Professor Jim Hurrell’s group.
“We investigated the tropospheric and stratospheric teleconnections between the MJO and the NAO using causal discovery approaches,” Samarasinghe explained. “We also looked into how these interactions change in future climate projections using the CESM2 model.”
Minnie Park and Alex Sokolowsky, both advised by Sue van den Heever, earned first and second place, respectively, for their student oral presentations at the 12th Symposium on Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions.
The Committee on Atmospheric Chemistry selected Park’s presentation, “Understanding Aerosol Impacts on Tropical Land-Sea-Breeze Convection Using a Statistical Emulator Approach,” for the top honor.
“I am very thankful for the judges for their time and inputs, and my advisor Sue for her mentorship and support. Most of all, I would like to acknowledge the van den Heever group for their constructive comments and moral support!” Park said.
Sokolowsky’s presentation, “Exploring the Sensitivity of Tropical Oceanic Convective Clouds to Aerosol Characteristics under Differing Thermodynamic Environments,” focused on how cumulus congestus quantities and properties responded to changes to both initial aerosol concentration and initial low-level static stability.
“I am very grateful to Sue and the rest of the van den Heever group for their excellent feedback and support on both the presentation itself and the research that went into it,” Sokolowsky said.
Photo at top: Minnie Park presents her first-place student oral presentation at the 12th Symposium on Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions.
Alex Sokolowsky presents his research during the 12th Symposium on Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions.
The AMS Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting honored Ph.D. candidate Ben Trabing with an award for the poster he presented at the 100th American Meteorological Society meeting in Boston this month.
Trabing’s poster, “Understanding Rapid Intensity Changes in Official Hurricane Intensity Forecast Error Distributions,” exhibited how well forecasters predict rapid changes in hurricane intensity and how forecasts have improved with time. It also investigated some of the factors that may contribute to large errors in order to better predict intensity changes in the future.
“I am very thankful to have received the award, particularly because this was the 100th AMS meeting and one of the most attended,” said Trabing.
Trabing is advised by Associate Professor Michael Bell.
The U.S. geosciences workforce does not reflect the diversity of the U.S. population, and the American Geophysical Union’s Bridge program aims to fix that. AGU founded the new program to improve recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduate programs. CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science was one of 14 institutions chosen as a partner in the program’s first round.
“The department applied because it strongly feels that diversity on our campus strengthens our entire scientific community,” said Associate Department Head and Professor Eric Maloney. “We are continually seeking new partnerships to increase diversity within our program.”
Maloney led the department’s application, along with Professors Emily Fischer, Jim Hurrell, Jeff Pierce and Kristen Rasmussen, and Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Melissa Burt. AGU received 52 applications from hopeful Bridge partners, representing 20 percent of the 250 active Earth and space science graduate programs in the United States. Through a rigorous review process, AGU assessed each institution’s ability to support and mentor underrepresented students.
Photo at top: ESMEI’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program is one of the ways in which the department has recruited students from underrepresented groups and mentored budding young scientists. REU interns from 2019 are pictured here.
The American Meteorological Society will again recognize Professor Emeritus Wayne Schubert at its 100th annual meeting by holding a symposium in his honor Jan. 15. AMS named symposia acknowledge the contributions of the most distinguished members of the field.
“The symposium will celebrate and honor Professor Schubert for his distinguished career as a researcher and educator in atmospheric science,” notes the AMS website. “His contributions have been far-reaching and pioneering, yielding profound new insights into tropical cyclones, moist convection, and the dynamics of mesoscale and synoptic-scale phenomena.”
This is Schubert’s fourth AMS honor. He was elected as a fellow in 1997. In 2016, AMS commended him with the Jule G. Charney Medal, one of the organization’s top awards, and in 2017, he was asked to deliver the Bernhard Haurwitz Memorial Lecture, in recognition of his significant contributions to atmospheric science.
Those familiar with Professor Emeritus William Cotton’s stories encouraged him to write a memoir, so eventually he did.
Recently completed after two years in the making, Cotton’s memoir, “The Setting Sun: A Life’s Adventure,” is available on his website. “Free to anyone up to the challenge of reading it,” Cotton said.
“It is a combination of highlights of my professional life and the crazier things in my life,” he said.
Each of the later chapters begins with Cotton’s science and professional work and moves on to what he calls the “fun stuff.” In addition to a successful career in atmospheric science research and teaching at Colorado State University, Cotton pursued many extra-curricular interests over the years, including sailing, flying planes and even dog sled racing. However, he considers advising students to be the most significant achievement of his career.
Photo at top: After a successful Ph.D. defense, Prof. Cotton would cut his students’ ties, a tradition he adapted from the shirttail-cutting ceremony following a pilot’s first solo flight. Here he is pictured with Sue van den Heever, who is now a professor in the department.
Four atmospheric science graduate students received scholarships this year from a department fund established to enrich the graduate experience. Jingyuan Li, Rung Panasawatwong, Kathryn Moore and Michael Cheeseman all are applying their Assisting Students, Cultivating Excellence, Nurturing Talent (ASCENT) awards to international research opportunities.
Li, a Ph.D. student in Professor David Thompson’s research group, used her funding to travel to Bergen, Norway, for two months this fall to work in large-scale atmospheric dynamics at the University of Bergen Geophysical Institute and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, two of the top climate institutes in the world. She investigated relationships between midlatitude circulation and surface temperature variability, especially in relation to extreme heat events.
“My experience has been great – meeting new people, sharing ideas, presenting my work and getting exposed to the research being done in Bergen,” Li said. “This will be greatly beneficial in my Ph.D. research.”
Photo at top: ASCENT scholarship recipients, from left to right, Kathryn Moore, Rung Panasawatwong and Jingyuan Li are using their funding for international research. Not pictured: Michael Cheeseman.
They are rock stars in the world of atmospheric science.
Five researchers in one of the top atmospheric science programs in the nation are being honored in December and January by peers in their field.
University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and Associate Professor Emily Fischer are being honored this week by the American Geophysical Union, or AGU, an international nonprofit, scientific organization representing nearly 60,000 members in 137 countries.
In January, the American Meteorological Society, known as AMS, will honor Professor Jeff Collett, Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott and Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes. AMS is a scientific and professional organization promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic and hydrologic sciences with more than 13,000 members.
Photo at top: Front row, from left to right: Associate Professor Emily Fischer and Associate Professor Elizabeth (Libby) Barnes. Back row, from left to right: Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott, Professor and Department Head Jeff Collett and University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis.
Professors Emily Fischer and Kristen Rasmussen each surprised one of their students with some good news in an awards ceremony Dec. 3. Fischer presented Jakob Lindaas with the David L. Dietrich Honorary Scholarship, and Rasmussen presented Erin Dougherty with the Shrake-Culler Scholarship.
Fischer nominated Lindaas for the Dietrich Scholarship, which recognizes a CSU student who has demonstrated outstanding ability in air quality research and education. Fischer noted a paper Lindaas published in 2017 that already has been cited nine times. She mentioned his air quality research related to oil and gas drilling, wildfires and agriculture – three significant sources of emissions in the West.
Fort Collins-based Air Resource Specialists Inc. funds the Dietrich Scholarship each year. It is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich. Vice President Jessica Ward attended the ceremony and shook Lindaas’s hand afterward.
Rasmussen acknowledged Dougherty’s work ethic and numerous accomplishments in her short time in the graduate program. In just two years, Dougherty was selected as a SoGES fellow, accepted into the Advanced Climate Dynamics Courses Summer School, and awarded third place for her research presentation at CSU Hydrology Days, among other accolades.
The Shrake-Culler Scholarship is given annually to a senior Ph.D. student. The student must have passed their preliminary exam, have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and demonstrate a strong work ethic and enthusiasm for higher education.
Air Resource Specialists Vice President Jessica Ward, left, was on hand to see Jakob Lindaas receive the Dietrich Scholarship from his adviser, Associate Professor Emily Fischer.
Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen nominated Erin Dougherty for the Shrake-Culler scholarship.
The term “artificial intelligence” may not immediately conjure associations with the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. But now more than ever, climate researchers are turning to trainable, data-nimble computer programs as tools for improving climate models, weather forecasting and more.
Nowhere is this truer than in the lab of Elizabeth (Libby) Barnes, associate professor in the Colorado State University Department of Atmospheric Science. Barnes is a climate scientist who studies global atmospheric dynamics and variability, in part for making skillful, accurate predictions of weather weeks in advance.
These days, Barnes is just as quick to call herself a data scientist. She believes climate science is well positioned to harness machine learning methods to uncover new knowledge about how the global climate functions, how it’s changing, and why.
Photo at top: Imme Ebert-Uphoff and Libby Barnes at the atmospheric science campus. Photo by Bill Cotton
Colorado State University atmospheric scientists recently embarked on partner field campaigns to study weather phenomena over the Philippines and surrounding sea. The complex processes at play in this part of the world affect southeastern portions of continental Asia, and even weather in the United States. Ultimately, the observations CAMP2Ex scientists took by plane and PISTON researchers made by ship will improve weather and climate forecasts.
CAMP2Ex, the Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment, monitored the impact of smoke and pollution on cloud and aerosol processes. PISTON, or the Propagation of Intra-Seasonal Tropical OscillatioNs, observed how oceanic convective systems organize and evolve in the tropical atmosphere. The two international field teams conducting these studies will be able to compare findings for more comprehensive results.
CAMP2Ex originally was scheduled to take to the sky in 2018, but the campaign had to be delayed a year due to aircraft issues. Once off the ground, flight scientist and Professor Susan van den Heever and her crew aboard the NASA P-3B science aircraft collected a wealth of data that will enhance our understanding of aerosol and cloud processes.
“The campaign was a tremendous success,” van den Heever said. “We flew 19 P-3 science flights. We obtained observations of shallow maritime cumulus clouds, deeper congestus clouds, tropical linear cloud systems, and cold pools within polluted and clean environments, allowing us to examine the impacts of aerosols on these cloud types and processes.”
Photo at top: From left, Alex Sokolowsky, Prof. Susan van den Heever and Sean Freeman stand in front of the NASA P-3B science aircraft they used to take observations for the CAMP2Ex field campaign. Sokolowsky launched most of the dropsondes, van den Heever was one of two primary flight scientists, and Freeman served as flight planner and ground control. Photo by Andrzej Wasilewski
The 2019 hurricane season ended up slightly above average – a bit more active than was predicted by the CSU Tropical Meteorology Project forecast team’s later updates issued in June, July and August, and somewhat more active than was predicted in April. Of most note during the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season was Hurricane Dorian, which devastated the northwestern Bahamas before significantly impacting the southeast United States and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Tropical Storm Imelda also inundated southeast Texas with devastating flooding.
“The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season was well above-average for the number of named storms, and near-normal for the number of hurricanes and major (Category 3-plus on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) hurricanes. Overall, our first seasonal forecast issued in early April was somewhat too low, while updates issued in June, July and August slightly underestimated Atlantic hurricane activity,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the forecast. Seasonal Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) was approximately 120 percent of the 1981-2010 average. While the season was very active for the total number of named storms (18 compared with the 1981-2010 average of 12), seven of the 18 named storms that formed lasted one day or less – the most Atlantic storms lasting one day or less on record.
The report summarizes all tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic basin during the 2019 hurricane season and compares the team’s seasonal and two-week forecasts to what occurred.
Image at top: Hurricane Dorian makes landfall near North Carolina. Credit: NOAA
Department Head Jeff Collett presented Jennifer Mahoney with the 2019 Outstanding Alum Award in a ceremony Nov. 12. Collett noted that Mahoney recently was promoted to director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory’s Global Systems Division, shortly after the department committee made its selection. He joked that he liked to think they gave Mahoney a little boost toward her promotion, but if nothing else, her promotion was further proof of the quality of their choice.
Mahoney thanked the department for the award and gave a talk about “The Unimagined Path.” One outcome she had never imagined was leading one of NOAA’s premier scientific laboratories. “Mentors combined with motivation mixed with opportunity can lead to outcomes never imagined,” she wrote in her abstract.
“Overcoming negativity, discouragement, and opposition to achieve my goals took personal courage and amazing scientific mentors. Many of those mentors were here at CSU,” she stated.
Mahoney offered tips for early-career scientists and provided an overview of the cutting-edge scientific research underway at GSD. Located in Boulder, GSD is developing the next generation regional-to-global Unified Forecast System, Exascale-computing technologies, and next-generation decision support tools that provide communities with actionable information.
Mahoney oversees more than 200 research scientists and engineers in her new role. She was part of the GSD management team that successfully developed and then transitioned the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model into operation. It is now the premier short-term forecast model used by NOAA and by the FAA for aviation weather, and one example from her extensive record of transitioning scientific advances into operations. She has received numerous awards during her career, including a 2016 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award for Leadership.
Mahoney received her M.S. from the department in 1992. She was advised by Professor Tom McKee, who nominated her for the award. Her thesis was “Synoptic and Mesoscale Features in Colorado Winter Storms: A Climatology.”
M.S. student Evie Bangs, advised by Jeff Collett, won the best student poster award at the annual meeting of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) last week. Bangs presented her findings regarding amines in atmospheric aerosol.
“I was honored to receive recognition for my work and was absolutely impressed with the amount of research and effort all of the presenters have put forth to progress atmospheric research,” Bangs said. “I would also like to thank Jeff (Collett), Katie (Benedict) and Amy (Sullivan) for their helpful suggestions as I developed my poster!”
Bangs’ poster focused on amines as a contributor to organic nitrogen in aerosols and why they matter. She specifically focused on an assessment of a spatial gradient in Rocky Mountain National Park, Fort Collins and Greeley.
Photo at top: Evie Bangs records data in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering honored Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen and research scientist Bonne Ford at its all-college meeting and awards ceremony Nov. 4. Rasmussen received the George T. Abell Outstanding Early-Career Faculty Award, and Ford received the Outstanding Researcher – Rising Star Award.
Award winners were selected by a committee comprised of last year’s winners. Nominations were submitted by colleagues and staff of the college’s eight departments and programs.
“Kristen’s contributions across research, atmospheric field campaign organization, mentoring, teaching, outreach, and service in her first three years at CSU are without peer,” wrote the three department professors who nominated Rasmussen. “In just three years as a professor, Kristen has already established herself as one of the top rising stars in storms, precipitation, and extreme weather.”
Rasmussen expressed gratitude in her response.
“I am very honored to win this award and am grateful for the wonderful students, staff, and faculty at ATS that make this work environment collaborative and productive,” she said.
Ford’s research group leader, Associate Professor Jeff Pierce, led her nomination, which was supported by colleagues within and outside of the department.
“Bonne has made exceptional contributions not only to research, but also to student mentoring and management/leadership of two interdisciplinary WSCOE projects,” he wrote in his nomination letter. “Bonne is an extremely gifted scientist, a highly effective project manager, and a caring and dedicated student mentor.”
Ford said she was grateful that her colleagues took the time to nominate her and write letters of support.
“I appreciate being selected for this award, and I am thankful to work with supportive people who see the value in my research and my contributions to the department, CSU, and beyond,” she said. “The award is both an encouragement and motivator.”
Atmospheric science graduate students Kathryn Moore and Michael Cheeseman were awarded funding from the Assisting Students, Cultivating Excellence, Nurturing Talent (ASCENT) program to pursue research opportunities outside the United States. This department scholarship was established to enrich the graduate experience, often through international travel.
Moore, an M.S. student in Sonia Kreidenweis’s research group, will use her funding to participate in the Sea2Cloud field campaign in March and April along the Chatham Rise, east of New Zealand. While sailing aboard New Zealand’s R/V Tangaroa, she will study how ocean biogeochemistry drives changes in marine aerosol emissions, and in turn how differences in aerosol composition affect clouds in marine regions.
“This campaign gives me a chance to work with a fantastic group of scientists from New Zealand, France and the U.S., to make one of the most complete sets of in situ measurements of surface ocean-aerosol-cloud interactions,” Moore said.
Moore is excited to collaborate with lead Principal Investigator Karine Sellegri of Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique at the University of Blaise Pascal – Clermont Ferrand, to understand how marine ice nucleating particle composition and number vary with ocean biogeochemical conditions.
“This fits in perfectly with my M.S./Ph.D. research at CSU, and this cruise will provide me with a novel dataset to analyze and incorporate into my research, as well as a chance to meet and collaborate with many excellent atmospheric chemists and oceanographers,” she said.
Ph.D. candidate Cheeseman, advised by Jeff Pierce, applied for an ASCENT scholarship to gain experience in international collaboration. He is interested in studying air pollution in regions of the world that face vastly different problems than the U.S., politically and environmentally. With collaborators from the Weizmann Institute, Cheeseman will use the award to deploy a network of air quality sensors in Israel.
“I hope to increase our understanding of the impacts of sandstorms on satellite measurements of aerosols in the Middle East and the resulting impact on human health in the region,” he said.
Photo at top: The Department of Atmospheric Science granted ASCENT scholarships to graduate students Kathryn Moore, left, and Michael Cheeseman to support their proposed international research projects.
Jennifer Mahoney has been selected as the 2019 CSU ATS Outstanding Alum. Mahoney received her M.S. from the department in 1992. She was advised by Professor Tom McKee, who nominated her for the award. Her thesis was “Synoptic and Mesoscale Features in Colorado Winter Storms: A Climatology.”
Mahoney, who was employed by NOAA before she began at CSU, has risen steadily through the ranks of NOAA leadership. She recently was promoted to Director of the Earth System Research Laboratory’s Global Systems Division, one of four divisions at ESRL, where she directly oversees more than 200 research scientists and engineers.
Mahoney was part of the GSD management team that successfully developed and then transitioned the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model into operation. It is now the premier short-term forecast model used by NOAA and by the FAA for aviation weather, and one example from her extensive record of transitioning scientific advances into operations. She has received numerous awards over the years, including a 2016 NOAA Research Employee of the Year Award for Leadership.
Mahoney’s Outstanding Alum Award will be presented Nov. 12 in ATS 101, with a reception beginning at 3:30 p.m. She hopes to meet with faculty and Ph.D. students working in her primary areas of interest before the event.
“I am very interested in building collaborations around the topics of cloud computing, high-resolution modeling (including physics, data assimilation), and decision support/social science applications,” she said.
What’s it like working in the world of arthropods and Colorado insects? Bring your entomology questions to November’s Teen Science Café. CSU entomology graduate students Erika Peirce and Melissa Schreiner will answer questions about insects, jobs, college, social media, travel, beekeeping, macrophotography and insect collecting.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 13 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenters: CSU entomology graduate students Erika Peirce and Melissa Schreiner
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
In 2010 CSU atmospheric science alumnus Pete Wetzel set out to hike home – to all two dozen places he’d ever called home in his 60-plus years. Nine years and more than 18,000 miles later, he concluded his journey in Fort Collins, where he earned his Ph.D. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University in 1978. His advisor, Professor Emeritus William Cotton, joined him Oct. 26 for part of the final leg of his adventure. Together they walked the Poudre Trail from the Kodak Trailhead south of Windsor to the Poudre Learning Center west of Greeley.
Due to budget cuts, Wetzel took an early retirement buyout offer from NASA in 2005, where he was a research atmospheric scientist. In 2010 he acquired his first personal GPS tracker, and he has not stopped logging miles since. He has the recorded GPS tracks to prove it, ever updating an online map of his travels.
In 2012 Wetzel hiked the Appalachian Trail – twice, once in each direction, making him one of a select few who have done the “double” in a calendar year, and the oldest of those by more than a decade, he calculates. Wetzel found his “happy place” hiking long distances through territory new to him, especially on footpaths in the woods. But he felt he needed a goal to sustain and justify further long-distance hiking.
Three days a week, Noah Newman hops in his Toyota Prius and becomes part of Colorado State University engineering history.
The atmospheric science researcher drives to the weather station close to the Lory Student Center just before 7 a.m. to capture temperature, precipitation and wind speed readings, among other things, mostly with pen and paper.
Newman carries on a tradition of monitoring the Fort Collins weather that began with a local farmer in 1872 and quickly became associated with the first engineering faculty at Colorado Agricultural College. The Morrill Act that created land-grant colleges specified that both “agricultural and mechanic arts” be taught. What is now known as the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering carries on that mission in the 21st century, its legacy expanding from weather and agricultural innovations into groundbreaking research on satellites, robotics and lasers, and machines that can learn on their own.
The college has graduated more than 20,000 students since the 1880s and now boasts annual research expenditures of $80 million and seven departments – Atmospheric Science, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, the multidisciplinary School of Biomedical Engineering, and Systems Engineering. In 2016, civil engineering alumnus Walter Scott, Jr. raised the college’s profile with a transformational $53 million gift for scholarships, buildings, programs and faculty.
A lot has changed in 150 years. The land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach – as well as monitoring the weather – remains the same.
Photo at top: Colorado Climate Center research coordinator Noah Newman reads a hygro-thermograph, which records temperature and humidity, during a morning shift at the campus weather station.
How can process-based modeling advance our understanding of wildland fire dynamics? CSU Wildland Fire Science Associate Professor Chad Hoffman will discuss his research applying computational fluid dynamics models to wildland fire dynamics at the next What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate talk Tuesday, Nov. 5, organized by the FORT Collins Atmospheric ScientisTs. Hoffman co-directs CSU’s Western Forest Fire Research Center.
Discussion followed by Q-and-A will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Contact amsfortcast@gmail.com with questions.
The weather and climate experts at the Colorado Climate Center occasionally get the exciting task of marking a new state record. This past year was a triple threat: Climatologists have just certified the largest hailstone, highest temperature, and lowest atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the state’s record-keeping history, which goes back to the 1870s.
Thanks to careful vetting by a “State Climate Extremes Committee” convened by Colorado State Climatologist Russ Schumacher earlier this year, the three records are in the books as of last week. The Colorado Climate Center, part of CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science, is the state’s designated climate office that collects data, monitors climate, conducts research and provides public-facing expertise to scientists, educators, the media and the general public.
Photo at top: The largest hailstone recorded in Colorado state history fell Aug. 13 near Bethune. Credit: Colorado Climate Center
The American Meteorological Society will feature Emeritus Professor Richard Johnson in a named symposium during its 2021 Annual Meeting. Only two or three named symposia are included in each year’s program, reserving this recognition for the most outstanding individuals who have significant achievements in their field, whose contributions make them worthy of consideration as an honorary member of AMS.
AMS previously recognized Johnson with the Verner E. Suomi Medal in 2013. Johnson was a leader in the department’s mesoscale meteorology program from the time he joined the faculty in 1980 through his retirement in 2015. He served as department head from 2007-11. Johnson continues to be active in research from his home in Oregon with interests in tropical convection, dynamics of the MJO, and monsoon processes.
The 2021 Johnson Symposium succeeds the 2020 AMS Schubert Symposium honoring Emeritus Professor Wayne Schubert. The two have been collaborators and leaders in the department for many years.
Breathing dirty air can make you sick. But according to new research, it can also make you more aggressive.
That’s the conclusion from a set of studies recently authored by Colorado State University researchers in economics, atmospheric science and statistics. Together, the team found strong links between short-term exposure to air pollution and aggressive behavior, in the form of aggravated assaults and other violent crimes across the continental United States.
The tool that allowed the team to overlay crime data with pollution data was originally used in collaboration with CSU epidemiologist Sheryl Magazmen to study health effects from air pollution, explained co-author Jeff Pierce, associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science and a Monfort Professor. Pierce, associate professor Emily Fischer and researchers Kate O’Dell and Bonne Ford, had previously worked with Magzamen to detail how smoke and particulate matter exposure correlated with things like hospitalizations and asthma inhaler refills.
Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Associate Professor George Wittemyer has closely followed 900 elephants living in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya for more than 20 years. He will explain elephant behavior and conservation challenges at the next Teen Science Café on Oct. 9.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 9 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: CSU Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Associate Professor George Wittemyer
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
CSU Atmospheric Science is a leading global institution, and as such, all members of our community regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical ability, age, socioeconomic status or nationality are welcome as equal contributors. We value and appreciate diversity, and we believe that diversity on our campus strengthens our entire scientific community.
Learn about lightning and watch stunning footage of Colorado storms at FORTCAST’s first What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate talk of the semester. Walt Lyons, president of WeatherVideoHD.TV, will share photos and videos of weather phenomena, including storms and upper atmospheric lightning, that were produced by his website, which provides royalty-free, high quality weather imagery.
Lyons’ career in meteorology has spanned many decades and positions, including broadcast meteorologist, research scientist, CSU instructor, forensic meteorology consultant, AMS president, and designer of the nation’s first commercial, operational lightning detection network.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
In recognition of her significant contributions to the geophysical sciences as an outstanding early career scientist, the American Geophysical Union has chosen CSU Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Emily Fischer for the James B. Macelwane Medal. She will be honored at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco in December for her breakthrough research on air pollution and her efforts to increase diversity in geosciences.
“The Global Burden of Disease ranks air pollution as the fourth largest health risk in the world. … Knowing how much pollution comes from what sources for a given location, what are the pollutant properties, and how these pollutants are formed and evolve during atmospheric transport are key pieces of information for reducing health risk. That is why atmospheric chemistry is such a cornerstone of science for improving human health – and this is where Dr. Fischer’s work is making a major contribution,” wrote UC Berkeley Professor Ronald Cohen in his nomination letter.
During the summer of 2018, Fischer led the largest, most comprehensive research campaign ever attempted to analyze wildfire smoke. The National Science Foundation-funded WE-CAN, or Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen, was a collaboration among five universities and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) that involved a C-130 research plane loaded with scientific instruments. Analysis of the data collected during the campaign is ongoing and will shed light on the composition of wildfire smoke, how it changes over time and as it travels, and how it affects clouds. The results will bring insights on air quality, health impacts, weather and climate.
In a few days, a research vessel called the RV Polarstern will depart Norway and spend a year drifting through the Arctic Ocean, trapped in the ice. More than 600 researchers from 19 countries will board the ship in various stages, participating in the world’s most ambitious Arctic science expedition to date.
Jessie Creamean, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, will be one of them. Starting Sept. 12, Creamean will spend about four months on board the ship, floating toward the North Pole and collecting thousands of ice, snow, seawater, and air samples along the way. Her goal is to determine how biological processes from microbes – like algae and bacteria – in the water, ice, and snow are affecting atmospheric conditions that form clouds.
“Especially up in the Arctic, clouds are like thermostats – they can reflect radiation from the sun or trap heat from the Earth’s surface,” said Creamean, whose colleagues on the project include senior research scientist Paul DeMott and University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis. For example, if clouds cause sea ice to melt faster, this could lead to more sunlight exposure in the ocean, and more production of algae that can affect local ecology.
Photo at top: Research scientist Jessie Creamean holds a basket starfish during a previous Arctic expedition called INARCO II. She boards another Arctic-bound ship this month.
Department of Atmospheric Science graduate student representatives chose Associate Professor Emily Fischer as 2018-19 Professor of the Year, based on evaluations submitted by students. Students fill out surveys for each course throughout the academic year, and grad reps then determine which professor received the most feedback for teaching excellence.
“Emily brings a tremendous energy and enthusiasm every day and it is inspiring. One of the best professors I’ve ever had,” Graduate Representative Ryan Gonzalez read from an anonymous nomination while presenting Fischer with a plaque at the New Student Welcome Picnic on Sept. 4.
Students praised Fischer’s instruction methods and the applicability of her classes. One of the classes for which she was nominated was a one-of-a-kind Aircraft Observations course.
“I thought, ‘What would I like to do if I was a student?’” Fischer said of the experimental course.
She requested extra flight hours from the National Science Foundation to conduct the class following her wildfire smoke research campaign, WE-CAN, last summer.
“I am so thankful for the energy and flexibility that the students put into my crazy Aircraft Observations course,” Fischer said. “It was so fun for me to help them design their flight patterns and to watch how much science came out of three short flights. I can’t wait to see what this group will do as future PIs.”
Fischer also acknowledged her Interpreting Satellite Observations students. “It was so fun to see the students take their assignments a step further and identify ways to use new datasets in their research,” she said.
Fall 2019 incoming class. Front row, left to right: Lilly Naimie, Nick Falk, Justin Hudson, Wei-Ting Hsiao, Chih-Chi Hu, Allie Mazurek, Chloe Boehm, Eric Goldenstern and Sam O’Donnell. Back row, left to right: Emily Lachenmayer, Megan Franke, Ali Cole, Lee Brent, Jacob Escobedo, Lance Niño, Chen-Kuang Yang and Sagar Rathod. Not pictured: Jamin Rader and Nick Geyer.
Learn how scientists monitor Earth’s atmosphere and environment using satellites at September’s Teen Science Café. Matt Rogers from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) will talk about the principles of light, how light interacts with the environment, and how that can be used to measure our world from orbit.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 11 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Matt Rogers from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
The Bike to Work Challenge trophy has settled back into its familiar spot on Foothills Campus. For the second year in a row, the CSU Atmospheric Cyclists, a team of Department of Atmospheric Science and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) members, dominated the bicycle-commuting contest sponsored by the City of Loveland. Two of the three nameplates on the trophy now bear the team’s name, one for each year it has competed.
“The CSU Atmospheric Cyclists stormed out of the gate, took the lead early and kept it for the rest of the time,” said challenge founder David Droege in his announcement to participants.
Droege, a systems engineer at Keysight Technologies, started the informal competition between Colorado companies in 2017 to encourage more people to bike to work. The challenge was open to all workplaces along the Front Range and included teams as far away as Colorado Springs.
Photo at top: Team Captain Kyle Hilburn holds the Bike to Work Challenge trophy presented to the Atmospheric Cyclists Aug. 20 by challenge founder David Droege (back row, third from right).
Already a fellow of both the American Meteorological Society and American Association for Aerosol Research, University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis has been admitted to yet another prestigious, exclusive scientific fellowship. Each year the American Geophysical Union inducts no more than 0.1 percent of its membership as fellows. Valued by their peers and vetted by a committee of fellows, AGU Fellows are selected based on their scientific eminence in the Earth and space sciences.
“Sonia has been a leader of the atmospheric chemistry program here at CSU for more than 25 years,” said Professor Jeff Collett, head of the Department of Atmospheric Science. “I have personally enjoyed and benefited from research collaborations with her over much of this time. She has been a terrific mentor to a large group of students and postdocs, many of whom have gone on to prestigious positions at other leading universities.”
Kreidenweis is well known for her research on atmospheric aerosol particles, their interactions with clouds, and their impacts on regional haze. Her research group conducts laboratory, field and aircraft measurements to characterize the physical and chemical properties of aerosols. They study long-range dust transport and its effects on air quality and climate. Federal and state agencies that have contributed funding to their research include the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and NASA.
As days turn to nights in Broomfield, Colorado, residents may spot a white Chevrolet Tahoe with a pole jutting out its top slowly moving through neighborhoods and down city streets.
The SUV is jam-packed with sensitive equipment tracking what people are breathing in Broomfield, which sits atop a major oil and gas production zone. It’s a crucial component of a collaborative, multiyear study examining the relationship between oil and gas development and local air quality.
Mobile plume tracking, led by Colorado State University air pollution experts, is a key technology in Broomfield’s ongoing Air Quality Testing Program. And it’s just one aspect of a three-year, $1.7 million contract awarded by Broomfield last year to the lab of CSU atmospheric scientist Jeff Collett, as a subcontractor to environmental data company Ajax Analytics. Together, CSU and Ajax Analytics are painting a comprehensive picture of Broomfield’s air, and how it is being affected as new oil and gas wells are drilled, completed and moved into production.
Ph.D. candidate Peter Marinescu and M.S. student Faith Groff took top student honors at the 18th AMS Mesoscale Processes Conference in Savannah, Georgia.
Marinescu, advised by Professor Sue van den Heever and University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis, was awarded first place for his poster based on the results from a model intercomparison study involving different research groups from around the world. The groups simulated the same case study in order to quantify and understand the range of cloud responses to increased aerosol concentrations within the different models.
“Ultimately, these results will help us, as a community, understand where some of the largest uncertainties are in simulating the impacts of aerosol particles in deep convective clouds,” Marinescu said. “It was a great experience to share and get feedback on this work at the AMS Mesoscale Conference.”
Groff, advised by Associate Professor Russ Schumacher, won second place for her presentation highlighting how gravity wave generation, strength and propagation can change within different realistic environments.
“I feel very honored to have been chosen for the award, and it gave me a great boost of confidence going into my master’s thesis defense,” Groff said. “I’m very much looking forward to sharing these findings as well as other results with the department at my defense in October.”
In the short seven years since earning her Ph.D., Department of Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Elizabeth (Libby) Barnes has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the climate system. In recognition of her research on extratropical circulation and its response to climate change, Barnes will receive a highly competitive, national award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS) at its Centennial Meeting in Boston in January. The Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award, given annually to an early career researcher, acknowledges achievement concerning the observation, theory and modeling of atmospheric motions on all scales.
“This is such an honor and honestly, a bit overwhelming!” said Barnes. “Looking at the past award recipients (which go all the way back to 1938), I see that I am joining an already long list of past and present CSU stars!”
Among those stars is Department of Atmospheric Science Professor Dave Thompson, who received the Meisinger Award in 2008. Thompson nominated Barnes for the award this year, along with several letters of support from her colleagues around the world.
In her interview with 5280 Magazine, CSU President Joyce McConnell recognized the atmospheric science program as one of the best in the country.
“… We really need to elevate CSU on a state, national, and international level. We need people to understand the pathbreaking work that’s being done here. We want people, when they hear the name CSU, to think about not only the fact that we have one of the best atmospheric science programs in the country, but that we have two Guggenheim poets. We want to be able to tell people about all of the things that are happening here.”
McConnell began her tenure as CSU’s president July 1.
Jeff Collett and Paul DeMott have been recognized by the American Meteorological Society for “outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years.” They will be inducted as fellows at the AMS Centennial Meeting in Boston in January.
“I am honored to have been nominated by my colleagues and appreciate AMS recognition of my work in atmospheric chemistry and air quality over the last three decades,” said Professor and Department Head Jeff Collett. “It has been a personal passion to better integrate atmospheric chemistry with other aspects of atmospheric science here at CSU and through AMS. I have been privileged to work with exceptional colleagues and many outstanding students over the years on a variety of topics ranging from cloud chemistry, to nitrogen deposition, to air quality impacts of unconventional air pollution sources including wildfires and oil and gas development. I am especially pleased to be inducted as a new AMS Fellow together with Paul DeMott.”
“It means a lot to me to be recognized by my colleagues and by AMS in this way,” said Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott. “AMS was my first ever professional society, and the society supported my early career with travel grants and welcomed my participation on committees as a young scientist who was not in a tenured faculty position. I am thankful to AMS and those who promoted me for this designation.”
Fellows are nominated by AMS members and elected each year by the organization’s council.
AMS is a scientific and professional organization promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic and hydrologic sciences. Its membership includes more than 13,000 researchers, educators, students, enthusiasts, broadcasters, and other professionals in weather, water and climate.
Every summer since 2007, Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science has given undergraduate students hands-on research experience and a real-life look at what it means to be a scientist or scholar. College students from across the U.S. work with faculty members and researchers who lead their field, and interact with graduate students on cutting-edge research projects through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REU, program.
Justin Stow, an undergrad majoring in meteorology and physical science at Florida State University, was drawn to the CSU program’s objectives, mission and reputation in atmospheric research.
“This program offers a world-class research experience that allows students to discover their passions and motivate their ambitions for future endeavors,” he said.
Stow has been working with research scientists Chris Slocum and John Knaff at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, or CIRA. As part of their tropical cyclone (TC) group, Stow is analyzing a major forecasting model – evaluating its predictors, assessing how each is calculated, and trying to understand the global variability of TC environmental conditions. The team’s goal is to determine if adding more parameters improves the accuracy of the model’s intensity forecasting.
“This experience has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate collegiate career,” he said.
Photo at top: Atmospheric science REU students visit the National Center for Atmospheric Research, an NSF-funded lab, to learn about its research. Front row, from left to right, Justin Stow, Abby Stokes, Charlotte Connolly and Elana Cope; back row, left to right, Richard Garmong, Jaime Anderson, Alex Ng, Brandon Molina, Erin Sherman and Emily Lill.
Kate O’Dell’s air quality research has led to an adventurous and informative summer that may affect her career path. O’Dell attended the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium in Washington, D.C., in June, and she will study atmospheric aerosols with the field’s leading experts July 22 through Aug. 2 at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
“I learned that our government and the entire legislative process is much more complicated than I imagined,” O’Dell said about the AMS Policy Colloquium, a 10-day immersion in the policy process and timely weather and climate-related topics.
O’Dell found there are many avenues through which scientists can inform policy, including congressional staffers with Ph.D.s in STEM fields, lobbyists that advocate for science-based policy, and scientists that work at the State Department on climate diplomacy. The colloquium offered graduate students an opportunity to meet policy makers and decision makers from Capitol Hill, federal agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. O’Dell even spoke with Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Kelvin Droegemeier, the president’s science advisor, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
O’Dell said the colloquium greatly increased her interest in science policy. She is now considering potential career paths in science policy after finishing her Ph.D., and she’s looking into policy courses at CSU this fall.
“A great way to continue improving our air quality is by maintaining a strong connection between scientists and policy makers,” she said.
Photo at top: Atmospheric science graduate student Kate O’Dell stands in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
They faced significant odds, working with rudimentary technology. They inspired us to believe we could accomplish anything. They made us proud to be Americans.
Millions watched in awe as Apollo 11 made its historic landing on the moon 50 years ago. The audience included a small group of men and women with ties to Colorado State University who would follow them – into space or underwater sea laboratories or as leads on some of the very few university-led Earth Science missions.
In 1984, Tom Vonder Haar – now University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Atmospheric Science and a member of the National Academy of Engineering – was at Cape Kennedy watching Sally Ride’s historic second flight on the Challenger shuttle. Also on the flight was the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite that Vonder Haar and his team had designed with NASA.
“Summer 1969 and the moon landing was inspiring to many young scientists, engineers and students,” Vonder Haar said. “I am still impressed today with the challenge it presented and our relatively crude technology at the time. Later in my career, I worked on an Earth satellite research project with Neil Armstrong and observed his quiet capability and spirit of teamwork.”
Vonder Haar’s satellite was the first of two Earth Science missions led by CSU. In 2006, NASA would send a second satellite into space – CloudSat – designed by Graeme Stephens, also a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus and National Academy of Engineering member.
Atmospheric science graduate students Jingyuan Li and Rung Panasawatwong will receive funding from the Assisting Students, Cultivating Excellence, Nurturing Talent (ASCENT) program to pursue research opportunities outside the United States. This department scholarship was established to enrich the graduate experience, often through international travel.
Li, a Ph.D. student in Professor Dave Thompson’s research group, will use her funding to travel to Bergen, Norway for two months this fall to work with Camille Li, an expert in large-scale atmospheric dynamics. She will investigate relationships between midlatitude circulation and surface temperature variability, especially in relation to extreme heat events.
“I believe working with Dr. Li’s group will greatly help and enhance my Ph.D. work,” Li said. “I will also be able to meet and discuss with many scientists at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, two of the best climate institutes in the world.”
Ph.D. student Panasawatwong, advised by Professors Michael Bell and Kristen Rasmussen, applied for an ASCENT scholarship to develop skills as a field campaign researcher and extend her stay on a field study in Japan next summer. Panasawatwong will be part of the Yonaguni island team for the Prediction of Rainfall Extremes Campaign In the Pacific, or PRECIP.
Photo at top: The Department of Atmospheric Science granted ASCENT scholarships to Ph.D. candidates Rung Panasawatwong, left, and Jingyuan Li to support their proposed international research projects.
Constantly changing, complex atmospheric variables make weather notoriously difficult to predict. However, accurately forecasting severe weather and effectively communicating that information are critical for protecting lives and preventing property damage.
“Even as weather forecasts are steadily improving, there are still fundamental limits on predicting the future weather,” said Colorado State University Atmospheric Science Professor Russ Schumacher. “Furthermore, there are still a lot of questions about how best to produce and deliver information about the risks associated with hazardous weather.”
Schumacher is one of the organizers of a gathering this summer that will bring together leading researchers and graduate students from multiple disciplines to address these challenges. Three CSU atmospheric science students, Sam Childs, Faith Groff and Chelsea Nam, are among the 25 chosen for this Advanced Study Program colloquium, hosted annually by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Photo at top: Faith Groff, Sam Childs and Chelsea Nam were selected to attend NCAR’s Advanced Study Program colloquium.
Ph.D. student Rick Schulte’s proposal was among 59, out of the 428 earth science projects reviewed this year, chosen to receive funding through the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology program. FINESST grants are for student-designed research projects that contribute to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate goals.
Schulte applied for the grant because he needed funding to pursue a research project idea for his Ph.D. prospectus. The grant will pay for the majority of his tuition, research and travel costs for the rest of his degree program.
Schulte’s advisor, Chris Kummerow, will be principal investigator on the project, Improving Satellite Retrievals of High Latitude Precipitation with Better Constraints on Drop Size Distributions, with Schulte as the future investigator. By the end of the project, they hope to have a better understanding of how drop size distributions vary in the high-latitude oceans, whether this variability can be linked to larger-scale atmospheric conditions, and the degree to which current and future satellite instruments are sensitive to changes in these distributions.
“This work should lead to an improvement in satellite rainfall retrieval algorithms, particularly in these high-latitude ocean areas where current algorithms exhibit a large degree of disagreement,” Schulte said.
Colorado State University’s Graduate Student Council has chosen Atmospheric Science Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen for this year’s Graduate Advising and Mentorship Award. The award recognizes outstanding mentors around campus and honors their impact on students. Winners are selected based on nominations by CSU graduate students across all disciplines.
“[Rasmussen] is caring, supportive and encouraging both professionally and personally, which has fostered a really positive environment for her students,” said Zach Bruick, a student in Rasmussen’s research group. “I think that we all work better together because she leads by example so well.”
Rasmussen said she was surprised and honored to receive the award, especially because her students nominated her.
“I have wonderful students in my group and am very grateful for the excellent science they do every day,” she said. “My approach to mentoring includes providing students with a solid foundation in how to do research, including the ‘big picture’ perspective of why we do our work.”
Rasmussen recently led an Advanced Studies Institute program that enabled 16 students to participate in the RELAMPAGO field campaign in Argentina.
This is the second year Rasmussen was nominated in the three years she has taught at CSU. Atmospheric Science Professor Emily Fischer was one of three faculty members chosen to share last year’s award.
Photo at top: Kristen Rasmussen, lower left, received this year’s Graduate Advising and Mentorship Award. Rasmussen was nominated by students in her research group, seen here. Back row from left, Erin Dougherty, Ryan Riesenberg, Zach Bruick, Jeremiah Piersante, and front row from left, Murong Zhang and Rung Panasawatwong.
Sean Freeman, advised by Sue van den Heever, has received a Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) award from the National Science Foundation. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Freeman was able to apply for this additional funding to work with an advisor in another country.
Freeman will work with Professor Pier Siebesma at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Siebesma is a world leader in studying boundary layer and mixed-phase clouds. Freeman will help Siebesma complete numerical simulations and examine observational data of clouds over the Netherlands to answer fundamental questions about cloud physics and cloud processes.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers are predicting a near-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2019 – a slight increase from their initial forecast issued in early April. They anticipate that weak El Niño conditions are likely to persist through most of the hurricane season. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
Tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures have warmed up slightly faster than normal since early April and are now near normal. Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are conducive for an active hurricane season since they provide more fuel for tropical cyclone formation and intensification. They are also associated with a more unstable atmosphere as well as moister air, both of which enhance organized thunderstorm activity necessary for hurricane development.
The Earth System Modeling and Education Institute (ESMEI), the institutional legacy of CMMAP, welcomed its summer interns this week. ESMEI offers paid summer undergraduate research internships in the Department of Atmospheric Science, where interns join world-class atmospheric scientists investigating the science of clouds, climate and climate change, weather, and modeling.
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program also gives interns the opportunity to attend scientific seminars, visit national scientific laboratories, and participate in professional development training. The program spans 10 weeks from late May through early August.
Front row, left to right: Charlotte Connolly, Abby Stokes, Erin Sherman, Alex Ng and Elana Cope. Back row, left to right: Justin Stow, Richard Garmong, Emily Lill, Jaime Anderson and Brandon Molina.
One of the nation’s most influential atmospheric science-oriented research institutes, based at Colorado State University, has been awarded a new $128 million cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, known as CIRA, supports a broad spectrum of NOAA research, including forecast model improvements, hurricane track and intensity forecasting, real-time satellite tools for the National Weather Service, and forecaster training on use of satellite observations.
First established in 1980 as a partnership between CSU and NOAA, CIRA is among just 16 cooperative institutes established at premier centers of research excellence across the country.
CIRA is a research center of CSU’s Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. The institute is based on the foothills campus at Colorado State, with off-campus teams at NOAA labs in Boulder; Kansas City, Missouri; Washington, D.C.; and Miami, Florida.
CIRA is led by Christian Kummerow, a professor in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science.
Photo: Fall 2018 and Spring and Summer 2019 graduates who walked in commencement ceremonies Friday, May 17. From left to right, Marie McGraw, Samantha Wills, Ryan Riesenberg, Erik Nielsen, Zach Bruick, Kai-Chih Tseng and Michael Natoli. Photo by Sarah Tisdale
Coors Field hosted a different type of action April 24. Before
watching Major League Baseball, the crowd spectated science experiments,
meteorology demonstrations, rocket launches and fireworks at the Colorado Rockies’
10th annual Weather and Science Day. Twelve-thousand students from schools all
over Colorado and parts of Wyoming, along with their teachers and parents, attended
the event designed to interest kids in science, engineering and math.
“Events like these are what sparks excitement and imagination in kids’ minds, and hopefully encourages them to pursue a career in a scientific field when they are older,” said Noah Newman, who coordinated Colorado State University’s involvement in the event.
Newman, who coordinates outreach for the Colorado Climate Center, and several graduate students from the Department of Atmospheric Science explained and demonstrated how they take weather observations using various instruments, including a drone. The drone was popular with the students, who waved to its camera as drone operator Sean Freeman flew it in front of the crowd. The audience viewed the drone’s infrared perspective on the stadium’s giant screen, while Jennie Bukowski described how the department uses drones to study weather and severe storms.
CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) has selected Ph.D. student Jakob Lindaas as one of 20 early career academics to be a Sustainability Leadership Fellow for the 2019-20 academic year. Lindaas is advised by Associate Professor Emily Fischer.
SoGES recognizes that CSU’s future Ph.D.s and postdoctoral researchers are a primary informational resource for the complex decisions that will determine our environmental future. Over the course of the year, fellows will receive training to become leaders, learning to effectively communicate science to the media, policy makers and the public. They also will learn how to build successful careers that incorporate meaningful engagement and an interdisciplinary approach to research.
Lindaas said he was thrilled to be named a leadership fellow and excited to get to know the diverse group of sustainability scholars from many disciplines and schools at CSU.
“I’m hoping to learn more about how to foster innovative, interdisciplinary research to solve environmental problems and how scientists can better communicate what they know with the public as well as policy makers,” he said.
Postdoctoral fellow Kelsey Bilsback, advised by Jeff Pierce, has been chosen to attend the highly competitive Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS), which selects 25 of the top early career scientists every other year. She also has been named a SoGES Sustainability Leadership Fellow for 2019-20.
ACCESS XV includes the Gordon Research Conference in Atmospheric Chemistry and will take place July 25-28 at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. Bilsback will have the opportunity to meet and present her work to representatives of the principal federal government agencies that fund atmospheric chemistry research. The meetings are intended to forge future professional relationships, with the atmospheric science community benefiting by becoming more aware of innovations in atmospheric chemistry through interactions with and presentations by ACCESS participants.
ACCESS participants are selected by a committee based in part on the significance and achievement of the applicant’s thesis or postdoctoral research. Around 100 candidates apply from prestigious institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Professors Jeff Pierce and Emily Fischer both attended ACCESS as postdoctoral fellows.
The CSU School of Global Environmental Sustainability’s leadership program provides training for fellows to effectively communicate science to the media, policy makers and the public. The fellowship aims to help early career scientists working on sustainability issues reach a broader audience and have greater impact. Bilsback studies the effects of anthropogenic air pollution on health and climate.
“Given that mitigating anthropogenic air pollution is largely driven by individual choices and government policies, I think the impact of my research now and in the future will be tied to my ability to communicate with the general public effectively,” she said.
Erin Dougherty, advised by Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen, has been admitted to the Advanced Climate Dynamics Courses Summer School, which will take place at Yosemite Field Station in Yosemite National Park Sept. 22 through Oct. 4. The goal of the program is to offer empirical and dynamical training within climate science with a focus on understanding the basic principles and dynamics relating to and defining the climate of the Anthropocene.
Dougherty applied to the program because she was interested in the immersive experience and opportunity to learn about anthropogenic climate change from experts around the world.
“Given my Ph.D. research on floods in a future climate, I hope to gain a broader perspective of how my research relates to anthropogenic climate change, and witness this first-hand during the fieldwork component,” Dougherty said. “I think this will be an enriching experience to learn how humans are affecting the planet and gain a better scientific understanding of such a complex and important topic.”
Kate O’Dell has a busy summer ahead of her. She has been accepted to and awarded funding for an aerosol program in Brazil and also the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium.
The Sao Paulo School of Advanced Science on Atmospheric Aerosols will take place July 22 through Aug. 2 at the University of Sao Paulo. The school’s main objective is to promote the gathering of atmospheric aerosol researchers with the best young researchers from around the world. The program is highly competitive, with 100 participants accepted out of 500 applications received from 67 countries. SPSAS scholars will acquire state-of-the-art scientific knowledge through theoretical classes, practical experimental activities, poster sessions and visits to research institutions.
O’Dell applied to the aerosol school for the opportunity to learn about a broad range of atmospheric aerosol-related topics from international colleges and leading experts in the field.
“I’m excited about this in-depth learning opportunity, and especially excited to gain hands-on experience with several aerosol measurement technologies through field trips and measurement projects in Sao Paulo,” O’Dell said.
O’Dell’s air quality research led her to apply for the AMS Summer Policy Colloquium, to be held June 2-11 in Washington, D.C. The colloquium is a 10-day immersion in the policy process and timely weather and climate-related topics. Graduate students will have the opportunity to meet policy makers and decision makers from Capitol Hill, federal agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
O’Dell said air quality in the U.S. has significantly improved thanks to effective policy, but there’s more work to do.
“A great way to continue improving our air quality is by maintaining a strong connection between scientists and policy makers,” she said. “At the colloquium, I hope to do my part by learning more about how the policy process works and by connecting with the people who make those legislative/regulatory decisions.”
Unusual tropical cyclone activity in the South Indian Ocean that is causing loss of human life and devastation has caught the attention of CSU’s Tropical Meteorology Project, which has been issuing seasonal hurricane forecasts in the Atlantic longer than any other organization.
At the end of April, Tropical Cyclone Kenneth made landfall as the strongest tropical cyclone ever observed in Mozambique. Kenneth struck northern Mozambique hot on the heels of Tropical Cyclone Idai, which ravaged southeast Africa mid-March, killing more than 1,000 people. As this South Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season sets records, CSU’s Tropical Meteorology Project leaders offer some perspective on what is making it so unusual.
“Idai was extremely devastating from a loss-of-life perspective,” said researcher Phil Klotzbach, lead author of CSU’s Atlantic seasonal hurricane forecast. “Idai was a Category 2 hurricane when it made landfall, and it produced tremendous flooding as well as a very high storm surge. This devastating cyclone was responsible for more than 1,000 fatalities. This is the second most fatalities on record for a South Indian Ocean cyclone.”
Clouds tell us what type of weather to expect, and wield a great deal of influence over our climate. They can enhance warming by trapping heat or cool the planet by reflecting sunlight back into space. Atmospheric scientists are studying another influencer with outsized effect: dust.
Dust can transform clouds, thereby altering the climate. With global temperatures rising and glaciers receding, the Arctic has been getting a lot dustier lately.
“As the Arctic climate changes, and the land/ocean surface properties change, impacts of particle emissions on cloud properties need to be considered as part of the story,” explained Paul DeMott, one of the Colorado State University atmospheric scientists who recently participated in an international study of glacially sourced dust and its impact on cloud formation. Their findings were published in Nature Geoscience on March 25.
Photo at top: Jun Uetake, left, and Yutaka Tobo install sampling lines for data collection at a research station in Svalbard, Norway.
It can be challenging to envision yourself succeeding in a career when you can’t relate to others in that field. Sometimes connecting with another person with whom you identify can make the difference between continuing course or changing direction.
Many women in STEM fields have encountered this dearth of relatable role models. A program cofounded by CSU atmospheric science professor Emily Fischer endeavors to foster these important connections and bolster gender diversity in STEM.
“PROGRESS enhances the mentoring support of undergraduate women, and this strengthens their scientific identify, and this increases their interest in the earth sciences,” said Fischer, who is principal investigator for the National Science Foundation-funded project.
Professor Sue van den Heever and Melissa Burt will host a professional development workshop on careers in the private sector 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, in ATS 101. Featured panelists are Chris Alston, sales engineer with ClimaCell; Rachel Hatteberg, software engineer with Aeris, LLC; Gavin McMeeking, principal scientist with Handix Scientific; and Sara Tucker, research scientist with Ball Aerospace.
This is the third workshop in a series of three. The first workshop, held in May 2018, focused on academic careers. The second, on April 9, highlighted government labs and other agencies.
All are welcome at the panel discussion. There will be time for questions from the audience. Refreshments will follow the panel, so students can talk to the panelists one-on-one.
Learn about air quality forecasting and consulting careers at FORTCAST’s next What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate talk. Jason Reed, principal scientist and certified consulting meteorologist with SLR Consulting in Fort Collins, will describe his consulting career and discuss the technical and professional challenges specific to air quality applications. Reed has worked in air quality for 20 years with a focus on air quality modeling for permitting and environmental impact analyses.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Herbert Riehl, Jr. was in attendance for presentation of the Herbert Riehl Memorial Award that honors his father, who founded the Department of Atmospheric Science. Trabing and Tseng each gave brief technical presentations on their research following announcement of their awards.
“Ben is one of the hardest workers I know,” said Bell, who also received the Riehl Award as an M.S. student. He recounted how Dr. Bill Gray asked him a challenging question following his presentation and encouraged others to do the same for Trabing.
Maloney praised Tseng’s work ethic and creativity. He said Tseng is prolific, with three publications in his name already and a fourth in the works.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better student,” Maloney said.
Riehl Award winner Ben Trabing, left, with Herbert Riehl, Jr., center, and his adviser, Michael Bell, a past Riehl Award recipient.
Alumni Award winner Kai-Chih Tseng, center, with his advisers, Elizabeth Barnes and Eric Maloney.
Colorado State University Distinguished Professor A.R. Ravishankara, professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric Science, has been named a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, the independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom.
This year, the Royal Society elected 51 scientists, 10 Foreign Members and one Honorary Fellow to its ranks, in recognition of “exceptional contributions to science.”
Ravishankara is a widely respected expert in the study of ozone, air quality and climate change. Some of his recent research and policy-related work has focused on reducing atmospheric pollution from developing countries, including India, whose cities are among the most polluted in the world.
Jennie Bukowski has been awarded funding to attend the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium in Washington, D.C., June 2-11. The colloquium is a 10-day immersion in the policy process and timely weather and climate-related topics. Graduate students selected through a highly competitive process have the opportunity to meet policy makers and decision makers from Capitol Hill, federal agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Bukowski applied to the program to learn how atmospheric scientists can take part in the policy process.
“In an era of political polarization, now more than ever we need scientists to stand up, advocate for research, and support evidence-based decision making,” she said. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to witness firsthand how scientists can make a difference in policy and science communication, and to share that knowledge with other interested students at CSU.”
Bukowski’s adviser, Professor Sue van den Heever, was proud of her student’s distinction.
“Jennie is a most deserving candidate in all areas related to science and policy, and I am delighted that she has been accepted to this colloquium.”
“Presenting this atmospheric science-focused research to a room full of hydrologists and civil engineers was a worthwhile experience, and even led to some interdisciplinary collaborations,” Dougherty said. “It was particularly gratifying to receive the award because it showed me the broader importance of my work in relation to a wide range of water-related issues.”
In addition to a cash award, her research will be featured in an upcoming issue of Colorado Water, a publication produced by the Colorado Water Center that highlights water research and activities at CSU and throughout Colorado.
Jamin Rader, who will join Elizabeth Barnes’ research group in Fall 2019, has been awarded a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. DOE CSGF students receive full tuition and fees plus an annual stipend and academic allowance, renewable for up to four years, to apply to Ph.D. study in computational science or engineering. Less than 5 percent of applicants are chosen for the fellowship each year. Rader is the third ATS student to receive the DOE CSGF.
In addition to required courses in engineering, computer science and applied mathematics, DOE CSG fellows also must complete a three-month research practicum at one of 21 DOE sites. The practicum is intended to broaden the fellow’s experience outside their main thesis area, expose them to alternative methods or tools, and allow them to apply their skills to new problems in computational science.
“I am excited to use this [fellowship] to learn about machine learning and apply it to real-world problems related to, but separate from, my graduate studies – and then, of course, take this new skill and apply it to my studies at CSU,” Rader said.
Rader also received a one-year AMS Graduate Fellowship, which he had to decline in order to use the DOE fellowship.
Kirsten Mayer, advised by Elizabeth Barnes, has been selected to receive a three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
“I am very honored to have been selected to receive the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship,” Mayer said. “This funding provides me the flexibility to pursue new and exciting research that I am particularly passionate about.”
Mayer will use the funding to further study the MJO-QBO relationship in regard to sub-seasonal to seasonal prediction.
“I plan to use this opportunity to expand my knowledge of new methods, such as machine learning, to better our understanding of the atmosphere.”
Scientists involved in a field campaign are away from their normal routines, offices and universities, including the support mechanisms available if sexual harassment or other inappropriate behaviors occur. Three Colorado State University researchers are examining the prevalence of sexual harassment in field-based research as part of a National Science Foundation-supported study.
The CSU team, which includes Emily Fischer, Kristen Rasmussen and Brittany Bloodhart, are also studying what psychological indicators might lead people to engage in – or intervene in – a harassment situation.
Part of their work is documenting how people respond when the issue of sexual harassment is openly discussed, and expectations for professional behavior are clearly set by team leadership. The goal: creating a policy and culture of collegiality and respect across field teams.
Their efforts are supported by nearly $300,000 from the National Science Foundation, awarded last year. The group used two recent CSU-led field campaigns as test cases and proving grounds for their project.
Photo at top: Brittany Bloodhart, Emily Fischer and Kristen Rasmussen received a National Science Foundation grant to study the prevalence of sexual harassment in field campaign settings. Photo by Bill Cotton
Tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are currently slightly
below their long-term average values and are consequently considered an
inhibiting factor for 2019 Atlantic hurricane activity as well.
A weak El Niño has recently developed in the tropical Pacific. CSU
anticipates that these weak El Niño conditions are likely to persist
through the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. El Niño tends to
increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the
tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
The tropical Atlantic is slightly cooler than normal right now. Colder-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic provide less fuel for tropical cyclone formation and intensification. They are also associated with a more stable atmosphere as well as drier air, both of which suppress organized thunderstorm activity necessary for hurricane development.
There was a little extra excitement
at Atmos on Friday. In addition to hosting five prospective graduate students,
the department welcomed 108 second-graders from Altitude Elementary in Aurora.
Young minds delighted in scientific discovery as the children rotated through
several stations designed to teach them about precipitation, air pollution, and
weather and climate.
Noah Newman, outreach coordinator for
the Colorado Climate Center, discussed the water cycle with the students and
reviewed what they knew about the atmosphere and how it protects us. They
finished the station with a hands-on demonstration on how meteorologists measure
three forms of precipitation: rain, hail and snow.
“All of the students did really well
with answering the questions I posed to the classes, and they had many good
questions and comments of their own,” Newman said. “Overall, it was a really
fun day.”
Volunteers from Fort Collins
Atmospheric Scientists, or FORTCAST, agreed that interacting with the young
guests was fun. FORTCAST, a local chapter of the American Meteorological
Society (AMS), is composed of mostly graduate students from the Department of
Atmospheric Science. FORTCAST presents hands-on science at events like those
held by CSU’s Little Shop of Physics and at their own event, Weatherfest, in
the summer.
FORTCAST volunteers Sean Freeman,
Jennie Bukowski and Kyle Chudler ran several interactive demonstrations that
enthralled the schoolkids. Bukowski exhibited how clouds form in the atmosphere
using water, a plastic bottle, a bike pump and smoke particles from a match,
creating a cloud in a bottle for the students to examine up close. The children
answered questions about the importance of clouds and rain and were thrilled to
test the particle counter themselves.
Chudler showed the group how
different colors either reflect or absorb heat, as evidenced by sheets of white
and black paper under a heat lamp, so the students could feel the difference
for themselves. He then displayed an image of the Earth and asked the students
which areas would absorb heat and which would reflect it. They were able to
extrapolate that receding ice means less reflective surface area as it becomes
darker, heat-absorbing ocean, thereby warming the planet.
Chudler wowed them when he
demonstrated air pressure by placing a heated can in ice water. The children’s
eyes and mouths opened wide in awe as an aluminum soda can instantly crumpled
when a vacuum formed inside.
Inquisitive kids flocked to
Freeman’s table to check out a drone, its camera, and an iPad displaying the
camera’s view in real time. Students waved and mugged for the camera as Freeman
explained how he and other atmospheric scientists use drones for research,
flying them into clouds and storms to collect data. The children were able to
view footage taken by the drone in flight.
At another station, research
scientist Katie Benedict taught the students about air pollution. They learned
about particles in the atmosphere and how our noses and lungs filter those particles
and protect our bodies. Benedict explained how increased aerosol in the
atmosphere affects our visibility as light is scattered. The class compared
filters and images from normal, hazy and smoky days that illustrated this
phenomenon. Research scientists Arsineh Hecobian and Amy Sullivan also led
demonstrations of smells from volatile organic compounds and the use of
chromatography to separate a mixture of chemicals, in this case water-soluble
marker colors.
The visit culminated in a weather
balloon launch and drone flight. Despite the dreary weather, the youngsters
exclaimed in enthusiasm as the balloon was released, and more than 100 little
faces watched intently as it drifted higher into the clouds until it was out of
sight.
For the grand finale, drone pilot
Sean Freeman gave a much-anticipated flight demo of the drone’s maneuvering
capability and snapped a few aerial shots of the enrapt second-graders. The
kids cheered as the drone settled back onto the ground. After a unified “thank
you” on their teachers’ cue, the second-graders boarded their buses, likely
taking with them lessons they won’t soon forget.
Department Head Jeff Collett, who
coordinated the visit, echoed the thoughts of one student who, just before
departing, was overheard telling her teacher that it had been the “best day
ever!”
Professor Sue van den Heever and Melissa Burt will host a professional development workshop on working for government labs and other agencies 2-4 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, in ATS 101. Featured panelists are Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, deputy director of the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center with the U.S. Geological Survey; Ethan Greene, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center; Nezette Rydell, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Boulder; and Jonathan Vigh, a project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
This is the second workshop in a series of three. The first workshop, held in May 2018, focused on academic careers. The third, scheduled for May 1, will highlight private sector careers.
All are welcome at the panel discussion. There will be time for questions from the audience. Refreshments will follow the panel, so students can talk to the panelists one-on-one.
Learn how scientists monitor Earth’s atmosphere and environment using satellites at April’s Teen Science Café. Matt Rogers from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere will talk about the principles of light, how light interacts with the environment, and how that can be used to measure our world from orbit.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 10 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Matt Rogers from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café
brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science
in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to
increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a
realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they
sometimes do not get in school.
Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen will talk about chasing and studying some of the strongest storms on Earth at FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate talk Tuesday, March 26. Rasmussen will share her experience with the RELAMPAGO field campaign in November in Argentina, where she led a research team of graduate students.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Photo above: The RELAMPAGO Advanced Study Institute team, with Kristen Rasmussen standing in front on the right.
Brian Domonkos is supervisor of the Colorado Snow Survey, overseeing snow monitoring operations in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and southern Wyoming.
Learn more about our precious Colorado snowpack at FORTCAST’s next What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate talk. The discussion topic will be the Colorado Snow Survey, which provides mountain snowpack data and streamflow forecasts for the western United States. Its applications include water supply management, flood control, climate modeling, recreation and conservation planning.
Karl Wetlaufer and Brian Domonkos from the National Resources Conservation Service Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program will provide an overview of the organization and its services. The NRCS is responsible for all in-situ mountain snowpack and precipitation monitoring across 13 Western states with the automated SNOTEL and manual snow course networks. These data are used for forecasting spring and summer volumetric water supply as well as many other uses ranging from avalanche forecasting to recreational planning.
As Colorado Snow Survey Supervisor, Domonkos oversees snow monitoring operations in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and southern Wyoming. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering and a citation in meteorology from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Wetlaufer is a hydrologist and the assistant supervisor for the Colorado Data Collection Office of the USDA-NRCS Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program. Born and raised in southwest Colorado, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while studying snow science and snow hydrology at Montana State University.
An interactive discussion and questions are encouraged. Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Photo at top: Karl Wetlaufer is a hydrologist and the assistant supervisor for the Colorado Data Collection Office of the USDA-NRCS Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program.
What’s it like working in the world of arthropods and Colorado insects? Bring your entomology questions to March’s Teen Science Café. CSU entomology graduate students Erika Peirce and Melissa Schreiner will answer questions about insects, jobs, college, social media, travel, beekeeping, macrophotography and insect collecting.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 13. Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenters: CSU entomology graduate students Erika Peirce and Melissa Schreiner
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Photo at top: Entomologists Erika Peirce and Melissa Schreiner
Ph.D. student Ben Toms was chosen for two outstanding presentation awards at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting in January in Phoenix. Toms was honored for work completed during his M.S. studies, under the supervision of Professor Sue van den Heever. The Climate Variability and Change Program Committee selected Toms’ presentation, “Quantifying the Dependence of the Global Response to the Madden–Julian Oscillation on the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation,” for an Outstanding Student Presentation Award.
“We had a large number of very good student presentations this year, and we commend you on the work you have done,” committee members Rob Korty and Walt Robinson said in his notification letter.
Toms’ presentation was about quantifying the global “signature” of the Madden-Julian Oscillation within the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.
“I have greatly enjoyed working with my collaborators on this project, (Professors) Libby Barnes, Eric Maloney, and Sue van den Heever,” Toms said. “We used a statistical technique to show that the global teleconnections of the Madden-Julian Oscillation depend on the phase of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, a tropical stratospheric oscillation. This suggests that the state of the tropical stratosphere is important for understanding the connections between the MJO and the extratropics.”
Toms also won an Outstanding Oral Presentation award at the 18th Conference on Artificial and Computational Intelligence and its Applications to the Environmental Sciences for his talk, “Climate Science, Deep Learning, and Pattern Discovery: The Madden−Julian Oscillation as a Test Case.”
For this project Toms worked with Karthik Kashinath and Prabhat of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Da Yang of the University of California, Davis to show that deep learning, a form of machine learning, can learn for itself the variables and spatial patterns important for characterizing multiscale geophysical phenomena such as the MJO. You can read a pre-print of the paper here.
Editor’s note: Extreme cold weather can produce unusual phenomena, from so-called sea smoke to slushy ocean waves. As atmospheric scientist Scott Denning explains, these striking events are caused mainly by the behavior of water at very cold temperatures.
Why do lake and ocean waters appear to steam during cold snaps?
There are three phases, or states, of water: solid ice, liquid water and gaseous water vapor. Even in extremely cold weather, liquid water can’t be colder than the freezing point – about 32 degrees Fahrenheit – so the surface of the ocean is much warmer than the air above it.
A lot of water evaporates from the warmer ocean into the colder dry air above. As soon as this invisible gas rises even just a little bit above the relatively warm water, it hits air that is much colder and can’t hold much vapor, so the vapor condenses into microscopic droplets of liquid water in the air.
Some people call the wispy clouds caused by condensation just above the winter ocean or lakes “sea smoke.” That’s a better term than steam. Real steam is very hot water vapor – that is, water in its gas phase, which is invisible.
Photo at top: “Sea smoke” on Lake Michigan at 39th Street Harbor in Chicago, Jan. 30, 2019. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Two Ph.D. students were chosen for Outstanding Student Paper Awards from the American Meteorological Society’s 21st Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry. Will Lassman, co-advised by Jeff Collett and Jeff Pierce, was rewarded for presenting his paper, “Methods of Estimating Deposition Using Atmospheric Concentration Measurements: Using Synthetic Observations Downwind of a CAFO to Quantify Ammonia Deposition.” Jakob Lindaas, advised by Emily Fischer, won for presenting his paper, “What Controls the Ratio of Primary Reduced and Oxidized Forms of Gas Phase Reactive Nitrogen in Young Wildfire Smoke?”
Lassman presented results from a study investigating novel measurement platforms for estimating ammonia dry deposition downwind of animal feedlots. He collaborated with Professors Jeff Pierce and Jeff Collett, as well as Professor Jay Ham (soil and crop science) and Azer Yalin (mechanical engineering) to demonstrate a method for estimating the fraction of total ammonia that dry deposits near a source by comparing the dilution of ammonia to that of methane, using Large Eddy Simulation to represent a turbulent atmosphere near the earth’s surface. They also demonstrate how to apply this technique by mounting the sensors on a UAV, or drone.
Lindaas presented preliminary results from his first analyses of WE-CAN campaign data. He is focused on understanding how much ammonia is in wildfire smoke, what happens to it, and how it interacts with other chemistry in wildfire smoke.
“Since the data were so recently collected, I tried to focus on what patterns we have already observed and what kinds of questions they lead to, which I’ve already started to explore,” Lindaas said. “It’s fun to try to tell a story, even/especially when you don’t know how it ends.”
Photos at top: Will Lassman (left) and Jakob Lindaas
Fifty-million-year-old fossils recovered by Paleontology Field School undergraduate students in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin include the first confirmed primates and oldest-known horses – plus crocodiles and exotic mammals unlike anything alive today. How can we learn from this subtropical past to understand the potential impacts of climate change?
Prof. Kim Nichols from CSU’s Department of Anthropology will discuss primate paleontology and CSU undergraduate fossil research at the next Teen Science Café.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 13. Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Kim Nichols from CSU’s Department of Anthropology
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Photo at top: Paleontologist Kim Nichols works in the field. Photo by Paul Knowles
M.S. student Kathryn Moore, advised by Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott, was selected for an Outstanding Student Presentation Award at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in December. AGU chooses the top five percent of student participants for this award to recognize quality research and presentation skills in the geophysical sciences.
Moore was chosen for presentation of her poster “Marine Ice Nucleating Particles over the Southern Ocean,” which focused on early results from ice nucleation and aerosol measurements from the Southern Ocean CAPRICORN-2 and SOCRATES campaigns that she participated in January through March 2018.
“Participating in OSPA was fun because it encouraged you to present to and have discussions with scientists outside your field, who often provided very different perspectives on your research,” Moore said.
As a Colorado State University Ph.D. student in atmospheric science,
Alexandra Naegele spends most of her days in front of a computer, using
models to study clouds, precipitation and atmospheric energy.
For three weeks in November, Naegele left that familiar setting for
something wildly different. She was one of 16 graduate students across
the U.S. who participated in an intensive, international scientific
field campaign in Argentina, observing that region’s famous severe
thunderstorms.
Naegele was joined by fellow CSU graduate student Jeremiah Otero Piersante and peers from other institutions in the National Science Foundation-supported International Research Experience for Students Advanced Study Institute: Field Studies of Convection in Argentina. The program was a student-focused, intensive crash course in atmospheric science field work and research held in conjunction with a $30 million, NSF-supported field campaign co-led by CSU faculty.
The overall field campaign, RELAMPAGO, wrapped in December and was the largest land-based atmospheric sciences field study ever conducted outside the United States. RELAMPAGO brought together the expertise of several universities and agencies to discover why thunderstorms in subtropical South America are among the most extreme in the world, regularly producing golf ball or grapefruit-sized hail.
Photo above: The RELAMPAGO Advanced Study Institute team.
The American Meteorological Society will again recognize Professor Emeritus Wayne Schubert at its Centennial Meeting in 2020 by holding a symposium in his honor. AMS named symposia acknowledge the contributions of the most distinguished members of the field.
AMS previously commended Schubert with the 2016 Jule G. Charney Medal, one of the organization’s top awards. After 45 years with CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science, Schubert has retired from teaching but continues to conduct research.
The AMS Annual Meeting is the world’s largest yearly gathering for the weather, water and climate community. The 2020 AMS Annual Meeting will be its 100th. It is scheduled Jan. 12-16 in Boston.
Every month or two, a massive pulse of clouds, rainfall and wind moves eastward around the Earth near the equator, providing the tropics their famous thunderstorms.
This band of recurring weather, first described by scientists in 1971, is called the Madden-Julian Oscillation. It has profound effects on weather in distant places, including the United States. Atmospheric scientists have long studied how the Madden-Julian Oscillation modulates extreme weather events across the globe, from hurricanes to floods to droughts.
As human activities cause the Earth’s temperature to increase, reliable, well-studied weather patterns like the Madden-Julian Oscillation will change too, say researchers at Colorado State University.
Eric Maloney, professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, has led a new study published in Nature Climate Change that attributes future changes in the behavior of the Madden-Julian Oscillation to anthropogenic global warming. Maloney and co-authors used data from six existing climate models to synthesize current views of such changes projected for the years 2080-2100.
Graphic at top: Current climate is represented in (a), and a warmer climate in (b). As the climate warms, the mean vertical gradient in water vapor (blue) increases. Tropospheric temperature (orange shading) will also increase more than the lower atmosphere. Credit: Eric Maloney/Colorado State University
The science is clear that human activities over the last century have contributed to greenhouse-like warming of the Earth’s surface. Much of the global conversation around climate change fixates on what individual countries or regions are contributing to the problem, and what they will do (or not do) to reverse the tide.
But Colorado State University’s A.R. Ravishankara, University
Distinguished Professor who holds joint appointments in the departments
of chemistry and atmospheric science, says the full picture is longer
and more complex than meets the eye. It involves a legacy of past
actions, as well as irreversible commitments for the future.
Ravishankara and co-author Daniel Murphy of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration offer a new calculation that provides the
long view of what nine different world regions have contributed to
climate change since 1900. They also show how that breakdown will likely
look by 2100 under various emission scenarios. Their study is in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dec. 17.
Above: The pie charts show relative contributions to global warming divided into regions of the world. The enlargements represent the growth of overall cumulative global radiative forcing. CRF is cumulative radiative forcing. RCP is representative concentration pathway, or a modeled emissions scenario based on prior inputs. RCP 2.6 is roughly what was agreed upon during the 2015 Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change, the “Paris Agreement,” in which nations collectively agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius this century. RCP 8.5 is business as usual, with continued increasing emissions.
Department Head Jeff Collett presented Xubin Zeng with the 2018 Outstanding Alum Award in a ceremony Dec. 7. Zeng then gave a talk on interface processes in the Earth system. His wife Qingqiu, also an ATS alum, was in attendance.
In a note for the department newsletter, Zeng said, “I am honored by this recognition from ATS – a top program in our field with many distinguished alumni throughout the years. I thank the ATS faculty for inspiring me and raising me up to stand on their shoulders.”
Zeng is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona, where he holds the Agnese N. Haury Endowed Chair in the Environment and serves as director of the UA Climate Dynamics and Hydrometeorology Center. Zeng co-founded the University of Arizona’s Hydrometeorology M.S. and Ph.D. program, the first such program in the U.S.
Through over 170 peer-reviewed papers, Zeng is well known for his research on land-atmosphere-ocean interface processes, weather and climate modeling, hydrometeorology, remote sensing, and nonlinear dynamics. His research products – including computer models, algorithms and value-added global datasets – have been used by major national and international research centers and numerous groups worldwide. Zeng’s work on chaos has advanced our understanding of this important field and is widely referenced even outside of atmospheric science.
Zeng is deputy PI of a newly selected $30 million NASA project on the understanding of aerosol-cloud-weather interactions through measurements using two aircraft in formation over the western North Atlantic. Among other recognitions, Zeng is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and recipient of a 2014 Special Creativity Award from the National Science Foundation.
Zeng received his Ph.D. from the department in 1992, advised by Roger Pielke. The title of his dissertation was “Chaos Theory and Its Application in the Atmosphere.”
ATS will host a reception for alumni, faculty, students and friends at the 99th Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting in Phoenix, Ariz., on Jan. 8. The reception will be held at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix Hotel Paradise Valley Room. Hors d’oeuvres will be served, and there will be a hosted bar. A prospective student meet and greet will take place 6-6:30 p.m., followed by the alumni and friends reception from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
People living in Kansas, Nebraska and other states in the Plains are no strangers to tornadoes and hail storms – among the most costly and dangerous weather threats in the United States.
Meteorologists and computer models do a good job forecasting thunderstorm activity up to a week in advance. Scientists can also read long-term, seasonal signals of severe weather months in advance. But there’s a middle ground – a prediction lead time of about 2 to 5 weeks – that’s sorely lacking in current forecasting capabilities.
In a new paper in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Colorado State University atmospheric scientists demonstrate the ability to make skillful predictions of severe weather across the Plains and southeastern United States, including hail and tornadoes, in that coveted 2-to-5-weeks-in-advance period. To do it, they use a reliable tropical weather pattern called the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which can influence weather in distant parts of the Earth, including the U.S., by sending out powerful atmospheric waves.
“When the Madden-Julian Oscillation is active, it is capable of setting up atmospheric patterns that are favorable for severe weather across the United States over the next several weeks,” explained Cory Baggett, research scientist in atmospheric science and the paper’s lead author. “We have found that an active Madden-Julian Oscillation, which periodically goes around the equator in 30 to 60 days, is a really good source of predictability on these subseasonal time scales.” Atmospheric scientists typically consider “subseasonal” to mean about three weeks to three months in advance.
The 2018 hurricane season ended up slightly above average – more active than was predicted by the CSU Tropical Meteorology Project forecast team’s later updates issued in June, July and August. Of most note during the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season were Hurricanes Florence and Michael, which brought death and destruction to the Carolinas and Florida Panhandle and other parts of the southeastern United States, respectively.
“The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season was above-average for numbers of named storms and hurricanes, and near-normal for the number of major (Category 3+ on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) hurricanes. Overall, our first seasonal forecast issued in early April verified quite well, while updates issued in June, July and August underestimated Atlantic hurricane activity,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the forecast. Seasonal Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) was approximately 140 percent of the 1981-2010 median. Much of the activity that occurred during the season occurred outside of the tropics. Six of the 15 named storms that formed in 2018 were initially classified as sub-tropical.
The report summarizes all tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic basin during the 2018 hurricane season and compares the team’s seasonal and two-week forecasts to what occurred.
Entrepreneurship doesn’t live in business schools alone. An entrepreneurial mindset can be developed in innovators from all backgrounds, disciplines, and skillsets – especially scientists and engineers. Scientists, engineers, and designers are powerhouses of innovation, and those with an entrepreneurial mindset are focused on more than solving technical problems, they’re consistently looking for ways to create value and transform the world. Scott Shrake, director of CSU’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, will discuss the keys to developing an entrepreneurial mindset and the importance of fostering that mindset in the sciences at FORTCAST’s next What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate talk.
As director of CSU’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, Shrake promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, product development, and commercialization for students, faculty, and community members across Northern Colorado. Shrake’s passion is social impact and launching innovative, cutting-edge programming to promote venture creation and entrepreneurial mindset at universities across the globe.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, upstairs at Tap & Handle. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
A team of Colorado State University scientists led by Assistant Professor Emily Fischer spent the summer flying into wildfire smoke to analyze its composition in the largest, most comprehensive campaign of its kind to date. Five universities and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) collaborated on the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen, or WE-CAN, which involved a C-130 research aircraft loaded with scientific instruments and 15 scientists per flight.
Based in Boise, Idaho, the flight crew flew 16 six-hour missions to collect smoke samples and data. Boise was chosen because almost every August there is a wildfire burning within a two-hour flight of the city. The WE-CAN team included around 100 scientists and engineers, with many of them stationed on the ground, monitoring fires, smoke and weather to guide the plane.
Fischer directed the campaign from the cockpit.
“The visibility was so poor that we had to use a completely different flight planning strategy than I anticipated,” she said. “Decisions in the cockpit were essential.”
The campaign’s objectives were to determine what the smoke is made of, how it changes over time and as it travels, how it affects clouds, how the type of fuel affects smoke composition, and how the fire’s temperature affects the smoke’s chemistry. The results will bring insights on air quality, health impacts, weather and climate.
M.S. student Faith Groff was one of three recipients of the Excellence in Research Award at the 2018 Graduate Student Showcase on Nov. 13. Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering graduate students presented 54 research posters, and Groff’s was judged to be one of the top three. She was selected for the college-sponsored award for her poster, “Analysis of Tropospheric Gravity Waves in a Mesoscale Convective System.”
In response to the award announcement, Groff said, “I would like to thank my advisor, Russ Schumacher, and the Schumacher research group.”
As field researchers know, sometimes the science you set out to do is not what you end up doing. But the drive for knowledge is unwavering, and scientists find a way to get the job done, even if it means changing course, maneuvering bureaucratic hurdles and waiting out setbacks. Flexibility is key to field campaigns, and sometimes the reward is in the unexpected discoveries.
One team of CSU scientists can attest to this recent experience. Department of Atmospheric Science researchers set sail on U.S. research vessel the R/V Thomas G. Thompson in August and September to study precipitation in the tropical west Pacific. Their project, the Propagation of Intra-Seasonal Tropical OscillatioNs, or PISTON, seeks a better understanding of precipitation processes in this area, in order to better understand weather across the Maritime Continent, in southeastern continental Asia, and even in the U.S.
“PISTON had lots of challenges because it was a complex, international experiment. But many of the challenges we faced come with the business of doing this type of science,” said Professor Steven Rutledge, lead principal investigator for PISTON’s atmospheric component. “In the end, it all worked out.”
A complex set of factors contribute to tropical weather, requiring PISTON to be an extensive field campaign involving intensive numerical modeling and observation. Fourteen universities and several national and international organizations collaborated on the project, with funding for the U.S. portion provided by the Office of Naval Research.
Photo at top: The R/V Thompson docked in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Professor Eric Maloney and scientist Ilana Pollack were recognized with awards at the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering All-College Meeting Nov. 8. Maloney received the George T. Abell Outstanding Research Faculty Award, and Pollack received the Outstanding Researcher Award.
This year’s award winners were selected by a committee comprised of last year’s winners. Nominations were submitted by colleagues and staff of the college’s eight departments and programs.
Assistant Professor Emily Fischer nominated Pollack for the award. Her nomination letter spoke of Pollack’s integral, first-of-its-kind work on the multi-million dollar NSF project WE-CAN, and her dedication to teamwork and mentoring.
“Ilana’s mix of talent and expertise is rare. She is a meticulous atmospheric chemist, and she is also a master of logistics. She is a true team player, and that is why she is so deserving of this award.”
Pollack was grateful for the award.
“It was truly an honor to be recognized for my research contributions and for my many roles and responsibilities,” she said.
Maloney received his distinction “for groundbreaking work in the prediction of weather extremes weeks in advance.”
“It is very humbling and satisfying to be given this honor. I would not be where I am today without the outstanding faculty, students, and staff in the Atmospheric Science department,” Maloney said.
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering Dean David McLean presents the George T. Abell Outstanding Research Faculty Award to Professor Eric Maloney at the All-College Meeting on Nov. 8.
Professor Sue van den Heever has been appointed to co-chair NASA’s Science Advisory Group to guide the implementation of the Decadal Survey study of aerosol and clouds, convection, and precipitation. The advisory group will serve as the study’s primary connection to the wider science and applications communities.
“Sue was selected for this role due to her expertise and stellar international reputation in the field,” said Atmospheric Science Department Head Jeff Collett. “This is a high-profile, national appointment where she will have important input on NASA’s future activities observing aerosols, clouds, convection and precipitation.”
NASA chose national and international leading scientists and application practitioners in the field of aerosol and clouds, convection, and precipitation (A-CCP) for the Science Advisory Group. They were recruited from the academic community and government agencies. The advisory group will provide advice on the direction of NASA’s A-CCP study, critically review the study’s outputs, communicate the study’s aspirations to the wider science and applications communities, and build partnerships between international science communities and the U.S. A-CCP community.
The answer was a sparse region in Argentina’s Andean foothills. Rasmussen, then a University of Washington graduate student, flung herself into studying the monstrous storms that darken subtropical South American skies: their structure, their genesis, and why they occur there, and not elsewhere.
Now a Colorado State University assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science, Rasmussen will finally get to stand under those very skies, putting her hypotheses to the test.
Rasmussen is a key contributor to a $30 million, National Science Foundation-funded field campaign, launching Nov. 1, aimed at discovering why thunderstorms in this particular region of Argentina are among the most extreme in the world. The scientists will help improve the knowledge and prediction of violent storms in this part of the world, as well as for severe weather in general.
“It’s very exciting,” Rasmussen said. “I have studied these storms for over 10 years, but never seen one in person. I’m thrilled to go down to the field with great colleagues and instruments, and sample some of the most extreme thunderstorms on Earth.”
Photo: Members of the CSU RELAMPAGO team. Back row: Nathan Kelly, Jeremiah Piersante, Erik Nielsen, Russ Schumacher, Zachary Bruick. Front row: Stacey Hitchcock, Kristen Rasmussen, Faith Groff.
National Weather Service forecaster William Mokry, currently based in Cheyenne, will talk about his experience with the NWS at the next installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate series. Mokry’s interests include geospatial analysis, environmental science, hydrology, radar meteorology, decision support services and hydrometerology. He received his M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of North Dakota.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Xubin Zeng has been selected as the 2018 CSU ATS Outstanding Alum. Zeng received his Ph.D. from the department in 1992, advised by Roger Pielke. The title of his dissertation was “Chaos Theory and Its Application in the Atmosphere.”
Zeng is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona, where he holds the Agnese N. Haury Endowed Chair in the Environment and serves as director of the UA Climate Dynamics and Hydrometeorology Center. Zeng co-founded the University of Arizona’s Hydrometeorology M.S. and Ph.D. program, the first such program in the U.S.
Through over 170 peer-reviewed papers, Zeng is well known for his research on land-atmosphere-ocean interface processes, weather and climate modeling, hydrometeorology, remote sensing, and nonlinear dynamics. His research products – including computer models, algorithms and value-added global datasets – have been used by major national and international research centers and numerous groups worldwide. Zeng’s work on chaos has advanced our understanding of this important field and is widely referenced even outside of atmospheric science. Zeng is deputy PI of a newly selected $30 million NASA project on the understanding of aerosol-cloud-weather interactions through measurements using two aircraft in formation over the western North Atlantic. Among other recognitions, Zeng is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and recipient of the 2014 Special Creativity Award from the National Science Foundation.
Zeng’s award will be presented during the ATS/CIRA colloquium Dec. 7.
Anna Hodshire was presented with the David L. Dietrich Honorary Scholarship, and Kai-Chih Tseng was given the Shrake-Culler Scholarship in a ceremony Oct. 16. Both recipients were unaware of their selection until the announcements by their advisors during the presentation.
The Dietrich Scholarship, funded each year by Fort Collins-based Air Resource Specialists, Inc., is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich. The award goes to a CSU student who has demonstrated outstanding ability in air quality research and education. Hodshire was nominated by her advisor, Associate Professor Jeff Pierce.
“Anna’s done excellent work on particle formation and growth as well as on the properties of smoke aerosol. She has a great scientific curiosity and work ethic that allows her to excel at many projects. Anna is also growing to be a team leader in coordinating researchers across related projects. I am very fortunate to work with her!” Pierce said after the presentation.
The Shrake-Culler Scholarship is awarded annually to a senior Ph.D. student. The student must have passed their preliminary exam, have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and demonstrate a strong work ethic and enthusiasm for higher education. Tseng’s advisors, Professor Eric Maloney and Associate Professor Elizabeth Barnes, nominated him for the award.
“Kai-Chih is an incredibly creative graduate student. Some of the novel diagnostics he has developed related to tropical-extratropical interactions are now being used by others in the field,” Maloney said following the ceremony.
“Kai-Chih is one of the hardest working and creative graduate students we have had the pleasure of working with. All of his papers have been driven by his curiosity, and I think most of his collaborators would agree that we are just lucky to be along for the ride,” Barnes said. “His work is exemplary, and he has shown no fear in using any tool necessary to test his hypotheses. Since arriving, he has utilized reanalysis, climate model output, ECMWF forecast system hindcasts and an idealized model (i.e. a linearized baroclinic model).”
Joe Adlhoch, right, and Jessica Ward, left, from Air Resource Specialists, were on hand for presentation of the Dietrich Scholarship to Anna Hodshire, second from left, on Oct. 16. The scholarship is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich. Hodshire’s advisor, Jeff Pierce, second from right, nominated her for the award.
Kai-Chih Tseng, center, was nominated for the Shrake-Culler scholarship by his advisors, Eric Maloney, left, and Elizabeth Barnes, right.
Before Europeans settled North America, an estimated 60 to 400 million beavers lived from the deserts of northern Mexico to the arctic tundra of Canada. Beavers were important engineers of wetlands and valley bottoms before being trapped to near extinction in the 19th century. With changing laws and ecosystem dynamics, where are the beavers today? At the next Teen Science Café, Juli Scamardo, a graduate student studying fluvial geomorphology in CSU’s Department of Geosciences, will talk about what environments are important to beavers, what ecosystem factors are affecting beavers in Rocky Mountain National Park, and what people can do to help beavers and the environment here in Colorado.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 14 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Juli Scamardo from CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Professor James Hurrell will lead the Atmospheric Sciences section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) as president for a two-year term starting in 2019. Hurrell served as president-elect in 2018. This week Professor Sue van den Heever also was elected as secretary of physics, dynamics and climate for the Atmospheric Sciences section for 2019-20. They are joined on the committee by Joyce Penner (University of Michigan; past president), Paul Newman (Goddard Space Flight Center; president-elect) and Faye McNeill (Columbia University; secretary of composition and chemistry).
Department of Atmospheric Science Professor James Hurrell has been selected to serve on the Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Hurrell, who is also the Scott Presidential Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, will be one of two members on the committee from the U.S.
What does gold have to do with malaria? Heidi Hausermann from CSU’s Department of Anthropology will explore the social, environmental and health implications of gold mining in Ghana, West Africa, at October’s Teen Science Café. While observing high-resolution satellite imagery, students will be asked to speculate on the ecological and social outcomes of landscape change from gold mining. The talk will then reveal how land-use changes are impacting the everyday lives of rural people. Hausermann’s research reveals how local environmental change and health dynamics are shaped by global processes such as gold markets and financial crises.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 10 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Heidi Hausermann from CSU’s Department of Anthropology
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Photo above: Boys fish in abandoned mining pits in Ghana. Photo credit: Heidi Hausermann
The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in the dynamics and physics of the climate system. We solicit candidates with expertise in geophysical fluid dynamics, coupling between clouds and radiation, climate dynamics, and/or planetary atmospheres across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Candidates will be considered at the assistant or associate professor level.
The new faculty member will be expected to build and maintain a strong, internationally recognized research program supported through external funding, complement and expand upon current research and teaching activities, and provide service to the University and broader community. She/he will contribute to teaching and intellectual leadership in our atmospheric science curriculum at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels by teaching courses in the Department’s core graduate curriculum, advising graduate students, and developing advanced courses in his or her areas of expertise.
Denver7’s Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson will discuss “Crayons to Computers: A History of TV Weather” at the first installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate series this academic year. With more than 40 years experience as a TV weather forecaster, Nelson has won 18 Emmy awards for Outstanding Weather Anchor and in 2001 was recognized by the Colorado Broadcasters Association as “Citizen of the Year.” He also has written two books: The Colorado Weather Book and Colorado Weather Almanac. Nelson has a meteorology degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
The Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering recently welcomed its most diverse incoming class of students to date, with a 34 percent increase in the number of women and 25 percent increase in students of color. While celebrating these gains, the college aims to enhance them further through the appointment of an Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. Filling this new role is Melissa Burt, who has been developing diversity and inclusion initiatives for a decade as Education and Diversity Manager, first for the Department of Atmospheric Science and more recently for the college.
“[I’m] honored to begin this new role,” Burt said. “It really highlights the commitment of our dean and college to diversity and inclusion.”
In her expanded position, Burt will continue to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment in the college, and focus efforts for recruiting and retaining diverse faculty, staff and students. She will lead strategic planning and implementation of diversity, inclusion and equity goals, and play an active role in university-wide diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Thunderstorms in Argentina are among the most intense anywhere in the world. Kristen Rasmussen will lead a field campaign in Argentina this fall to study these powerful storms and how they form. She will discuss severe storms and her upcoming field research at September’s Teen Science Café.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 12 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Kristen Rasmussen from CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Associate Professor Jeff Pierce was chosen as the 2017-18 Outstanding Professor of the Year by Department of Atmospheric Science graduate student representatives, based on evaluations submitted by students. Students fill out surveys for each course throughout the academic year, and grad reps then determine which professor received the most support and should be honored for teaching excellence.
Graduate Representative Andrea Jenney presented Pierce with a plaque at the New Student Welcome Picnic on Aug. 30.
“Students agree that Jeff clearly teaches with passion and excels at making his content relatable,” she said. “Students also appreciate Jeff’s student-focused teaching style and time spent on in-class discussions. One student wrote, ‘I audited this class and still wanted to show up, that’s how useful and engaging it was!’ ”
Pierce thanked his students for the distinction.
“It means so much to get this positive feedback from the students! We, as faculty, spend a lot of time thinking about how best to keep our classes exciting and how to explain concepts clearly, so it’s great to know when the students think things are working well.”
He added, “I feel extremely lucky to work with such bright and inquisitive students in our department. There is nothing more enjoyable in my job than having the class spontaneously turn into a full-class discussion of science topics.”
The department welcomed its incoming class of graduate students at a picnic at Spring Canyon Park on Aug. 30. Faculty introduced their new students and shared a little about the research each will be doing. The 2017-18 Outstanding Professor of the Year also was announced at the picnic. Andrea Jenney presented the award to Associate Professor Jeff Pierce.
Photo at top: Fall 2018 incoming class. Front row, left to right: Drew Koeritzer, Marqi Rocque, Rung Panasawatwong, Simchan Yook, Chandra Pasillas, Yasutaka Murakami and Michael DeCaria. Back row, left to right: Alex DesRosiers, Michael Needham, Nicholas Kedzuf, Adam Clayton, Eric James, Alex Sokolowsky and Matthew Lang. Not pictured: Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano, Jeremiah Piersante and Greg Zwicke.
The City and County of Broomfield, like many parts of Colorado, is experiencing an oil and gas boom. With more than 80 new wells slated for drilling in Broomfield, city officials and many average citizens are seeking scientific answers to questions about air quality.
To get those answers, the city has awarded a three-year, $1.7 million contract to Ajax Analytics – a Colorado State University technology spinoff company – and a CSU Department of Atmospheric Science research group to provide new insight into emission sources, emission rates and health exposures related to oil and gas activities. Working together, the team will provide round-the-clock air monitoring and analysis. Their goals are real-time air quality awareness for Broomfield staff and citizens, and a comprehensive, multi-year report that paints a cohesive picture of local air quality.
Photo above: A mobile plume tracker is one of several instruments to be deployed for studying air quality for Broomfield citizens. Credit: Arsineh Hecobian
Department of Atmospheric Science alumnus Walt Petersen, a research physical scientist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, has been awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in an Aug. 22 ceremony at the center in Huntsville, Alabama. This prestigious NASA medal is reserved for exceptional scientific contributions toward achievement of the NASA mission. It is given for individual efforts that have resulted in a key scientific discovery or resulted in contribution of fundamental importance in this field or significantly enhanced understanding of the field.
The citation for Petersen’s award reads: “for scientific contributions to the Global Precipitation Measurement mission and leadership of the ground validation program.” Petersen received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the department in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
“Sonia Kreidenweis is a woman of extraordinary achievement for her scientific contributions and for training a new generation of scientists necessary for our future,” said Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Stuart Tobet in his nomination of Kreidenweis for the 2018 Colorado Women of Vision Award.
Kreidenweis, a University Distinguished Professor with the Department of Atmospheric Science, was one of twelve women chosen for the award by the Colorado Women of Influence Foundation. They were honored at the foundation’s annual Women of Vision Gala on July 18 for contributing to the well-being and empowerment of women and the betterment of their communities through outstanding innovation, leadership and social Impact.
“Sonia’s vision, creativity, and can-do attitude have led her down paths of mentoring, service, and responsibility that few faculty go and fewer excel,” Tobet said in his nomination, in which he praised her as a highly accomplished educator, scholar, mentor and innovative leader.
Kreidenweis achieved CSU’s highest academic recognition when she was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2014. She was appointed Associate Dean for Research of the College of Engineering in 2015. While earning department and college accolades at CSU, Kreidenweis also served on the leadership teams of two national organizations. She is a former president of the American Association for Aerosol Research and a past member of the executive committee of the American Meteorological Society.
Tobet pointed out that Kreidenweis has been a strong role model for women in these historically male-dominated national organizations, as well as within the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering.
“Colleges of engineering are not gender diverse, and Sonia is a leader for recruitment and retention of excellent women faculty to break down barriers of gender inequality.”
Kreidenweis’s guidance extends beyond gender lines. Service to young faculty is a major focus for her.
“She not only serves as a role model for junior faculty members, but also actively identifies and implements activities that have the greatest impact on assisting new faculty to develop innovative, compelling, and competitive programs,” Tobet said.
Kreidenweis, who was interviewed along with all of the honorees, discussed her career track and offered some advice for women striking out on their own path.
“If a young woman [asked] me about how to create the life of her dreams, I would suggest that she pursue what she loves, because then work won’t feel like work, work is going to be fun. It helps you get through the hard times. And never forget that you have your family and you have your support network, and people are always there to help you.”
Kreidenweis expressed gratitude for those who supported her along the way and for this most recent honor to add to a long list of accomplishments.
“I’m incredibly honored to have been selected as a Woman of Vision and so grateful to Stu for nominating me. It was a big surprise and a very humbling one, and I’m really grateful to be honored this way.”
Kreidenweis was the first in her family to earn a college degree, and went on to attain her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at a time when not many women were pursuing engineering degrees. She credited her stubbornness for helping her succeed.
“The research that I’ve done I think has been important to the state and to the nation, and it’s a really great feeling to think about your research having some impact like that.”
Her colleagues and students have noted her impact, and she has been commended with the Abell Outstanding Teaching and Service Faculty Award at the college level and a department Professor of the Year Award, voted on by graduate students.
“I’m really proud of being hired at Colorado State and contributing to the Department of Atmospheric Science. It’s been a really wonderful place.”
Photo at top: Sonia Kreidenweis, recipient of the 2018 Colorado Women of Vision Award, and Stuart Tobet, who nominated Kreidenweis for the award. Photo by Emily Moon of eMoon Photography.
The CSU Atmospheric Cyclists, a team composed of Department of Atmospheric Science and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) members, won this year’s Bike to Work Challenge, sponsored by the City of Loveland. The challenge was open to all workplaces along the Front Range and included teams in Colorado Springs.
“The CSU Atmospheric Cyclists led from the start and never let up,” said challenge founder David Droege. “They had terrific participation and just kept the pedals spinning through the entire eight weeks.”
Droege, a systems engineer at Keysight Technologies, founded the informal competition between Colorado companies in 2017 to encourage more people to bike to work. This year’s competition, which ran from April 30 until Bike to Work Day on June 27, involved 197 participants who commuted a total of 35,124 miles, nearly doubling last year’s number of participants and more than doubling last year’s total mileage.
“That distance is equal to 1.4 times around the circumference of Earth,” said Droege.
The team of 41 Atmospheric Cyclists, organized by CIRA researcher Kyle Hilburn, logged 7,367 miles and 809 commute days, which was estimated to have saved 295 gallons of gas. Atmospheric scientist Paul DeMott logged the most miles for the team with 510. Annette Foster rode the longest commute at 24.5 miles round-trip, and Hilburn had the most overall rides on the team, 40.
Photo at top: Team Captain Kyle Hilburn holds the Bike to Work Challenge trophy that was presented to the Atmospheric Cyclists Aug. 8 by challenge founder David Droege (back row, fifth from left) and City of Loveland representatives Katie Guthrie and Shelley Aschenbrenner.
Colleagues, friends, family and former students of Professor Emeritus Wayne Schubert gathered July 27 at the Department of Atmospheric Science to honor the scientist’s “retirement,” or lack of it. After 45 years with the department, Schubert has no intention of leaving research or the department.
“It’s been a great pleasure for me to watch the department grow,” said Schubert as he addressed the audience assembled to pay tribute to him. The department has grown significantly since Schubert joined the faculty in 1973. Since then Schubert has authored 105 publications and advised 32 M.S. and 27 Ph.D. students. Several of them were present to recognize the influence he has had on their lives, with one of his first students, Pedro Silva Dias, traveling from Brazil for the reception.
Pedro praised Schubert’s expert duality in dealing with both the theoretical and practical, and explained how that has impacted his own career. Associate Professor Michael Bell, who has been both Schubert’s student and colleague, described the “Wayne Schubert halo effect,” or the sphere of understanding that Schubert emanates and the knowledge gained in his presence. Senior research associate Rick Taft, who has worked for Schubert since 1991, characterized Schubert as “a jack of all trades and master of everything.”
“Wayne is an amazing man for whom I have the utmost respect and admiration,” Taft said. “He not only has the intellectual gift, discipline and work ethic to be the top-notch, world-class scientist that he is, but he also has an impeccable character that leads him to be humble, gentle, kind, respectful, patient and truly caring of others.”
Schubert has been recognized by the American Meteorological Society for his outstanding contributions to the science and by CSU for his teaching and student advising skills. He has served as the co-chief editor of the Journal of Atmospheric Science and as the publications commissioner for the American Meteorological Society journals.
Though Schubert has retired from teaching, he continues to be a mentor and respected colleague. He recently completed a research proposal to advance his group’s studies in atmospheric dynamics, numerical weather prediction and tropical meteorology.
University Distinguished Professor Dave Randall pointed out that he had known Schubert longer than anyone else in the department. Randall and Schubert both studied under Akio Arakawa at the University of California. Schubert was finishing his Ph.D. when Randall was a new graduate student.
“Arakawa told me to learn from Wayne, and I still am,” Randall said.
Department Head and Professor Jeff Collett said Schubert had set the tone of the department more than anyone else. “I’m thankful you will still be around sharing your halo of wisdom.”
Proving he was indeed the humble and generous person described by his admirers, Schubert shared words of gratitude at the conclusion of the ceremony. He also discussed how much the atmospheric science campus had changed since he started in ’73, when it was a single three-story building, and how the people have made the place what it is.
“It’s not so much the buildings, it’s the people in those buildings. When I look at the buildings, I think about the neurons firing inside.”
Graduate students, researchers and faculty in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science took home the team trophy for the top combined weather forecast score for the 2017-18 season of the WxChallenge, the North American collegiate weather forecasting competition comprised of 1,800 participants from 62 meteorology programs.
During the 20-week contest season, participants apply their knowledge of atmospheric processes and interpretation of numerical weather guidance to predict the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, accumulated precipitation, and maximum sustained wind speeds for designated cities across the U.S. The CSU team managed to out-forecast 40 other teams for the season team trophy, placed first in the two-week 12-team playoff round, had eight members qualify for the individual tournament, and won five individual forecaster trophies.
While this is the first season for CSU to take home the top prize, the team has historically done well in the competition. They placed second overall in 2016-17 with eight individual forecaster trophies. The team is looking forward to the start of the 2018-19 contest season this fall and a chance to defend their title as North America’s top collegiate weather forecasters.
2017-18 individual forecaster trophy winners
Second place graduate student for the season – Zach Bruick
First place faculty/staff/postdoc forecaster for Washington, D.C. – Chris Slocum
First place graduate student forecaster for Cleveland, OH – Zach Bruick
Runner-up graduate student forecaster for Cleveland, OH – Greg Herman
Runner-up graduate student forecaster for Binghamton, NY – Zach Bruick
2017-18 CSU team members
Cory Baggett
Zach Bruick
Sam Childs
Faith Groff
Greg Herman
Joe Messina
Kyle Nardi
Erik Nielsen
Russ Schumacher
Chris Slocum
Photo at top: Front row: Cory Baggett, Russ Schumacher and Faith Groff; back row: Erik Nielsen, Kyle Nardi, Sam Childs, Greg Herman, Chris Slocum and Zach Bruick.
This summer, a four-engine cargo airplane laden with both scientists and sophisticated equipment will fly straight into hazy smoke from Western wildfires.
The flights will comprise the largest, most comprehensive attempt to date to measure and analyze the wildfire smoke that blankets vast swaths of the United States every year.
Throughout late July and August, a multi-agency, multidisciplinary team led by Colorado State University scientists will travel to Boise, Idaho, to conduct 15 to 20 smoke-observation flights. The project is called the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen, or WE-CAN, and is primarily supported by the National Science Foundation.
“This is a challenging field campaign,” said lead scientist Emily Fischer, CSU assistant professor of atmospheric science. “It’s not like measuring the plume from, say, a power plant. We don’t know exactly where the fires will be, but we know that pretty much every year, there is a wildfire burning within a two-hour flight of Boise during the month of August.”
Photo at top: WE-CAN scientists Frank Flocke, Emily Fischer and other collaborators aboard the NSF/NCAR C-130, loaded with instrumentation for studying wildfire smoke.
Ph.D. candidate Erik Nielsen, advised by Russ Schumacher, was selected for one of three Best Student Poster Presentation awards at the 29th Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting/25th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction held by the American Meteorological Society June 4-8 in Denver. Nielsen’s winning poster, “Dynamical Insights into Extreme Short-Term Precipitation Associated with Supercells and Mesovortices,” examined how rotation can potentially lead to enhancement of short-term rain rates. A paper on the subject by Nielsen and Schumacher recently was accepted in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.
Nielsen has received two other presentation awards from AMS: a second-place poster award in 2017 for “An Updated U.S. Geographic Distribution of Concurrent, Collocated Tornado and Flash Flood Events and Look at those Observed during the First Year of VORTEX-SE,” and a second-place oral presentation award also in 2017 for “Observations of Extreme Short-Term Precipitation Associated with Supercells and Mesovortices.” (There were no placements given for the recent award, just three overall poster selections.)
That team made history within the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility. ACE-ENA had one of the largest, if not the largest, groups of women working on an ARM field campaign.
Christine Chiu, an ACE-ENA co-investigator and associate professor in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science, says ARM sets a unique example for the opportunities it makes available to women.
“I hope ARM becomes a role model in the community for supporting female scientists,” says Chiu.
The ACE-ENA team, which included co-investigators, forecasters, data analysts, instrument mentors, and ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) staff, traveled to the Azores west of Portugal to study low clouds in a remote marine setting during two intensive operational periods: summer 2017 (June and July) and winter 2018 (January and February). ACE-ENA required ground-based measurements from ARM’s Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) atmospheric observatory on Graciosa Island, in addition to airborne data acquired aboard ARM’s Gulfstream-159 (G-1) research aircraft.
Photo above: Female ARM Aerial Facility staff and instrument mentors during ACE-ENA gather in front of ARM’s Gulfstream-159 (G-1) research aircraft during the winter 2018 intensive operational period. From left to right, they are: Amy Sullivan, Colorado State University; Maria Zawadowicz, Alyssa Matthews, Fan Mei, and Lexie Goldberger, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Susanne Glienke, Michigan Technological University. Not pictured are Tamara Pinterich of Brookhaven National Laboratory and Kaitlyn Suski of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The Earth Science Women’s Network, an international peer-mentoring organization for women in the geosciences, has received a national honor for its work in creating a supportive community for thousands of scientists. Two members of the network’s leadership board are at Colorado State University; scientists from University of Colorado Boulder, UNAVCO and Colorado College also lead the organization.
Emily Fischer, CSU assistant professor of atmospheric science and a five-year board member of the Earth Science Women’s Network, accepted the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring on behalf of the organization. Melissa Burt, CSU research scientist in atmospheric science, serves as the network’s vice president. Burt is also the education and diversity manager for the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering.
“The Earth Science Women’s Network has empowered and supported thousands of women across the nation, and internationally,” Burt said. “From my own experience, [the network] has provided me with an exceptional community of talented and brilliant scientists … It has also influenced many of us to take a leap and be a leader. We are using these leadership positions to promote and mentor scientists of today and welcome the scientists of tomorrow.”
Photo at top: Emily Fischer accepts the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring on behalf of the Earth Science Women’s Network.
Faculty, alumni and friends of the department are invited to submit nominations for the 2018 Colorado State University Atmospheric Science Distinguished Alum Award. The award honors former students whose accomplishments in their careers and service to the profession, the public and/or industry have brought recognition to that individual, to the department, and to Colorado State University. The award recipient(s) will be honored in a department ceremony in late summer or early fall.
Nominations of outstanding alums at mid-career stage or beyond are encouraged. Nominations will be reviewed by the Department Awards Committee.
To nominate an individual, please complete the online nomination form at atmos.colostate.edu/alumni/award-nomination.php and attach a current vitae or resume. Letters of support are not requested and will not be considered in the review process. If you wish to renew a past nomination, please resubmit the nomination using the online form. Nomination deadline is July 31.
A list of past recipients can be found on our Alumni page.
Please direct questions to Sarah Tisdale at Sarah.Tisdale@colostate.edu.
Pictured above: 2017 Distinguished Alum Maria Silva Dias
Two of the 27 projects the U.S. Department of Energy has chosen to fund in atmospheric and ecological sciences will be conducted by Department of Atmospheric Science researchers. Associate Professor Christine Chiu and Senior Research Scientist Paul DeMott have been awarded DOE grants for separate projects.
The DOE announced Tuesday it will invest $15 million in the 27 projects in an effort to improve the power of Earth system models to predict weather and climate.
Chiu’s project, “Assessing Secondary Ice Production in Continental Clouds Based on AMF Synergistic Remote Sensing Observations,” will use polarimetric radar observations of mixed-phase clouds to characterize secondary ice production.
DeMott’s project, “Ice Nucleating Particles, Aerosols and Clouds over the Higher Latitude Southern Ocean,” will analyze filter samples from campaigns in the Southern Ocean region to investigate the role of sea spray formation and microbial activity in primary ice nucleation processes.
DeMott looks forward to the analysis made possible by the award.
“I was excited to receive this award, because we have a great data set in hand from DOE ARM funding, and this grant now assures that we will mine it to its full potential,” he said.
All funded projects were selected by competitive peer review.
“Improving Earth system modeling and prediction capabilities is a critical step in mitigating future risks to the Nation’s energy supplies,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in the DOE announcement. “By helping us to better understand our environment, these investments in science will help us maintain a strong energy infrastructure and reliable energy supplies while also ensuring that America remains at the forefront of energy sciences and technology.”
Photo at top: Christine Chiu and Paul DeMott pictured during field campaigns.
FORTCAST’s second annual Colorado Weatherfest will be held 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 1. All ages are invited to attend the event at the Scott Bioengineering Building on CSU’s main campus.
Featuring a weather balloon launch and drone demonstration, Weatherfest introduces weather and climate principles through hands-on activities. Dozens of scientists from across Colorado will participate, including representatives from:
CSU Department of Atmospheric Science
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
Colorado Climate Center
City of Fort Collins
Open Snow
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
Little Shop of Physics
National Weather Service
WeatherNation
Center for Severe Weather Research
Earth System Modeling and Education Institute (ESMEI)
University of Colorado Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Photo above: A weather balloon was launched at the inaugural Colorado Weatherfest in 2017.
The Earth System Modeling and Education Institute (ESMEI), the institutional legacy of CMMAP, welcomed its summer interns last week. ESMEI offers paid summer undergraduate research internships in the Department of Atmospheric Science, where interns join world-class atmospheric scientists investigating the science of clouds, climate and climate change, weather, and modeling.
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program also gives interns the opportunity to attend scientific seminars, visit national scientific laboratories, and participate in professional development training. The program spans 10 weeks from late May through early August.
Front row, left to right: Emily Fletcher, Savanna Wolvin, Marquin Spann and Shannon Bohman. Back row, left to right: Ruby Nelson, Caleb Wood, Emily Wein, Samantha Gillette and Christiaan Patterson.
Emily Fischer is likely one of the few people whose summer plans were buoyed by a recent forecast that much of the western United States faces another worse-than-normal wildfire season. Unusually warm weather and drought, together with plenty of dry grass and brush, are expected to create prime conditions for blazes this summer, federal officials announced on 10 May.
The forecast has local officials bracing for the worst. But it represents an opportunity for Fischer, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins who is preparing to spend the summer flying through plumes of wildfire smoke aboard a C-130 cargo plane jammed full of scientific equipment. The flights are the highlight of an unprecedented effort, costing more than $30 million, that involves aircraft, satellites, instrumented vans, and even researchers traveling on foot. Over the next 2 years, two coordinated campaigns—one funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the other by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—aim to better understand the chemistry and physics of wildfire smoke, as well as how it affects climate, air pollution, and human health.
The weak La Niña that occurred this past winter has dissipated, and there is the potential that a weak El Niño could develop by the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season (August-October). However, the forecast team believes that neutral ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) conditions are the most likely scenario for this year’s season. El Niño tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form.
Associate Professor Michael Bell talked about the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, the challenges of long-term weather prediction, and the interplay between climate and weather on NPR’s Science Friday on June 1.
Six undergraduate students from North Carolina A&T State University visited the department May 20-25, as part of the department’s NSF-GEOPATHS program and a collaboration with Prof. Solomon Bililign from the North Carolina school. Prof. Scott Denning and Melissa Burt are the CSU co-PIs for the NSF-GEOPATHS program. The goals of their visit were to:
Actively engage with CSU faculty and students who work in complementary research areas;
Expose NCA&T students to the larger atmospheric science community;
Prepare NCA&T students for an REU experience outside of their home institution;
Inform NCA&T students about graduate school opportunities at Colorado State University.
A fully immersive experience in atmospheric science was planned for the students, including tours of the department, opportunities to learn about ATS research, professional development workshops, and three field trips to research facilities – the National Center for Atmospheric Research, CSU Powerhouse and the National Atmospheric Deposition Network (NADP) field site in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Photo at top: From left to right, North Carolina A&T State University students Jackson Wiles, Ian York, Charles Carrington, Mariah Bush, Ashley Pope and Makala Murphy visited the department May 20-25.
Visiting North Carolina A&T State University students, Melissa Burt and Torrie Moss pose in front of Bear Mountain at NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder.
Research Scientist Amy Sullivan talks about the measurements taken at the NADP field site in Estes Park.
North Carolina A&T State University students, Melissa Burt and Torrie Moss pose in front of Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Noah Newman and Colorado Sate Climatologist Russ Schumacher talk with the visiting students about the history of the CSU weather station.
Melissa Burt, left, and visiting students from North Carolina A&T State University pose in front of NCAR’s C-130.
Living in Colorado, the Rocky Mountains and foothills greatly influence our daily lives, regardless of whether we ski or snowboard. The mountains affect the weather we experience every day.
“Mountain weather, downslope windstorms, mountain wave turbulence, beautiful mountain wave clouds, thunderstorms, and mountain-enhanced rain and snowfall are all important aspects of life in Colorado that we experience on a daily basis,” said Department of Atmospheric Science Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen, who teaches an experimental course on the influence of mountains on weather and climate.
Colorado State University’s Mountain Campus made it possible for Rasmussen to take her class into the field for hands-on learning and practical application of the course material.
Photo at top: Kristen Rasmussen and her mountain meteorology class at CSU’s Mountain Campus.
Ph.D. candidate Will Lassman, co-advised by Jeff Pierce and Jeff Collett, has been chosen for a STEM Chateaubriand Fellowship. The fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States to outstanding Ph.D. students from U.S. universities who wish to conduct research in France. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, through a collaborative process involving evaluators in both countries.
The fellowship will fund Lassman’s nine-month stay at the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) in Paris, where he will learn how to use some of the state-of-the-art modeling tools the lab has developed.
“The lab I will be visiting in France has some of the world’s leading experts at measuring and modeling atmospheric ammonia interactions with the Earth’s surface,” Lassman said.
Lassman will apply the lab’s tools to his work with ammonia processes on the Colorado Front Range, and the results will contribute to his dissertation.
Lassman’s upcoming visit and work in France were made possible by French President Emmanuel Macron’s Make our Planet Great Again Initiative, which increased the funding available for projects related to Earth science, climate and sustainability. Lassman’s research on pollution and agriculture sustainability fit the initiative’s goals. He will receive a monthly stipend for nine months, support for his travel to France and health insurance coverage abroad.
Lassman is excited about the opportunity and expects to gain more than data from the trip.
“I want to work internationally after I finish my Ph.D., and this seems like a good way to network with many scientists who do research that is related to what I do.”
James Hurrell will join Colorado State University in September 2018 as the Scott Presidential Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering. Hurrell will fill the first of four presidential chairs in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, endowed by a generous gift from college alumnus Walter Scott, Jr. The four chairs represent the college’s areas of excellence in water, health, energy and the environment.
Hurrell serves as director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, where he is also a senior scientist in the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in atmospheric science from Purdue University. Hurrell will be appointed at the rank of professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science.
Graduate students Katelyn O’Dell, Casey Patrizio and Naufal Razin have been selected to receive NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowships. The NESSF ensures continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines required to achieve NASA’s scientific goals. Awards resulting from the competitive selection are made in the form of training grants to the respective educational institutions, with the faculty advisor serving as the principal investigator.
NASA received 424 applications in Earth Science Research and selected 54 for award. Selection was based on scientific merit of the proposed research, relevance of the proposed research to NASA’s objectives, and the applicant’s academic excellence. Three from the Department of Atmospheric Science were chosen for the following proposals:
Katelyn O’Dell, advised by Jeff Pierce
“A Tale of Two Regions: Assessing and Contrasting Smoke-Exposure Estimates in the Southeastern and Western U.S.”
Casey Patrizio, advised by Dave Thompson
“The Role of Clouds in Northern Hemisphere Extratropical-Tropical Interactions”
Naufal Razin, advised by Michael Bell
“The Influence of Tropical Cyclone Rainband Convection on Intensity”
Spring 2018 Graduates
Julie Barnum
M.S.
Advisor: Steven Rutledge
Trent Davis
M.S.
Advisor: Steven Rutledge
Leah Grant
Ph.D.
Advisor: Sue van den Heever
Nathan Kelly
M.S.
Advisor: Russ Schumacher
Jakob Lindaas
M.S.
Advisor: Emily Fischer
Naufal Razin
M.S.
Advisor: Michael Bell
Rick Schulte
M.S.
Advisor: Chris Kummerow
Yixing Shao
M.S.
Advisor: Jeff Collett
Kira Shonkwiler
Ph.D.
Advisors: Jeff Collett and Jay Ham
Chris Slocum
Ph.D.
Advisor: Wayne Schubert
Derek Weber
M.S.
Advisor: Jeff Collett
Justin Whitaker
M.S.
Advisor: Eric Maloney
Summer 2018 Graduates
Jack Kodros
Ph.D.
Advisor: Jeff Pierce
Ben Trabing
M.S.
Advisor: Michael Bell
Zitely Tzompa
Ph.D.
Advisor: Emily Fischer
Photo: Spring and Summer 2018 Ph.D. graduates who walked in commencement ceremonies Friday, May 11. From left to right, front to back, Zitely Tzompa, Kira Shonkwiler, Chris Slocum and Jack Kodros.
University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Graeme Stephens has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society for his exceptional contributions to science.
“This is a very prestigious honor, reserved only for those at the very top of their fields,” said Department Head Jeff Collett, who congratulated Stephens.
Stephens directly linked the recognition to his experience at CSU.
“It of course reflects my time at CSU where I had the chance to dig deep and really learn about the science,” he said.
Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. It is a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists. Fifty Royal Society Fellows were named this year. Elon Musk joins Stephens in the new class.
Since his retirement from CSU, Stephens has served as Director of the Center for Climate Sciences at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He has maintained his involvement with the Department of Atmospheric Science as a senior research scientist and by advising postdocs and engaging with department students. He is a member of the U.S. National Academies and recently received the 2017 Mason Gold Medal from the Royal Meteorological Society.
CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) has selected Ph.D. student Erin Dougherty as one of 20 early career academics to be a Sustainability Leadership Fellow for the 2018-19 academic year. Dougherty is advised by Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen.
“The SoGES Sustainability Leadership Fellows program immediately appealed to me because it seemed like a unique opportunity to work across disciplines at CSU and gain skills in science communication as well as public and political engagement. These skills are ones that are not explicitly taught in a Ph.D., but skills I consider to be extremely valuable since I desire to make my research applicable and meaningful beyond academia,” Dougherty said.
SoGES recognizes that CSU’s future Ph.D.s and postdoctoral researchers are a primary informational resource for the complex decisions that will determine our environmental future. Over the course of one year, the fellows receive training to become leaders for the future, learning to effectively communicate science to the media, policymakers and public. They also will receive training in professional development skills and techniques, and learn new strategies to build successful careers that incorporate meaningful engagement and an interdisciplinary approach to research.
“To get the opportunity to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds – students in political science, biology and natural resources – on the central topic of sustainability I anticipate will be a tremendous learning and eye-opening experience. It will be exciting to see what I learn from others and how I can apply it to my own work, as well as foster interdisciplinary collaborations,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty expressed how she will apply the fellowship to her career goals.
“My Ph.D. research is investigating how floods might change in a future, warmer climate. In addition to understanding the atmospheric processes that govern these changes, a huge motivation for conducting this research is to apply and communicate this research to a variety of sectors to help inform decision-making. This fellowship would give me the tools to effectively meet this goal, so that if I talk to policy-makers, media or the public, I can help them understand why we should care about floods in a future climate and how to translate knowledge into action.”
The Sustainability Leadership Fellows represent 15 departments and six colleges.
“I am excited to welcome our eighth cohort of Sustainability Leadership Fellows into the program, as we continue to equip CSU’s early career scientists to tackle our world’s biggest challenges,” said SoGES Director Diana Wall. “This program has become increasingly competitive, and I am thrilled at the high caliber of graduate students and postdocs at CSU who are motivated to be agents of change for a sustainable future.”
Herbert Riehl, Jr. was in attendance for presentation of the Herbert Riehl Memorial Award that honors his father and founder of the Department of Atmospheric Science. Childs and Kodros each gave brief technical presentations on their research following announcement of their awards.
Kodros is one of a handful of students who have received both the Riehl and Alumni awards. When Kodros was recognized with the Riehl Award in 2016, however, he was not able to accept it in person because he was delayed in India on visa complications following a research trip there.
Photo: Sam Childs (left) and Jack Kodros with their Riehl and Alumni awards, respectively.
Assistant Professor Emily Fischer has been selected as one of three recipients of this year’s Graduate Advising and Mentorship Award from the CSU Graduate Student Council. Winners are selected based on nominations by CSU graduate students across all disciplines. In its fourth year, the award was created to acknowledge outstanding advisors, who exceptionally dedicate their time, energy and wisdom to graduate students. Thirty-one advisors were nominated, including Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen.
“This is such a special award to win given the fact that one’s students have to put together a nomination package,” said Associate Department Head Sue van den Heever, who called Fischer a highly deserving candidate.
Fischer’s students said nominating her was a “no-brainer.”
“Emily’s enthusiasm, support and guidance has been unwavering and critical to each of us in our development as young scientists. Emily makes time to meet with each of us at least once a week, where we discuss research progress, ideas for new research, and to make sure that each of us are on track to graduate and meet career goals,” five of Fischer’s students wrote in their nomination letter.
They credit Fischer’s encouragement and support for inspiring them to apply for fellowships, grants and awards they have received.
Fischer called receiving the honor “a wonderful surprise.”
“My students may not realize just how easy they are to mentor – they are such a talented and motivated group of scientists. I’m incredibly proud of the work they do,” she said.
Van den Heever, who was the last Department of Atmospheric Science faculty member to receive the award in 2015, noted the department’s success in this area. Assistant Professor Elizabeth Barnes received an honorable mention for the award last year.
“I love it when ATS demonstrates that not only are we successful in research, but we are passionate about our teaching too,” van den Heever said.
Photo: Emily Fischer (center) and her students who nominated her for the Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award, (from left) Jared Brewer, Zitely Tzompa, Jakob Lindaas, Steven Brey and Kate O’Dell.
Prof. Sue van den Heever and Melissa Burt are hosting a professional development workshop on careers in academia. The first workshop in a series of four will take place 2-4 p.m. Thursday, May 10, in ATS 101. The featured panelists are Katja Friedrich from the University of Colorado, Zach Lebo from the University of Wyoming, Keah Schuenemann from the University of Denver, and our own Jeff Pierce. If you plan to attend, please RSVP for the professional development workshop here.
A paper published Monday by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that air quality improvements have slowed. It attributes this stalled emissions decline to industrial, construction, residential and diesel sources, which have increased relative to decreasing car and power plant emissions. The study “Unexpected slowdown of US pollutant emission reduction in the past decade” was co-authored by Assistant Professor Emily Fischer.
Two Department of Atmospheric Science professors will participate in events to honor Piers Sellers and educate on the topic of climate change June 24 through July 20 in Fort Collins. SummerFest 2018: Mission Earth is dedicated to the life and work of the late astronaut and scientist. The festival will explore a subject that was important to Sellers, climate change and its impact on the planet, through music, visual arts and science in four weeks of concerts, lectures, films, art exhibitions and STEAM-based educational events for all ages.
Sellers was a British-American meteorologist, pilot and astronaut who flew on three space shuttle missions. He served as the Director of Earth Sciences and Deputy Director for Science and Exploration at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Before joining the astronaut corps, Sellers researched how the Earth’s biosphere and atmosphere interact, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It was in this capacity that Sellers and now University Distinguished Professor David Randall became colleagues.
“Piers was more than a colleague. He was my friend for about 30 years. He was a truly amazing person,” Randall reflected.
Randall continued to work with Sellers after moving to CSU. He was a member of Sellers’ science team on a NASA project that lasted 10 years. Randall even traveled to Florida for two of Sellers’ shuttle launches.
Sellers was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015. He spent the last year of his life promoting awareness of climate change. The Goddard Space Center team is honoring his wishes by holding a reunion during the first week of the festival.
Randall and other members of Sellers’ climate science team, including Professor Scott Denning, will share science and stories about Sellers at several events throughout the festival.
Grand opening of Ouroboros – June 25
Randall will speak at the grand opening of Ouroboros 7-8:30 p.m. Monday, June 25, at CSU Lory Student Center Curfman Gallery. Ouroboros, a multimedia art installation by SummerFest 2018 artist-in-residence Kate Doyle, combines video, animation, and sounds from space and Earth, along with music by Bruce Adolphe and special effects by Eric Robertson. Doyle was inspired by Sellers’ optimism and heroic commitment, despite his increasing physical challenges and pain. She hopes this collaborative project that melds arts and science will raise consciousness on climate change and promote solutions through a global conversation.
‘I saw how fragile and infinitely precious our world is’ – June 29
Randall will present a slide show honoring Sellers, and Denning and Randall will participate in a panel discussion 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, June 29, at CSU Lory Student Center Curfman Gallery. At this event composer Bruce Adolphe will premiere his piece, “I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the world is,” inspired by a quote spoken by Sellers as he viewed Earth from space.
Denning also will present two talks on the festival topic:
“Simple, Serious, Solvable: The 3 S’s of Climate Change,” 6:30-9 p.m. Tuesday, July 17, at Block One Events
“Planetary Metabolism: The Breathing of the Earth,” 12-1 p.m. Monday, June 25, at The Lyric
In “Simple, Serious, Solvable: The 3 S’s of Climate Change,” Denning will discuss how we must learn to live well without wasting energy and make energy without setting carbon on fire as climate change becomes the most serious problem in the world. “Planetary Metabolism: The Breathing of the Earth” will cover how NASA satellites document planetary biology, allow us to understand and predict the incredible process of how our planet breathes, and help us understand our place in it.
Both Randall and Denning will participate in a panel on what businesses can do to save money and act on climate change. At this event, Fort Collins businesses and city employees will facilitate a dialogue around the actions they’ve taken to benefit the bottom line and help protect our climate. The discussion will be held 12-1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, at Odell Brewery.
Tickets for SummerFest 2018 range from $20 to $45 and can be purchased at the link or by calling 970-305-2261. There are a limited number of $10 student tickets available for each event. Advanced ticket purchase is recommended.
About the festival
Every season Off the Hook Arts presents music and visual arts in combination with issues of science or social conscience. Now in its seventh season, SummerFest raises funds to benefit year-round education programs offered through the Off the Hook Arts Academy.
Photo: From left, Piers Sellers, Mary Kay Randall, Joe Berry from the Carnegie Institution at Stanford, and David Randall. Photo taken in 2003 by Mandy Sellers.
Ben Toms, advised by Sue van den Heever, was recognized with an Outstanding Poster Presentation Award last week at the 33rd Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology in Ponte Vedra, Florida. He received the award for his project “A Coherent Image of Teleconnections Across the Globe Associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation,” co-authored by Elizabeth Barnes and Sue van den Heever. The poster was awarded the first-place prize in the Large-Scale Dynamics section.
Toms said the conference was a fantastic opportunity to meet brilliant tropical-minded scientists from across the country.
“My travel was sponsored by the MAC Foundation, so I am grateful for their support that allowed me to attend the conference.”
Associate Professor Russ Schumacher will talk about “attempts to bridge the weather-climate interface in research and career path” in this semester’s final installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate series. Schumacher also serves as Colorado State Climatologist and director of the Colorado Climate Center.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
By ship and by plane, CSU Department of Atmospheric Science researchers recently ventured to the stormiest place on Earth, the Southern Ocean, to collect cloud, aerosol and precipitation data for a project known as SOCRATES. Knowledge gained during the Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol Transport Experimental Study is expected to enhance weather and climate modeling and forecasting capabilities across the globe.
Graduate student Kathryn Moore, stationed aboard the research vessel (R/V) Investigator, collected data and samples to document primary ice nucleation and its influence on cloud phase. Primary ice nucleation is the formation of the first ice crystals in a cloud, which usually occurs on atmospheric aerosol particles known as ice nucleating particles, and cloud phase is the state of the cloud, liquid or ice.
“The SOCRATES project was designed to comprehensively sample and observe the interactions of aerosols with supercooled and mixed-phase clouds, to gain a better understanding of the aerosol-cloud interactions in this region, and to provide new datasets and parameterizations with which to test and improve weather and climate models,” Moore explained.
The research vessel embarked from Hobart, Tasmania on Jan. 11 and returned Feb. 22. Moore said the trip was remarkably smooth considering the region.
“There were about four to six days where waves were breaking over the bridge, six decks up, and it was too rough to get to the lab where the instruments were located. Other days varied from relatively flat, when we were close to the ice edge by Antarctica, up to six-meter swells. The Investigator has anti-roll tanks, which help reduce side-to-side motion, and I don’t suffer much from seasickness, which helps a lot when there are storms and high winds.”
Ezra Levin and Kathryn Moore test equipment aboard the R/V Investigator before it set sail Jan. 11, 2018. Photo by Paul DeMott.
Hands-on data collection was necessary to advance our understanding of cloud formation over the Southern Ocean because our current assessment is based almost entirely on satellite observations. This gap in knowledge leads to inaccurate climate models.
“The Southern Ocean is one of the most remote regions on Earth, far from anthropogenic and terrestrial aerosol sources, and so it is an ideal place to study natural aerosols and their interactions with clouds and radiation. Current weather and climate models struggle to represent this region,” Moore said.
CSU’s team of scientists had instruments aboard both the R/V Investigator, an Australian Marine National Facility research vessel, and HIAPER, or the High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research. HIAPER is a highly modified Gulfstream V jet that is owned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. The project is a collaboration among U.S. universities and Australian scientists, with the U.S. portion funded by the NSF and supported by NCAR.
“It was truly a multinational campaign,” said senior research scientist Paul DeMott, who led the group from CSU. “Our CSU team role in general was to collect data to address an overarching hypothesis that cloud phase and lifetimes behind polar fronts in the Southern Ocean are controlled by ice nucleating particle populations unique to this region (partly due to ocean organic and biological particle emissions), with the consequence that this helps to explain errors in global climate model predictions of solar radiation reaching the ocean surface.”
Ice nucleating particles (INPs) are particles suspended in the atmosphere, which provide the foundation for the most common method of ice formation in the atmosphere. Though the INPs are very rare, they have strong control over the phase, liquid or ice, of a cloud. Once a cloud has glaciated, or turned from predominantly liquid to ice, its reflective properties and radiative effect change significantly, and it can begin to precipitate as snow or ice, rather than just rain.
DeMott shared flight scientist duties with recent CSU graduate Christina McCluskey, now an NCAR Advanced Study Program postdoctoral fellow. DeMott and McCluskey utilized two methods for assessing INP concentrations and a bioaerosol detector while flying over the Southern Ocean, just as Moore was collecting similar samples using the same methods at sea level, along with water samples.
“As expected, the concentrations of INPs over the Southern Ocean were some of the lowest on Earth, both in the marine boundary layer at the surface and higher up in the troposphere,” Moore said.
Still, the extraordinarily low numbers of INPs in the air were somewhat surprising to DeMott, as were some other discoveries.
“Clouds were also more multilayered than we anticipated, and this has implications for radiative transfer and satellite detection,” DeMott said.
Some flights had to be postponed or canceled due to unusual winds over Hobart, but DeMott said most flights were not especially turbulent.
“I only felt queasy once in the entire campaign. We primarily had to be mindful of two things – icing of the aircraft wings and instrument pods, and ingestion of too much sea salt into the engines.”
There were times the HIAPER had to climb above clouds or descend to dissipate accumulating ice. The flight crew also limited time spent at the lowest level over the ocean in high winds to avoid salt accumulation. At least once during the study, NCAR had the engines power-washed to remove salt buildup.
Cloud probes collect data on the wing of the HIAPER. Photo by Paul DeMott.
“I felt we were always safe, just a long way from home or a runway if anything had happened!” DeMott said.
Though their two months of scientific journeys by sky and by sea have come to an end, much of the work has just begun.
“Our job now is to process physical samples, analyze our own data and to integrate that with in situ data on cloud dynamics and microphysics, and remote sensing data on the same from the ships and aircraft toward answering key project science questions. It will be a massive collaborative effort,” DeMott said.
Research scientist Tom Hill and postdoctoral fellow Ezra Levin supported preparations and installations for the project, and Hill will play a major role in analyzing the collected aerosol samples.
“Some of our goals, once all the data and samples are analyzed, are to identify what the major sources of INPs in the Southern Ocean region are, characterize the biological species present through DNA analyses, and to develop a parameterization that describes INP emissions and atmospheric number concentrations that can be used in weather and climate models to improve predictions in this region,” Moore said.
Given the broad scope of the expedition and the vast amount of analysis yet to perform, discoveries and definitive conclusions are still on the horizon. However, according to DeMott, the SOCRATES project already has been a success.
“My takeaway was that we met the objective to perform the most comprehensive characterization of Southern Ocean clouds and aerosols yet undertaken, that our data sets are rich, and that we will be able to answer our major hypotheses.”
Photo at top: Australian Marine National Facility (MNF) research vessel, R/V Investigator. Photo by Kendall Sherrin (CSIRO, AU).
Associate Professor Jeff Pierce was named one of CSU’s newest Monfort Professors at the Celebrate CSU Awards Ceremony yesterday. The Monfort Professorship is CSU’s premier award recognizing research accomplishments and potential of mid-career faculty. The program is sponsored by the Monfort Family Foundation to help CSU recruit and retain talented faculty members.
Two CSU faculty members are selected as Monfort Professors each year. They retain this designation for two years and receive $75,000 per year to further their teaching and research. Pierce plans to use his Monfort award to investigate the effectiveness of pollution emission control strategies in China, a collaborative effort with Ellison Carter, assistant professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Pierce is the fourth Department of Atmospheric Science faculty member to be named a Monfort Professor since the program began in 2002. Past recipients were Scott Denning, Dave Thompson and Sue van den Heever.
Jeff Pierce, center, is joined by his wife, Ellen Brennan-Pierce (at his right), and members of the Department of Atmospheric Science following the ceremony where he received the Monfort award April 11, 2018.
Alex DesRosiers, who will join Associate Professor Michael Bell’s group as an M.S. student in the fall, has been chosen to receive an American Meteorological Society Graduate Fellowship.
“I am thrilled for the privilege to be an AMS fellow,” DesRosiers said, after receiving notification from AMS President Roger Wakimoto. “Coming from a non-meteorology background with a desire to join that field, the AMS conference always provided an excellent spring board for me to network in the field I desired to join while learning about the many exciting projects going on this year.”
DesRosiers is currently an environmental engineering student at the University of Florida.
“The fellowship will help to fund my objective of studying the intensification process of tropical cyclones during my graduate studies in Dr. Michael Bell’s research group. I also look forward to growing professionally through the opportunities and events open to fellowship recipients at the AMS Annual Meeting,” he said.
University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Thomas Vonder Haar has co-authored a book about Verner Suomi, the founder of satellite meteorology. Vonder Haar and six other authors drew on personal letters and oral histories of the Finnish-American educator, inventor and scientist to piece together Verner Suomi: The Life and Work of the Founder of Satellite Meteorology.
The book’s abstract explains how Suomi forever changed the field of meteorology:
“In the early days of space science, Suomi brought his pragmatic engineering skills to bear on finding ways to use our new access to space to put observational instruments into orbit. In 1959, his work resulted in the launching of Explorer VII, a satellite that measured Earth’s radiation budget, a major step in our ability to understand and forecast weather. Today, NOAA’s GOES system continues his legacy by providing a continuous stream of environmental data from space.”
“It was a pleasure to work with lead author and historian John Lewis and other colleagues on the new book,” Vonder Haar said. “[Suomi] was my Ph.D. advisor at the University of Wisconsin, and I worked closely with him on several research projects for 15 years beginning in 1963. Professor Suomi was a natural engineer and inventor with a deep understanding of global and local atmospheric systems.”
You can read more about the book or purchase it at the AMS Bookstore.
Graduate students Kathryn Moore and Katelyn O’Dell have been selected to receive 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) fellowships. Both Moore, advised by Paul DeMott and Sonia Kreidenweis, and O’Dell, advised by Jeff Pierce and Emily Fischer, were chosen for the field of Atmospheric Chemistry. Their selection was based on their “demonstrated potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise.” The GRFP provides financial support for a maximum of three years.
“I’m very excited and honored to have been selected as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow,” Moore said. “Receiving this fellowship gives me the flexibility to conduct research that I am excited about and invested in. One aspect I am particularly excited about is the opportunity to access other NSF funds that are only available to NSF graduate research fellows. These include the GROW program, which provides funding for international research collaborations, and GRIP, which allows fellows to pursue internships at federal agencies.”
O’Dell will use the financial support to study wildfires and their impacts on air quality.
“I’m very honored to have been selected as an NSF Fellow this year and am excited to work on new and exciting research questions that I’m very passionate about,” she said.
Women are underrepresented in the geosciences, in part because of systemic attitudes and behaviors. Why do we need to close this gap? Diverse teams produce better ideas—they set the bar for scholarly excellence. So what are the best ways to welcome the next generation of women into geoscience careers?
The Earth Science Women’s Network (ESWN) set out to find and test some answers to this question.
Photo: Early-career scientists and their mentors share a lighthearted moment while learning firsthand about snow crystal formation and snowpack metamorphism at a snow science event in Laramie, Wyo. The event, organized by the University of Wyoming’s Multicultural Association of Student Scientists, included participants from PROGRESS, a program that supports undergraduate women as they begin careers in the geosciences. Credit: Ilana Pollack
CSU alumna Julie Demuth, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, will discuss perceptions and responses for evolving weather risks through interviews and Twitter data at the next installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate series. Demuth has an M.S. in Atmospheric Science and a Ph.D. in Public Communication and Technology, both from CSU.
Discussion will begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Graeme Stephens has been selected to receive the 2017 Mason Gold Medal from the Royal Meteorological Society. The medal will be presented May 16 at the society’s annual meeting in London.
The Royal Meteorological Society is the UK’s professional and academic society for weather and climate. Sir John Mason, a passionate scientist himself, funded the Mason Gold Medal to be awarded biennially to a Fellow of the Society “for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the fundamental processes that determine the variability and predictability of weather and climate.” The medal ranks alongside the Symons Gold Medal as the premier award of the society and is bestowed in alternate years to the Symons medal.
“It’s a great honor and recognition of much of my research at CSU!” Stephens said in response.
What exactly do lasers do? Lots of things – from trapping atoms to keeping time in atomic clocks. They’re used in cooling, fusion and technological applications, including self-driving cars, GPS and wind farm design. Zak Burkley from CSU’s Department of Physics will talk about the many uses of lasers at the next Teen Science Café on April 11.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 11 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Zak Burkley from CSU’s Department of Physics
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Dr. Phil Klotzbach is a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He leads the development of hurricane forecasts issued during peak months of the year. In an Interview with Mission: Water, Klotzbach reviews the science behind 2017’s devastating hurricane season.
Associate Professor Christine Chiu is featured in a User Executive Committee member profile on the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility website. Read the article, “UEC profile: Christine Chiu’s path to better cloud observations.”
This week’s edition of AGU publication Eos featured a study led by Ph.D. candidate Jack Kodros on the health impacts of burning solid fuels. Associate Professor Jeff Pierce as well as several other researchers from CSU’s Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering contributed to the study.
In the absence of reliable access to electricity and clean cooking technology, nearly 40 percent of the world’s population burns solid fuels for cooking and home heating. Smoke particles produced by these fires are harmful to human health. While previous studies have estimated mortality from either household or ambient air pollution separately, Kodros’ study quantifies the combined effects of both. It targets gaps in knowledge that, once overcome, could lead to more accurate mortality estimates.
“The main goal of this study was to highlight specific data sources that contribute the most uncertainty to estimates of premature mortality. These data sources include statistics on how people die in different countries, the relationships between death and air pollution, and air pollution concentrations. We provide an estimate of which of these data sources should be the focus of future research in order to most improve our understanding of the global health impact of exposure to particulate matter,” Kodros explained.
Ultimately, it is important to communicate accurate estimates of premature mortality due to air pollution to policy makers, Kodros said.
Assistant Professor Elizabeth (Libby) Barnes has been selected for a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers the NSF’s most prestigious grants in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education.
“I’m incredibly excited,” Barnes said in response to the announcement. “The CAREER offers five years of funding to explore both passions of mine: science and education.”
Integrating education and research is central to the program’s goal. With CAREER, the NSF boosts promising and talented junior faculty toward lifelong leadership and scientific advances in their fields. The awards are granted annually, and the selection process is one of the most competitive within the NSF.
Barnes will use her grant to study causal connections between the Arctic and mid-latitudes.
“I’m particularly excited because I am being funded to work on applying exciting statistical techniques to address questions of causality in climate science – that is – ‘who caused who?’ Or, which came first, the chicken or the egg? I’m specifically going to be studying the links between the tropics-midlatitudes-Arctic and how they communicate with each other and who communicates first.”
Barnes’ project also will create an online database for scientists to utilize and expand.
“I get to bring my love for data science/analysis to the broader community by designing and implementing an online resource for atmospheric sciences that explains and shows examples of mathematical and statistical tools for analyzing data. My hope is that by the end of this award it will function something like Wikipedia, so scientists across the globe can add to it and use it as a resource.”
The Department of Atmospheric Science is well-represented among recipients of this distinction. Other recent CAREER award recipients from the department include Associate Professor Russ Schumacher, Associate Professor Michael Bell and former Associate Professor Thomas Birner.
How do ducks fly all the way to Colorado from South America and still find time to sit on eggs for a month? Why would they even bother coming up to the mountains when they could stay in the balmy tropics? Casey Setash from CSU’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology will answer these questions and more at the next Teen Science Café on March 21. She will discuss the cinnamon teal and the ways it makes the most of its time in Colorado.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 21 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Casey Setash from CSU’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead, which they sometimes do not get in school.
Ph.D. candidate Zitely Tzompa has been chosen to be among the first Colorado Science and Engineering Policy Fellows. The fellowship, recently created by State Representatives Chris Hansen and Bob Rankin, is an eight-week summer internship for STEM majors, where they will conduct policy research and learn more about STEM policies through seminars and industry site visits.
Public policy makers consult and collaborate with STEM experts for knowledge and advice in navigating the complex challenges of energy, water, public health and transportation. Fellows will observe this interaction and present their own capstone public policy projects, after undergoing a policy “boot camp” that will teach them about the policy-making process and the skills they’ll need to be a part of it.
Tzompa looks forward to gaining firsthand experience of how scientists can contribute to policy making.
“The best part of the fellowship is that I will have the opportunity to design, write and present my own policy proposal to legislators, industry figures and university representatives.”
Fellowship participants were sought from Colorado State University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Denver, Metropolitan State and the Colorado School of Mines. Each school was allowed to place three fellows, and the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering was assigned one of the spots. Two applications were selected at the college level and submitted to Hansen and Rankin. Tzompa and another Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering applicant then interviewed with the representatives at the Colorado State Capitol Building, and Hansen and Rankin made the final selection.
“The competition was fierce, but we were very impressed by what you could bring to the program,” read Tzompa’s notification from a member of Hansen’s staff.
The program, which runs May 21 through July 13, will be based mainly at the capitol building and will include field trips, seminars, workshops and social events. Fellows will receive a stipend.
Tzompa eagerly anticipates the impact the fellowship will enable her to make.
“This is an exciting time to be a scientist, and I look forward to contributing to both the scientific understanding and the environmental policy related to air quality.”
The famously intense tropical rainstorms along the Earth’s equator occur thousands of miles from the United States. But atmospheric scientists know that, like ripples in a pond, tropical weather creates powerful waves in the atmosphere that travel all the way to North America and have major impacts on weather in the U.S.
These far-flung, interconnected weather processes are crucial to making better, longer-term weather predictions than are currently possible. Colorado State University atmospheric scientists, led by professors Libby Barnes and Eric Maloney, are hard at work to address these longer-term forecasting challenges.
In a new paper in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, the CSU researchers describe a breakthrough in making accurate predictions of weather weeks ahead. They’ve created an empirical model fed by careful analysis of 37 years of historical weather data. Their model centers on the relationship between two well-known global weather patterns: the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the quasi-biennial oscillation.
According to the study, led by former graduate researcher Bryan Mundhenk, the model, using both these phenomena, allows skillful prediction of the behavior of major rain storms, called atmospheric rivers, three and up to five weeks in advance.
Image at top: Atmospheric river off California, February 2014. Credit: Still from an animation by NOAA Climate.gov
Assistant Professor Kristen Rasmussen has been selected as one of 35 finalists to participate in the first class of the American Meteorological Society’s Early Career Leadership Academy (ECLA). The academy is intended for high-level performers and is structured around opportunities to improve professional skills, discover leadership potential, and build a strong cohort community of early career professionals in weather, water and climate (WWC) science enterprise.
“I am thrilled to be selected as one of 35 participants in the 2018 AMS Early Career Leadership Academy to enhance my development and leadership skills as an early career scientist and professor, and to help build a growing network of early career leaders,” Rasmussen said in response to her acceptance in the academy.
According to the ECLA Web page, the academy will bring together a select group of early career individuals, in particular, women and underrepresented minorities, for an immersion experience in leadership, such as creative problem-solving; conflict resolution; building trust and enhancing communication skills. ECLA is a professional development experience built around emerging trends in weather, water and climate science enterprise that will shape the future of professions. Topics that will be covered include workplace issues, technology, crisis management, building trust, business acumen for geoscientists, job market volatility and key societal trends.
Rasmussen looks forward to the skills and network she’ll gain from the academy.
“I hope to improve my professional skills, discover my leadership potential, and help build a strong community of early career professionals.”
Earth’s atmosphere is chaotic, making it difficult for forecasters to predict weather more than 10-13 days in advance. However, research has increasingly shown that large-scale patterns of variability and relationships between states of the atmosphere in two faraway locations, called “teleconnections,” can help extend prediction skill beyond this limit.
“Few researchers have applied this mechanism to weather prediction,” said Kai-Chih Tseng, atmospheric science graduate student at Colorado State University (CSU). “Especially from two weeks to three months, which has been known as a ‘prediction desert’ in the past.”
A new study led by Tseng says that teleconnections with certain phases of a recurring tropical rainfall pattern could extend predictions up to 20-25 days in advance. The study is co-authored by Assistant Professor Libby Barnes and Professor Eric Maloney, both in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science.
The authors’ findings provide guidance on which tropical conditions might lead to improved forecasts beyond our current capability – and more time to prepare for extreme events.
Graphic at top: Upper Atmosphere Graphic of Madden-Julian Oscillation The surface and upper-atmosphere structure of the MJO when the enhanced convective phase (thunderstorm cloud) is over the Indian Ocean and the suppressed convective phase is over the west-central Pacific Ocean. Source:Climate.gov
Professor emeritus of atmospheric science Richard H. Johnson has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He and another CSU faculty member, animal scientist Temple Grandin, were among the 396 honorees Feb. 17 during the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. They were presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin. The new AAAS Fellows were recognized for their “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.”
Johnson was honored by the Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Science for his “creative design, execution and analysis of field experiments that have given insight into the interaction of convective clouds with large-scale atmospheric circulation.”
Johnson joined the CSU faculty in 1980. His research has been in atmospheric convection and mesoscale dynamic processes in the tropics and mid-latitudes, and the interaction of convection with the planetary boundary layer. Severe convective storms, the tropical Madden-Julian Oscillation, and clouds in the tropics and their central role in global atmospheric circulation have been among his areas of study. A specific focus of study has been on the Asian monsoon, which affects over half the world’s population.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The mission of the non-profit AAAS is to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and public engagement.
Photo: Richard Johnson shakes hands with AAAS President Susan Hockfield at the AAAS Fellows Forum Feb. 17.
“Teams, not individuals, drive science forward.” – Prof. Emily Fischer
Fischer was among the women interviewed by Cogent Geoscience in honor of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on Feb. 11. Read the full interview here.
Peter Marinescu, advised by Sue van den Heever and Sonia Kreidenweis, and Minnie Park, advised by Sue van den Heever, were selected as winners of the Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Symposium student presentation competition at the 2018 AMS Annual Meeting in Austin. Peter was chosen for his presentation, “Comparing the Aerosol Impacts on Deep Convective Updraft Characteristics in Two Cloud-Resolving Models,” and Minnie was honored for her presentation, “Dependence of Aerosol Transport on Meteorological and Surface Properties within Tropical Sea Breeze Convection.”
How do cameras and collars help us track urban wildlife? Christopher Schell from CSU’s Department of Biology will discuss coyotes and other species, how they are studied, and how they adapt to anthropogenic landscapes at the next Teen Science Café on Feb. 14.
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead — which they sometimes do not get in school.
When: 5-7 p.m., with the presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 14 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, 144 S. Mason St., Fort Collins Presenter: Christopher Schell from CSU’s Department of Biology
This past autumn A.R. Ravishankara, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, received an international Scientific Leadership award from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the agency that coordinates the U.N.’s environmental activities.
The award recognized Ravishankara’s lifelong work studying and finding solutions to climate change and ozone layer depletion. The honor was presented at a ceremony in Montreal on the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, the international treaty that phased out ozone-harming chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.
Stacey Hitchcock, advised by Russ Schumacher, was awarded third place for her poster “Impacts of Low-Level Stability on MCS Propagation” at the 2018 AMS Annual Meeting in Austin. Hitchcock presented her poster at the PECAN Symposium.
Hitchcock’s letter from the symposium co-conveners, informing her of the honor, stated:
“The judges and other attendees were all impressed with the depth and quality of your research and presentation. Great job! We look forward to seeing more results from your work as you continue your PECAN research.”
Photo at top: Stacey Hitchcock speaks at the 2018 AMS Annual Meeting.
Prof. Sue van den Heever and Melissa Burt received American Meteorological Society awards at the organization’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas, January 8-12. Van den Heever was honored as the 2018 recipient of the Edward N. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award, and Melissa Burt was given the Commission on Professional Affairs Award for Early Career Achievement.
One person is chosen annually for the highly competitive Edward N. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award. A nomination letter and three supporting letters were required for consideration, with at least one of the supporting letters from a former student. As stated on the AMS web page listing the 2018 award winners, van den Heever was honored “for enduring passion for teaching and mentoring, for engaging students both inside and outside the classroom, and for unrelenting dedication to training future scientists.”
Burt is a research scientist with Prof. David Randall and the Education and Diversity Manager for the Department of Atmospheric Science and the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. She coordinates ESMEI’s (Earth System Modeling and Education Institute) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and the Front Range Teen Science Café programs. She earned her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from CSU in 2016.
According to the selection panel, Burt’s “work across a variety of AMS boards and committees, as a manager for education and diversity at CMMAP, and administration of an REU program, are just small parts of her already-large-and-growing involvement in our field. She has accomplished all of these things even while completing her doctorate at a top university, which clearly demonstrates, as one of the supporting letters said, ‘Dr. Burt really integrates all the aspects of excellence’ — research, mentoring, education, and service.”
Photo at top: Prof. Sue van den Heever, center, is pictured with some of her students.
Melissa Burt receives the AMS Early Career Achievement Award from Chris Schultz, chair of the AMS Board of Early Career Professionals.
Sue van den Heever with her award.
Sue van den Heever stands with the CSU contingent present for her award ceremony at the AMS Annual Meeting.
Sue van den Heever speaks after accepting the Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award at the 2018 AMS Annual Meeting.
Lt. Colonel Bill Darling will discuss U.S. Air Force Combat Weather at the first FORTCAST What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate talk of 2018. Darling will talk about the history and structure of USAF Combat Weather, the role of Special Operations Weather Technicians (SOWTs), and some of the missions with which he has been involved.
Darling retired from the Air Force in 2010 after 31 years of service, most recently as commander of the 208th Combat Weather Team. During his military career, Darling deployed as the combatant commander to contingency operations in 22 countries, supporting Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Joint Guardian, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern Watch, the Global War on Terrorism, Joint Task Force Katrina, Crisis Action Team and Operation Cope Thunder.
Discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
ATS will host a reception for alumni, faculty, students and friends at the 98th Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 9. The reception will be held at the Hilton Hotel Austin, room 410. Hors d’oeuvres will be served, and there will be a hosted bar. A prospective student meet and greet will take place 6-6:30 p.m., followed by the alumni and friends reception from 6:30-8 p.m.
How would today’s weather patterns look in a warmer, wetter atmosphere – an expected shift portended by climate change?
Colorado State University researcher Kristen Rasmussen offers new insight into this question – specifically, how thunderstorms would be different in a warmer world.
The assistant professor of atmospheric science works at the interface of weather and climate. She is lead author on a new paper in Climate Dynamics that details high-resolution climate simulations across the continental United States. Her results suggest that extreme thunderstorms, or what atmospheric scientists call convective systems, will increase in frequency under a warmer climate scenario. This shift would be caused by fundamental changes in thermodynamic conditions of the atmosphere.
For more than a decade, CSU researchers have led groundbreaking experimental inquiries into understanding smoke from fires – everything from how breathable particles grow and beget new particles to how such smoke limits regional air quality and visibility. Sonia Kreidenweis, University Distinguished Professor and professor of atmospheric science, and Jeffrey Collett, professor and chair of the Department of Atmospheric Science, have led several studies using data from open biomass burns at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab. They looked at physical, chemical and optical properties of combustion emissions from 33 plant materials in over 250 laboratory burns starting in the early 2000s.
Now, Shantanu Jathar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Jeff Pierce, associate professor of atmospheric science, are taking that foundational work many steps forward, thanks to support from a handful of grants.
Speaking at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans, researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Houston suggested yesterday that wildfires may be responsible for thousands of U.S. deaths annually due to the tiny pollution particles they put into the atmosphere. Moreover, just as fires are expected to worsen under climate warming, so might these health impacts.
“If this is the new norm for California … and people in California are being exposed to these smoke events regularly, then we would expect this to have an impact on the average lifetime of people in California,” said Jeffrey Pierce, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who presented his preliminary results at the meeting and a news conference afterward.
State Climatologist Russ Schumacher has designated Becky Bolinger as Assistant State Climatologist. Bolinger has been a climatologist and drought specialist with the Colorado Climate Center since October 2016. As Assistant State Climatologist, she will monitor Colorado climate, communicate climate information to the public, give historical perspective to weather events, and respond to media and data requests.
One of Schumacher’s responsibilities as State Climatologist was to select an assistant. Because Schumacher also serves as a Department of Atmospheric Science faculty member and director of the Colorado Climate Center (CCC), having an assistant state climatologist is essential to ensure that outreach and communication continue full time.
Bolinger has led many of the CCC’s drought efforts, represented the CCC at stakeholder meetings, and revamped the CCC’s online presence.
“Becky was already filling the role of what an assistant state climatologist would do. She was basically doing the job without the title, so I’m happy that we’re able to formally recognize her leadership in so many of the CCC’s activities,” Schumacher said after announcing the selection.
Bolinger first came to CSU in 2009 as a graduate student in the Department of Atmospheric Science, where she studied the hydroclimate of the western U.S., and particularly the Upper Colorado River Basin. During her time as a graduate student, she also worked closely with the CCC on drought assessment and early warning. She received her Ph.D. from CSU in 2014. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Michigan, she returned to the CCC in October 2016 as a climatologist and drought specialist.
“I am honored to be named the Assistant State Climatologist of Colorado. As a Colorado native and climate and weather nerd, the climate of Colorado has long been a passion of mine, and I’m excited that I get to do what I love every day. I look forward to supporting Russ as the state climatologist, increasing the visibility of the Colorado Climate Center, and better educating the public about climate issues,” Bolinger said in response to the announcement.
Peter Marinescu was presented with the David L. Dietrich Honorary Scholarship, and Samantha Wills was given the Shrake-Culler Scholarship in a ceremony Nov. 30. Both recipients were unaware of their selection until the announcements by their advisors during the presentation.
The Dietrich Scholarship, funded each year by Fort Collins-based Air Resource Specialists, Inc., is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich. The award goes to a CSU student who has demonstrated outstanding ability in air quality research and education. Marinescu has worked extensively on aerosol-based research, including characterizing aerosols at the ARM SGP site and simulating aerosol transport by mesoscale convective systems. He was nominated by his advisors, Professors Sue van den Heever and Sonia Kreidenweis.
“Sonia and I have both found Peter to be a wonderful student to work with. He is exceptionally enthusiastic, willing to help, highly teachable and always willing to push himself to higher heights. He works hard and takes very little for granted. He utilizes every opportunity available to him, including the recent participation in the PECAN and C3LOUD-Ex field campaigns, where he took on a management role in the latter,” van den Heever said in her comments during the presentation.
The Shrake-Culler Scholarship is awarded annually to a senior Ph.D. student. The student must have passed their preliminary exam, have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and demonstrate a strong work ethic and enthusiasm for higher education. Wills’ advisor, Professor David Thompson, nominated her for the award.
“Samantha is one of the hardest working students I have ever had. Most of my students work primarily with models or observations. Few have worked extensively with both. Samantha will graduate with a reputation as both a skilled observational analyst and numerical experimenter. Learning both skills at a deep level is not trivial at the Ph.D. level. That Samantha has done so is testament to both her talent and ambition,” Thompson wrote in his nomination letter.
“Everyone who knows Samantha knows how enthusiastic she is about her work,” he added during the ceremony.
Joe Adlhoch, left, and Jessica Ward, right, from Air Resource Specialists, were on hand for presentation of the Dietrich Scholarship to Peter Marinescu, center, on Nov. 30. The scholarship is given in honor of retired ARS President David Dietrich.
Two Colorado State University faculty members, animal scientist Temple Grandin and atmospheric scientist Richard H. Johnson, have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This year, 396 members have been bestowed the title of AAAS Fellow for their “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” New fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Feb. 17 during the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.
Johnson, professor emeritus of atmospheric science in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, is being honored by the Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Science for his “creative design, execution and analysis of field experiments that have given insight into the interaction of convective clouds with large-scale atmospheric circulation.”
Johnson joined the CSU faculty in 1980 and served as department head from 2007-11. He retired to emeritus professor status in 2015 and maintains an active research program within the department. His group is engaged in studies of atmospheric convection and mesoscale dynamical processes in both the tropics and midlatitudes, including the interaction of convection with the planetary boundary layer. One current area of focus is the Southern China Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (SCMREX), which is aimed at understanding and improving prediction of extreme-rain-producing convective systems in southern China.
Johnson was named a fellow of the AMS in 1994 and received the prestigious AMS Verner E. Suomi Award in 2013.
ATS and CIRA donated 86 pounds of food and $624 for a total impact of 3,206 pounds for this year’s Cans Around the Oval campaign. The local drive is spearheaded by FORT Collins Atmospheric ScientisTs, or FORTCAST, local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Last year ATS and CIRA collected 72 pounds of food and $415 for a total impact of 2,147 pounds. This year’s efforts bested last year’s contribution by 14 pounds and $209 for a total impact difference of 1,059 pounds.
Cans Around the Oval is an annual CSU tradition, where students, faculty and staff partner with community members, local media and area businesses to raise awareness about the issue of hunger, as well as raise food and monetary donations. This event is Larimer County’s largest single-day food drive. There is also a friendly competition based on which participating group has the largest total impact of monetary and food donations. The following formula is used to determine a group’s total impact:
$1 in cash = 5 pounds
1 pound of food = 1 pound
Total impact = (dollar amount x 5 lbs) + pounds of food
CSU as a whole raised over 42,293 pounds of food and over $56,349 this year, compared to 41,670 pounds of food and $57,714 last year.
Associate Professor Jeff Pierce and Assistant Professor Emily Fischer were recognized with outstanding faculty awards at the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering all-college meeting Nov. 14. Pierce received the George T. Abell Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Award, and Fischer received the George T. Abell Outstanding Early-Career Faculty Award.
This year’s award winners were selected by a committee comprised of last year’s winners. Nominations were submitted by colleagues and staff of the college’s eight departments and programs. University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis announced the awards and read these excerpts from nomination letters for Pierce and Fischer:
“Jeff is an internationally recognized expert in the numerical modeling of atmospheric aerosols … a prolific researcher whose work has had extremely high impact in the U.S. and abroad … and an exceptional colleague to faculty from many parts of campus, an outstanding adviser, and a dedicated member of many graduate student committees.”
“Emily is an energetic powerhouse of a researcher who works on a wide variety of topics in atmospheric chemistry… she is widely recognized as one of the nation’s top young atmospheric chemists and a pioneer in improving the engagement of women in the study of geosciences … already a national star!”
Weather Underground blogger and author Bob Henson will present “Everybody Talks About the Weather: Reflections on Communicating about Weather and Climate” at the next installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate series. Henson is an award-winning author and journalist whose work has appeared in Nature, Scientific American, Discover, Audubon, Sierra and dozens of other publications. He holds degrees in both meteorology and journalism. His most recent book is The Thinking Person’s Guide to Climate Change.
Discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
To retain more undergraduate women in geoscience majors, a supportive network that includes faculty mentorship seems to be a key driver, according to a new study led by Colorado State University.
The study, published earlier this month in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first official result from an ongoing effort led by Emily Fischer, assistant professor of atmospheric science.
Photo at top by Ilana Pollack: Recent PROGRESS networking event and tour at Christman Field solar plant.
Two Department of Atmospheric Science students, Andrea Jenney and Naufal Razin, were recognized with outstanding presentation awards at the CSU Graduate Student Showcase on Nov. 9. They were selected from more than 300 graduate students from all eight of Colorado State University’s colleges. The Graduate Student Showcase awards recognize excellence in research, creativity and entrepreneurship in a variety of categories. The 2017 winners were announced by the Graduate School and the Office of the Vice President for Research Nov. 9 at the reception following a day of presentations and professional development.
Naufal received one of three Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering Excellence in Research awards for his presentation, “Airborne radar observations of rainband structure in Hurricane Ophelia (2005).” His research revolved around the role of rainband stratiform precipitation in the unconventional eyewall replacement cycle of Hurricane Ophelia.
Andrea received a Great Minds in Research Honorable Mention for her presentation, “Linking Pacific Storms to North American Heat Waves.” This award is presented in collaboration by the Graduate School and the Office of Vice President for Research and recognizes graduate student submissions that contribute to the excellence and advancement of research, scholarship and entrepreneurial efforts at CSU.
“It was great to see a large group of ATS students participate in the event this year!” Department Head Jeff Collett said in an announcement to the department congratulating Andrea and Naufal.
Melissa Burt has been elected to the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Council for 2018. Burt will be one of three representatives for the Academic Sector. The council oversees the policies and activities of the 12,000+ member organization.
While earning her Atmospheric Science Ph.D. at CSU, Burt served as Education and Diversity Manager for the CMMAP NSF Science and Technology Center. Following completion of her Ph.D., Burt accepted a position with dual responsibilities as a research scientist in Professor Dave Randall’s research group and as Diversity Manager for the Department of Atmospheric Science and the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering.
To be elected to the AMS Council, a one-page nomination letter describing the prospective councilor’s background and qualifications must be submitted to the nominating committee. All AMS members are then able to vote on the candidates.
Burt explained her potential role on the council in her nomination letter:
“AMS must encourage the next generation of leaders to be confident and take ownership of our professional society. As a council member, I would help AMS do this by connecting with members of our community to establish organic, long-lasting relationships through mentoring and outreach and by encouraging participation and volunteerism by early-career members in all aspects of the Society’s mission.”
She will bring her experience as diversity manager to her council position.
“Another challenge for AMS is to strengthen the engagement of women and minorities, ensuring our Society reflects the demographics of our nation. It is imperative that our Society is diverse and inclusive and that members have a sense of ownership. The integration of fresh ideas will make a better, stronger AMS.”
Following yesterday’s announcement of her election, Burt shared her enthusiasm for the task ahead.
“I’m honored to serve as an AMS council member. I’m excited to bring an early-career perspective to the AMS.”
You can follow the SEA-POL radar team’s research voyage, led by Professor Steven Rutledge, by reading this NASA blog. In his Nov. 9 post, NASA blogger Adam Voiland describes the CSU-developed SEA-POL (SEA-going POLarimetric) radar in detail and states, “Excellent data has been obtained – proving SEA-POL’s readiness for future deployments.”
Photo at top: SEA-POL radar team from left to right, Prof. Steven Rutledge, Francesc Junyent, Brody Fuchs, Matthew Brothers and Jim George.
The Department of Atmospheric Science (ATS) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) have been awarded a grant for tropical cyclone research by the Office of the Vice President for Research. ATS and CIRA are a jointly designated Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence (PRSE), a distinction that makes the pair eligible to compete for funding for research and training projects. ATS and CIRA have a rich history and global reputation of leading tropical cyclone research, working with partners locally and globally on basic and applied science, as well as transitioning research into operational weather forecasting.
The grant will enable ATS and CIRA to assemble a comprehensive 30-year observational dataset, including calibrated satellite and rainfall data, atmospheric reanalysis products, and tropical cyclone diagnostic information. The project, led by principal investigator Michael Bell, will help establish research partnerships across the Walter Scott Jr. College of Engineering, CSU and other institutions on structural, hydrological and health hazards resulting from tropical cyclones. New interdisciplinary research alliances will be created, expanding the scope of the research and improving forecast capability to reduce the impact of natural hazards on life and property.
“Tropical cyclones are a major hazard affecting millions of people around the globe. The recent tragedies in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico caused by hurricanes emphasize the importance of tropical cyclone research and forecasting to help reduce the impacts of these devastating storms on coastal populations,” wrote primary grant author Michael Bell in his description of the project.
The research team includes Paula Brown and Naufal Razin from ATS, and John Knaff and Kate Musgrave from CIRA.
Image at top: Microwave satellite image of Hurricane Irma
Theresa Laverty from CSU’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology will discuss “The Secret Lives of Bats: Dark Adventures from the Namib Desert” at the next Teen Science Café on Dec. 13. Learn why there are more than 1,000 species of bats around the world and how they relate to humans.
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead — which they sometimes do not get in school.
When: 5-7 p.m., with presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 13 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House Presenter: Theresa Laverty from CSU’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
Chris Kummerow accepted an invitation to give the 2017 Boussinesq Lecture at Science Center Delft, in Delft, Netherlands. He will present his talk “Global precipitation – the successes and shortcomings at different space and time resolutions” on Oct. 26.
The Boussinesq Center for Hydrology is a joint initiative of hydrology groups of the Netherlands and Belgium. The Boussinesq Lecture is organized as part of the center’s annual event at the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Netherlands and the Royal Academy of Sciences, Belgium. Each year the Boussinesq board identifies one topic related to hydrology and chooses one leading foreign colleague to be the Boussinesq lecturer.
Ting-Yu Cha, advised by Michael Bell, won the Student Poster Award in the M.S. category for her poster presentation “Eyewall Replacement Cycle of Hurricane Matthew Observed by Doppler Radar” at the 12th International Conference on Mesoscale Convective Systems and High-Impact Weather in East Asia (ICMCS-XII) in Taipei, Taiwan. Cha’s poster presentation concludes the primary and secondary circulations derived from multiple Doppler synthesis and single Doppler GBVTD wind retrievals to diagnose the vortex structure and evolution during Matthew’s eyewall replacement cycle.
The next installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather and Climate series was crafted to fit the Fort Collins prerogative. Karen Kosiba, an atmospheric scientist at the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, will present “A CRAFT IPA: A Career with Radars And Field Time Incorporating Proposals and Analyses.”
How is a career in atmospheric science related to craft beer? For one, there are plenty of acronyms in both.
A strong believer in experiencing weather from the inside of a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar truck, Kosiba has participated in a multitude of field projects, including: Radar Observations of Tornadoes and Thunderstorms Experiment (ROTATE), Hurricanes and Landfall (HAL), Convectively and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS), the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Thunderstorms Experiment (VORTEX2), Long Lake-Axis-Parallel Lake-Effect Storms Project (LLAP), and AgI Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation (ASCII).
Discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, upstairs at Tap & Handle. Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Contact fortcast@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
University Distinguished Professor Dave Randall has been elected to the Board of Trustees for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). Associate Professor Michael Bell has been elected as a new member of the UCAR President’s Advisory Committee on University Relations (PACUR).
UCAR, a consortium with 117 college and university members, manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). It also operates many other community programs such as COMET, SOARS and GLOBE. Department Head and Professor Jeff Collett serves as a CSU member representative to UCAR.
A group of starry-eyed students leans forward, focusing their gaze on footage of a severe storm taken by a drone.
“Almost all of the atmosphere we study is only about 16 kilometers high,” said Dr. Sue van den Heever, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at CSU. “Where would we be if we traveled 16 kilometers south of Fort Collins?”
“China,” one of the students says, to a tumult of giggles from the audience.
The excitement in the room was palpable as approximately 15 middle and high schoolers learned the basics of severe weather. They were there as a part of Northern Colorado’s chapter of Teen Science Café, an extracurricular program that allows teens to explore scientific career options that may otherwise remain unknown.
Christine Chiu joined CSU Atmospheric Science faculty this month as an Associate Professor.
Christine received her B.S. and M.S. in Atmospheric Physics at the National Central University, Taiwan, and completed her Ph.D. in 2003 from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University. Prior to joining CSU, she was an Associate Professor at the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, United Kingdom; a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland–Baltimore County; and an Associated Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Christine’s primary research interests lie in remote sensing, radiative transfer, and cloud-aerosol-precipitation-radiation interactions. She has worked extensively on retrievals of cloud optical and microphysical properties that are the prime determinant of the energy budget, but are poorly predicted by climate models. The main problem in retrieving cloud properties is that clouds are complicated 3D objects that evolve fast. Christine has approached this problem using both passive radiometers and active radar/lidar beams, and is working toward blending observational elements, numerical simulation and model evaluation. This new approach allows us to investigate 3D cloud distributions and their radiative impact, to quantify aerosol impacts on precipitation, and to provide constraints for precipitation formation processes.
Six ATS students have been selected as winners of the MAC Student Travel Award. These awards are supported by the MAC Foundation in Fort Collins, where ATS Emeritus Professor Thomas McKee serves as a foundation trustee. For the second year in a row, the MAC Foundation has provided a generous donation to the department to support student travel to conferences, meetings and workshops related to atmospheric science.
2017-18 MAC Student Travel Awardees:
Student
Advisor
Conference
Zach Bruick
Kristen Rasmussen
18th AMS Conference on Mountain Meteorology
Ellie Delap
Michael Bell
33rd AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology
Kyle Nardi
Elizabeth Barnes
17th AMS Annual Student Conference
Ben Toms
Sue van den Heever
33rd AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology
Justin Whitaker
Eric Maloney
33rd AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology
Samantha Wills
David Thompson
Ocean Mesoscale Eddy Interactions with the Atmosphere Workshop
Photo: MAC Travel Award recipients: from left, Samantha Wills, Justin Whitaker, Zach Bruick, Kyle Nardi, Ben Toms and Ellie DeLap
Find out why some people carry more Neanderthal genes than others during the next Teen Science Café on Oct. 11, presented by Prof. Mica Glantz from CSU’s Department of Anthropology. Attendees will use human fossil casts to identify characteristics that separate modern humans from Neanderthals. Glantz also will present evidence that suggests modern humans and Neanderthals were romantically involved.
Glantz, who received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, is a paleoanthropologist and director of the Human Origins Laboratory.
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead — which they sometimes do not get in school.
When: 5-7 p.m., with presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 11 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House Presenter: CSU Department of Anthropology Prof. Mica Glantz
Christina McCluskey, advised by Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science to receive a graduate student research award. McCluskey is using the award for her project “Assessing numerical representations of marine ice nucleating particles in high latitude remote regions with novel observations.” She is working with scientist Susannah Burrows at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for three months, through Oct. 17.
“[The award] has provided me with an opportunity to gain modeling experience, working with the DOE Community Earth System Model,” McCluskey said.
Earlier this year McCluskey also was awarded a National Center for Atmospheric Research Advanced Studies Program Postdoc Fellowship and the department’s Alumni Award.
CSU Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Russ Schumacher has been chosen as the next director of the Colorado Climate Center and Colorado State Climatologist. His appointment begins Oct. 6. Schumacher will continue in his role as a faculty member in the Department of Atmospheric Science, with a shift in his effort distribution and responsibilities to reflect the significant and important duties associated with this new assignment.
Schumacher is intimately familiar with Colorado weather and climate, leaving him well-positioned to lead the climate center staff in their three primary missions concerning climate monitoring, climate research and climate services. In his role as state climatologist, Schumacher will be a key resource to public and private stakeholders within Colorado and beyond as they seek expert information regarding the weather and climate of the state.
Schumacher shared this message for the announcement of his selection as Colorado Climate Center director:
“I’m honored by and excited about the opportunity to lead the Colorado Climate Center and serve as State Climatologist. Colorado’s weather and climate are diverse and fascinating, and since first moving here in 2001, I’ve been mystified and challenged by trying to better understand and predict it, because it’s important: scientifically, economically, and societally. The Colorado Climate Center collects and provides vital weather and climate information to stakeholders all across our state, and I look forward to working alongside the CCC staff to be a source of the most relevant information backed by the latest research to serve the needs of our state. It will never be possible to fill the shoes of my predecessor, Nolan Doesken, who greatly advanced climate services across Colorado, but I will work hard to apply my background in weather research to continue the Colorado Climate Center’s legacy of excellent service to our state.”
Schumacher first came to Colorado as a CSU Department of Atmospheric Science graduate student in fall 2001. He completed his M.S. in 2003 and Ph.D. in 2008. Schumacher joined department faculty in 2011 following a postdoc stint at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and three years as an assistant professor at Texas A&M. He received a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2010 and serves as editor of Monthly Weather Review. Schumacher’s research interests include mesoscale meteorology, mesoscale convective systems, weather analysis and forecasting, climatology of precipitation, precipitation extremes, flash floods, and societal impacts of weather.
Outside of his professional life, Schumacher has been a frequent contestant on the TV quiz show Jeopardy. After his first successful run, he won the Tournament of Champions in 2004 and made it to the semifinals of the Battle of the Decades tournament in 2014. He and his wife, Andrea, live in Fort Collins with their four-year-old son.
In mid-October, Steven Rutledge will sail to the intertropical convergence zone near the Equator aboard a 300-foot vessel called the R/V Roger Revelle.
It’s not a vacation cruise. Rutledge, professor of atmospheric science, will lead a Colorado State University team on a five-week research voyage to test a new weather radar. After more than two years of planning and construction at the CSU-CHILL National Radar Facility in Greeley, the team will deploy the most advanced shipborne radar the world has ever seen.
The radar is called SEA-POL (short for “seafaring polarimetric”), and it was built through a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to Rutledge and V. “Chandra” Chandrasekar, professor in CSU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The ship deployment is funded by an additional $300,000 from NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Photo: Members of the SEA-POL team with the radar, right before disassembly and shipment to San Diego for its voyage to sea. From left: engineer Francesc Junyent, engineer Jim George, CSU-CHILL facility manager Pat Kennedy, Professor of Atmospheric Science Steve Rutledge, graduate student Alex Morin, and Rutledge’s dog, Saphira.
Residents of the Caribbean are no foreigners to severe weather, with an average of one hurricane hitting the region each year, and most occurrences developing into a major hurricane. Jhordanne Jones, a Jamaica native, understands the impact of tropical cyclones all too well.
“In the Caribbean, storms are just a part of our livelihood. We experience them every summer, they cause damage over many years, and we don’t have that much research on them in the Caribbean, so I hope to be able to fill that gap,” she said.
Coming to CSU this fall, Jones will pursue her Ph.D. in the Department of Atmospheric Science under advisor and tropical cyclone researcher Michael Bell. With expertise in climatology, or the study of weather conditions over a period of time, Jones hopes to complement her education with Bell’s expertise in meteorology, which focuses on more short-term variations of weather dynamics. Some of Bell’s research requires data collection via aircraft, which Jones would jump at the chance to participate in.
“If I ever could get a flight on an aircraft reconnaissance mission, I’d be so grateful to go. I hope to have the opportunity to get that hands-on experience,” she said.
Jones comes to CSU as a Fulbright fellow and recipient of the Walter Scott, Jr. Fellowship. The award is one of 26 fellowships made possible by a $53.3 million gift from business icon and CSU alumnus Walter Scott, Jr.
“This award means a whole lot. It gives me the opportunity to be in Fort Collins and be as comfortable as possible so I can actually enjoy my study experience. It’s a huge help,” she said.
After completing her degree at CSU, Jones hopes to secure a postdoctoral position with the goal of bringing knowledge about tropical meteorology back to the Caribbean.
“I’d love to be an expert in tropical cyclones,” she said. “The Caribbean region has a lack of that expertise, and I’d love to be a resource others can come to for insight.”
Melissa Burt has been selected to receive this year’s American Meteorological Society Commission on Professional Affairs Award for Early Career Achievement. The award will be presented at the AMS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, in January.
According to the selection panel, Burt’s “work across a variety of AMS boards and committees, as a manager for education and diversity at CMMAP, and administration of an REU program, are just small parts of her already-large-and-growing involvement in our field. She has accomplished all of these things even while completing her doctorate at a top university, which clearly demonstrates, as one of the supporting letters said, ‘Dr. Burt really integrates all the aspects of excellence’ — research, mentoring, education, and service.”
Burt is a research scientist with Prof. David Randall and the Education and Diversity Manager for the Department of Atmospheric Science and the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. She coordinates ESMEI’s (Earth System Modeling and Education Institute) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and the Front Range Teen Science Café programs. She earned her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from CSU in 2016. Her research involves understanding the effects of clouds and radiation on the Arctic climate.
Burt was grateful for the recognition by her colleagues.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award. Being nominated by my colleagues means a lot to me.”
Prof. Sue van den Heever will present the first Teen Science Café of the academic year Wednesday, Sept. 20. She will discuss her drone research in her talk, “Through the Eye of the Drone: Chasing Severe Storms.”
The Front Range Teen Science Café is part of a larger national network of science cafés for teens. ESMEI’S Teen Science Café brings scientists and teens together for a conversation about science in a local coffee shop, Everyday Joe’s Coffee House. A primary goal of the café is for teens to increase their understanding of the nature of science and to develop a realistic perception of scientists and the lives they lead — which they sometimes do not get in school.
When: 5-7 p.m., with presentation starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 20 Where: Everyday Joe’s Coffee House Presenter: CSU Department of Atmospheric Science Prof. Sue van den Heever Abstract:
Severe storms produce life-threatening weather including lightning, heavy rainfall, large hail and tornadoes, and yet they still are very difficult to accurately predict. The numerical models we use to predict severe storms have improved significantly over the last 10 to 15 years, but still have limitations. In order to increase our understanding of thunderstorms and therefore improve our weather prediction models, we need to make better observations of severe storms. In this talk, our scientific approaches to increasing our knowledge and ability to predict severe storms, including the ways in which we use computer simulations and make measurements by flying drones and instrumented balloons through severe storms, will be discussed. Computer animations and drone video footage of severe storms also will be presented.
9NEWS (KUSA) talks to Ph.D. candidate Chris Slocum and CIRA research scientist Kate Musgrave about the recent devastating hurricanes and the small changes that make all the difference in a storm’s track:
Prof. Russ Schumacher explains Harvey’s deluge and mentions his research group’s study of multi-hazard situations, specifically when the threats of tornadoes and flash flooding occur in the same place at the same time:
Annette Foerster, Michael Bell’s student who recently received her Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii, won the “Best Oral Presentation” student award at the AMS 38th Conference on Radar Meteorology in Chicago last week. Her presentation was on her Ph.D. dissertation research, “Retrieved Thermodynamic Structure of Hurricane Rita (2005) from Airborne Multi-Doppler Data.”
When Prof. Elizabeth Barnes received eight Navy pilot training manuals that belonged to her grandfather, she knew she had an interesting artifact worth sharing.
“I really like them. [They’re a] great example of taking complex scientific information and boiling it down to its most practical to get a pilot from A to B and home again. Plus, the cartoons are incredibly entertaining.”
Right she was. Everyone in the department who glimpsed the manuals on a desk in the main office was curious about them, and cartoons like these drew them in:
The 4.5 x 6.5-inch booklets are from the Navy’s Aerology Series, “prepared for Naval Aviation Cadets by the Bureau of Aeronautics Training Division” and published in the 1940s.
William Franklin Barnes when he was a cadet at age 18 or 19.
Their historic perspective is evident from the opening sentences of the first book in the series, Ice Formation on Aircraft:
“You have two enemies more deadly than a Zero [Japanese fighter aircraft] or a Messerchmitt [German fighter aircraft]. They are…CLEAR ICEandRIME ICE. Yet these enemies are sportsman-like enough to give you warning.”
The series explains weather conditions and how to fly safely in each type of condition or how to avoid it. Because the manuals pertain to meteorology, Barnes’ aunt, Lesa Barnes, thought Barnes would find them interesting and mailed them to her. Lesa came across the books while going through her father’s belongings to prepare for a move. Barnes’ grandfather, William Franklin Barnes, is doing well at 93 and lives near Seattle. He was a Navy pilot for 23 years, from 1942 to 1965, and flew during a wartime campaign in Korea from the summer of 1950 to spring 1951. Following his time in the service, he taught middle school math.
“He’s still sharp,” Barnes said. “As an example, he is part of a group of retirees that gets together and discusses the latest problems in astrophysics. They read the journal Scientific American and then get together and discuss/argue about the contents. This would lead to lots of questions for me about the universe expansion and what I thought about string theory – not like I had many answers for him.”
Barnes’ grandfather said he was able to put the information in the books to good use.
“I must have. I know I did. I used the information, as modified, throughout my flying career. When I was a cadet I was given a set of booklets in Ground School in 1942, in Cottonwood, Arizona. When finished with Ground School, I obtained a new set and it is this new set, unread, that I saved.”
The books illustrate how vital understanding weather and the atmosphere are to a pilot and to the overall cause, referencing specific battles that were successful because of advantageous weather.
“Many a Navy attack has been timed to conform to weather favorable to the tactical situation. The raid on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, for example, was so planned that our aircraft left their carriers, made their raid, and returned to their bases under favorable flying conditions, after which the ships took cover in a frontal area that protected them from aerial reprisals all the way out of the combat zone.”
Elizabeth Barnes and her grandfather, William Franklin Barnes, 2011
Our understanding of weather conditions and how and why they occur has advanced considerably since the ’40s, thanks in part to the research conducted by CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science, including Barnes. According to Barnes, the information in the manuals has held up against the test of time. The basic weather information is still accurate, and it was sufficient for its intended purpose.
“From the parts I have read, certainly looks like it. At the end of the day, these manuals are mostly there to tell the pilots ‘the way things are,’ rather than ‘why they are the way they are’. A lot of progress has been made since the 1940s on understanding atmospheric flows, however, these details probably weren’t pertinent for the intended audience and application (i.e. pilots in the Navy).
“At this time they didn’t really understand the storm tracks or jet streams – which is actually what I study! They knew that storms tended to follow certain paths over the oceans, but the concept of the ‘jet stream’ was only just starting to be realized. Instead, everything was thought of in terms of ‘fronts’. A cold front, a warm front, an occluded front.”
Not only are the books full of practical and potentially life-saving knowledge, the many illustrations use humor to bring levity to serious subject matter. Barnes found several of them particularly applicable and amusing.
“These two are favorites, as it is how I feel trying to read a weather map/forecast.”
“Another favorite – since obviously, I AM his granddaughter!”
Because Barnes’ grandfather did so many things after his days as a pilot in the Navy, he had to be prompted to share stories from that time in his life.
“Typically, we would have to ask him for stories if we wanted them, although he would be constantly building model planes of the aircraft he had flown (so he would actively discuss those). One interesting tidbit is that he was part of the first team to land on aircraft carriers at night – which was quite different than landing during the day when you could see what you were doing!
“He also has a story about flying through the Grand Canyon (back when that was allowed) and getting stuck in a downdraft right when he needed to pull up, and how the plane lifted at just the last second before the canyon ended. He said he never told my grandmother about that day.”
The eight Aerology Series manuals are currently on display in the ATS Main entryway.
Prof. Maria Silva Dias of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been selected as the 2017 CSU ATS Outstanding Alum. Maria received her Ph.D. from CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science in 1979. She was the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. from the program.
Following her bachelor’s degree, Maria was tasked with developing the recently created Department of Meteorology at the University of Sao Paulo. Maria, along with her husband, Pedro da Silva Dias, came to CSU in 1975 to pursue graduate studies in our department. Following completion of her Ph.D., Maria returned to Brazil and served as one of the main pillars in the development of that country’s best undergraduate and graduate programs in atmospheric sciences.
Maria is well known for her atmospheric science research in Brazil and internationally. She has led numerous major field campaigns in Brazil, especially in the Amazon. Many of these have focused on improved understanding of the complex coupling between forest landscapes and rivers, aerosols and biomass burning, clouds and precipitation, and South American climate. Her research has examined mesoscale circulations and cloud and rain organization, the role of clouds in transporting gases and particles, the diagnosis of severe storms in Brazil, and effects of climate change on precipitation.
Maria has served as president of the Brazilian Meteorological Society, is a fellow member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, and a fellow of the AMS, among other acknowledgements. In addition to her academic leadership at USP, Maria served for several years as director of the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies of the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research.
For her many achievements, Maria will be honored as the ATS 2017 Outstanding Alum during an award presentation and reception Friday, Sept. 15. She also will present a colloquium, “Clouds in the Amazon.” Refreshments will be served starting at 10:45 in the weather lab, and the award presentation and colloquium will begin at 11:15 a.m. in 101 ATS.
Maria Silva Dias, center, with her whole family, including six grandchildren.
Prof. Scott Denning will discuss “Where has all the carbon gone?” at this semester’s first edition of FORTCAST’s What Brewing in Weather and Climate series. Discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, upstairs at Tap & Handle.
Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Contact fortcast@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
Dave Randall has been chosen as the 2016-17 Professor of the Year by ATS graduate student representatives, based on evaluations submitted by students over the course of the school year. The grad reps compile student responses and determine which professor received the most support and should be honored for teaching excellence.
At Thursday’s New Student Welcome Picnic, Graduate Representative Jakob Lindaas presented Dave with a plaque and read an excerpt from one of his evaluations:
“Dave excels at communicating complex ideas in a relatable fashion, appealing to our intuition and warning us when our intuition might lead us astray.”
Dave said he was honored to receive this distinction from his students.
“I’m very grateful. An award from the students means more to me than an award from any other source.”
Front row, from left: Kathryn Moore, Chelsea Nam, I-Ting Ku, Kirsten Mayer, William McNichols and Joe Messina. Back row, from left: Jhordanne Jones, Erin Dougherty, Kevin Barry, Faith Groff, Ryan Gonzalez and Evie Bangs. Not pictured: Zach Bruick.
Fall semester officially began this week, and the department was thrilled to welcome our incoming class of graduate students with a picnic at Spring Canyon Park. Faculty introduced their new students and shared a little about the research each student will be doing. The whole department was invited and enjoyed barbecue catered by Famous Dave’s and music by Chad Fell Down, a band comprised mainly of Atmos and CIRA staff. Graduate Representative Jakob Lindaas announced the recipient of the Professor of the Year Award, Dave Randall, and presented him with a plaque.
Michael Bell introduces his new students, Chelsea Nam and Jhordanne Jones.
Graduate Representative Jakob Lindaas reads an excerpt from a Professor of the Year evaluation form to this year’s recipient, Dave Randall.
Chad Fell Down, with Kelly Branson (ATS) on guitar and vocals, Mark Branson (ATS) on drums, and Matt Rogers (CIRA) on bass and vocals.
Congratulations to ATS alumni Steve Miller, Curtis Seaman and Dan Lindsey on receiving the CO-LABS Governor’s award for high impact research. This highly competitive and prestigious award was given in recognition of the team’s development of an algorithm allowing data from the new GOES-16 satellite to be turned into true-color imagery.
Steve Miller (CSU ATS Ph.D. 2000) is the Deputy Director of CIRA, where Curtis Seaman (CSU ATS Ph.D. 2009) works as a research scientist. Dan Lindsey (CSU ATS Ph.D. 2008) also is based at CIRA, where he works for the NOAA Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch.
Congratulations, Steve, Curtis and Dan on this outstanding achievement!
C3LOUD-Ex, or CSU Convective Cloud Outflows and Updrafts Experiment, is led by Professor Susan van den Heever in the Department of Atmospheric Science. Supported by van den Heever’s Monfort Professorship, the project’s aim is to capture extremely hard-to-collect data from thunderstorms as they’re happening. Specifically, the researchers are making direct observations of storm phenomena called updrafts and cold pools, employing a signature technology of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
Jared Brewer, advised by Emily Fischer and A.R. Ravishankara, was awarded an ASCENT travel fellowship in March 2017. The fellowship supported his two-month stay this summer in Orleans, France, where he studied atmospheric chemistry at a unique research facility. The Department of Atmospheric Science Assisting Students, Cultivating Excellence, Nurturing Talent (ASCENT) program was founded in fall 2014 to help enrich the graduate experience. One component of ASCENT is an international travel grant that allows students to pursue opportunities for research outside the U.S.
Jared explains how he used the ASCENT travel grant:
With the support of the ASCENT award as well as an additional EUROCHAMP-2020 research grant, I spent this summer at the Institut de Combustion Aérothermique Réactivité et Environment (ICARE), a CNRS laboratory, in Orleans, France investigating the quantum yields of the carbonyl species, Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK). Like acetone, MEK is important in atmospheric chemistry because it has a sufficiently long lifetime (5 days in the case of MEK) to be lofted into the upper troposphere. There, these ketones can be photolyzed, and lead to odd hydrogen (HOx = HO2 + OH) radical production. Thus, the photolysis of these compounds impacts the concentrations and lifetimes of greenhouse gases and other atmospheric pollutants. However, the rates of ketone photolysis are uncertain. In order to quantify them, I used ASCENT fellowship funding to support a two-month period of study during June and July of 2017 using a unique facility located in Orleans, France. During this time, I helped perform outdoor chamber experiments using natural sunlight to measure rates of MEK photolysis as well as bench-top experiments to measure UV absorption cross-sections of MEK at atmospherically relevant wavelengths and temperatures. This data will help improve the modeling of these compounds, and therefore our understanding of the upper troposphere radical budget, upper troposphere ozone production, and lifetimes of pollutant and greenhouse gases.
In Orleans, I worked with my advisor, Dr. Ravishankara, as well as the director of ICARE Dr. Abdelwahid Mellouki. The work enhanced my graduate research experience by giving me the opportunity to get practical research knowledge in a laboratory setting. My prior research during my master’s degree and during the first two years of my doctoral study at CSU focused primarily on computer modeling. By working with Dr. Mellouki and the people in his laboratory, I gained much needed exposure to laboratory research skills and greatly increased my ability to contribute to the field of atmospheric chemistry. As someone with no chemistry lab experience prior to this study, the opportunity to do cutting-edge research using a one-of-a-kind atmospheric chamber was hugely valuable to my progress as a researcher. Moreover, the insights into experimental methods that I gained by first-hand laboratory experience will make me a better modeler and more complete atmospheric chemist going forward. I had a fantastic and informative time working in Orleans – thank you to the ASCENT program for this awesome opportunity.
University Distinguished Professor A.R. Ravishankara, who co-advises Jared and worked with him at ICARE, said the ASCENT program benefits both the visiting student and host scientists.
“ASCENT is an amazing catalyst that enables our students to experience a very diverse and different learning environment and produce cutting-edge science. … Not only did Jared learn from his experience by doing experimental work, he also gave a lot to the students and post-docs in Orleans by teaching them how to use the Master Chemical Mechanism codes (MCM). This was extremely useful for the scientists in ICARE. Again, you can see that ASCENT not only enhances the student from CSU but also the scientists in the host institution.”
Ravishankara added that there are other, intangible benefits to the program:
“The social aspect of this is immeasurable. I am sure that this two-month stay will be with Jared for life, and the people in Orleans got a lot from his presence there – an experience they will keep forever. It really builds international collaboration and cooperation.”
Photo at top: From left, Abdelwahid Mellouki, Jared Brewer and A. R. Ravishankara at ICARE in Orleans, France.
Jared Brewer measures MEK’s absorbance of light.
HELIOS dome
Former department members and National Weather Service employees joined the department and Colorado Climate Center today to celebrate Nolan Doesken’s 40 years of service to CSU, 11 of those as Colorado’s State Climatologist. Department Head Jeff Collett recognized Nolan for his dedication and passion for climatology, and guests shared memories of everything from recording the coldest day in Colorado to Nolan’s basketball prowess.
Nolan’s impact as State Climatologist was lauded on local, state and national levels. The American Association of State Climatologists wrote a letter of thanks to Nolan that was read by Becky Bolinger. Taryn Finnessey from the Colorado Water Conservation Board read a letter from Gov. John Hickenlooper, thanking Nolan for his service and expertise in helping to craft a leading drought mitigation plan. Climate Center staff, who applauded Nolan for being a wonderful boss, presented him with a home weather station, and a representative of the National Weather Service gave him a snow measuring stick.
Nolan thanked Professor Emeritus and former State Climatologist Tom McKee and others who were not in attendance for hiring him for the position of Assistant State Climatologist, even though, he claimed, he was “not qualified.” Nolan said the job description called for five years of mountain meteorology experience, and he had about 19 days experience in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Though his love for weather may have started in his home state of Illinois, Nolan has made a name for himself and deep connections in Colorado, where he has long been known as the top authority on the state’s weather and climate. Nolan’s legacy includes CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network, which was born in the aftermath of the 1997 Fort Collins flood. CoCoRaHS volunteers record and report daily precipitation amounts and significant weather events. The program has expanded to every state in the U.S., Canada and the Bahamas, counting more than 20,000 volunteers.
We thank you for your service and wish you the best in retirement, Nolan!
Photo at top: Professor Emeritus and former State Climatologist Tom McKee, left, shared memories dating back to 1977, the year Nolan started working at CSU as Assistant State Climatologist.
Nolan Doesken talks with former colleagues and friends at his retirement celebration.
Guests write messages to Nolan on a map of Colorado.
Nolan converses with guests at his retirement party.
Guests personalize a map of Colorado for Nolan.
Stacey Hitchcock, advised by Russ Schumacher, was awarded 2nd place for her poster “Evolution of Thermodynamic Vertical Profiles from Pre- and Post-Convective Environments of Mesoscale Convective Systems Observed During PECAN” at the AMS Conference on Mesoscale Processes, July 24-27 in San Diego, CA. Congratulations, Stacey!
Atmos research scientist Bonne Ford, who works in the lab of Associate Professor Jeff Pierce, led a study that shows striking correlation between numbers of Facebook users posting about visible smoke and commonly used datasets for estimating harmful smoke exposure. Read the SOURCE article here.
9News stopped by the department recently to interview Ph.D. candidate Greg Herman about his forecast model that could predict flash flooding days in advance, improving outcomes from this natural disaster. View the broadcast or read the story here.
Prof. Sue van den Heever has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the Edward N. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS). One person is chosen annually for this highly competitive, national teaching award. As stated on the AMS web page listing the 2018 award winners, Sue is being honored “for enduring passion for teaching and mentoring, for engaging students both inside and outside the classroom, and for unrelenting dedication to training future scientists.”
In an announcement to the department, Department Head Jeff Collett said, “Those of us here in CSU ATS know well the outstanding job Sue does in both teaching and graduate advising, as evidenced by multiple department teaching awards and a recent university graduate advising award. It is terrific to see Sue also recognized at the national level for her excellence in these endeavors.”
A nomination letter and three supporting letters were required for consideration, with at least one of the supporting letters from a former student. Several of the department’s students and faculty members submitted letters. This excerpt from one of them explains how Sue’s classes are both challenging and rewarding:
“One leaves [a presentation given by Sue] feeling like an expert in the area, because Sue has so effectively described the science question, her approach, and findings, deconstructing even the most complex microphysical processes, and explaining the new insights gained from her work.
“Students flock to her courses, despite the heavy workload they frequently represent, because of how much they know they will learn during the semester.”
An excerpt from a second letter describes Sue’s teaching style:
“Sue’s command of the classroom is legendary. When she speaks, students listen. She uses a pointing stick and hand motions to animate the material, and she whacks the projector screen with the stick to drive home her points.
“[She] reframes the role of students as not just the receivers of knowledge, but as the generators of knowledge.”
The energy Sue brings to the classroom is illustrated in a third letter:
“Being a student in Sue’s classroom can be likened to having a stiff cup of coffee: while you may enter the classroom lethargic or weary, before the chalkboard has the time to warm up, you are making hand-waving gestures as visual aid while you argue your points for how and why a physical process operates as it does.”
Sue was grateful for the recognition that originated with her students and colleagues.
“I feel extremely honored to receive this award, especially given the list of past winners, all of whom are known to be outstanding teachers, mentors and educators. Being nominated by my students and faculty colleagues means so much to me, and ultimately is the best reward for any teacher and mentor,” she said in response to the announcement.
Sue will receive her award at the AMS Honors banquet in January in Austin, Texas.
Over the past 10 weeks ESMEI undergraduate interns have been working on a research project with faculty, research scientists, postdocs and graduate students in the department. This week the students concluded the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program with colloquium presentations at the Student Research Symposium and a capstone poster session.
Photo at top: 2017 REU interns: Front row, left to right: Sarah Zelasky, Alison Banks, Leah Johnson, Jessica Solomon, Samantha Zito and Caitlyn Garko. Back row, left to right: Alexander DesRosiers, Isaac Fagerstrom, Daniel Rodriguez, Joseph Moody, Gabriel Rodriguez and Eric Molten.
2017 REU capstone poster session
Sarah Zelasky discusses her poster with Paul DeMott.
Jessica Solomon explains her poster at the REU capstone poster session.
Gabriel Rodriguez discusses his poster with Marie McGraw at the REU capstone poster session.
Cake celebrating REU interns’ completion of 10-week program
Prof. Sue van den Heever has been appointed ATS Associate Department Head. This is a new position for the department and represents a combination and upgrade of responsibilities previously handled in part by the Graduate Student Counselor and the Curriculum Committee Chair.
Department Head Jeff Collett announced the appointment in an email to the department, stating, “Please join me in congratulating Sue and thanking her for her service in this important new role. I look forward to working with her and know you will find her an outstanding resource for all things student-related!”
Jeff also thanked Russ Schumacher and Thomas Birner for their service as Graduate Student Counselor and Curriculum Committee Chair, respectively, for the past few years.
Sue’s appointment will begin in August.
Yixing Shao, advised by Jeff Collett, has been awarded the Rocky Mountain States Section of Air and Waste Management Association graduate scholarship. The scholarship provides recognition and a financial award for graduate students to encourage careers related to air pollution control and/or waste management.
“The scholarship means a lot to me,” Yixing said in response to the announcement. “It encourages me to pursue air quality-related studies, especially my current research on measurements of reactive nitrogen species and nitrogen deposition in national parks.”
Along with the scholarship, the RMSS-A&WMA offered to cover the cost of one year of Yixing’s student membership to the international A&WMA organization. Membership includes a subscription to the monthly A&WMA periodical and a job/resume posting website.
During June and July 2017, the NOAA Weather Prediction Center and Hydrometeorology Testbed are hosting FFaIR: the Flash Flood and Intense Rainfall experiment. This program brings together researchers, forecasters, numerical weather model developers, and others to evaluate new tools for improved prediction of heavy rainfall and flash flooding. One of the products being demonstrated and evaluated this year was developed by CSU atmospheric science graduate student Greg Herman, who is advised by Professor Russ Schumacher.
The product uses machine learning algorithms to process historical observations of heavy precipitation, along with output of weather-prediction models and information about the past performance of those models, to generate probabilities of an extreme rain event occurring in regions all across the U.S. These probabilistic forecasts are being formally evaluated by the FFaIR participants, with the goal of eventually becoming a product used in forecast operations at the WPC.
This project is supported by the NOAA Joint Technology Transfer Initiative.
Photo: FFaIR experiment participants evaluate the experimental CSU heavy precipitation forecast product during the daily forecast activities.
Five undergraduate students from North Carolina A&T State University visited the department June 4-10, as part of the department’s NSF-GEOPATHS program and a collaboration with Prof. Solomon Bililign from the North Carolina school. Prof. Scott Denning and Melissa Burt are the CSU co-PIs for the NSF-GEOPATHS program. The goals of their visit were to:
Actively engage with CSU faculty and students who work in complementary research areas
Expose NCA&T students to the larger atmospheric science community
Prepare NCA&T students for an REU experience outside of their home institution
Inform NCA&T students about graduate school opportunities at Colorado State University
A fully immersive experience in the atmospheric sciences was planned for the students, including tours of the department, opportunities to present and learn about ATS research, professional development workshops, and three field trips to research facilities (e.g., the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Pawnee Grasslands Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research site, and the NADP field site in Rocky Mountain National Park). The NCA&T students also interacted with our REU Site In Climate Science interns, including visiting the National Center for Atmospheric Research together.
Photo at top: From left to right, Ari Brown, Jennifer Plakyda, Bianca Rhym, Marquin Spann and Julian Gordon at the NADP field site near Rocky Mountain National Park.
At 12,005 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park, from left to right, back row: Marquin Spann, Torrie Moss, Bianca Rhym and Ari Brown; front row: Prof. Scott Denning, Jennifer Plakyda, Education & Diversity Manager Melissa Burt and Julian Gordon.
REU Site in Climate Science interns and NCA&T students visit NCAR’s Research Aviation Facility.
REU Site in Climate Science interns and NCA&T students visit NCAR Mesa Lab.
Katie Benedict discusses some of the measurements taken at the NADP field site.
Ryan Riesenberg, advised by Kristen Rasmussen, has been awarded the Liniger Honor, Service, and Commitment Scholarship. This scholarship is for a CSU student and veteran who has participated in combat operations and received a campaign medal for military service. There are also academic requirements. The scholarship was founded by David and Gail Liniger, who are the founders and owners of RE/MAX.
Ryan earned an Iraq Campaign Medal when he was deployed to Iraq with an Army Aviation Regiment. During his time in service, he also collected an Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Award, AF Outstanding Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, AF Overseas Ribbon, Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon, AF Longevity Service, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon (Pistol), and AF Training Ribbon.
Ryan thanked the Linigers for the scholarship and said, “It is an amazing privilege to receive this scholarship, and it is nothing shy of a miracle that people are willing to support veterans in this manner to allow veterans to continue their education after serving their country. It allows for their military experience, training and lessons learned to reach back into academia in order to enhance our country and keep America great.”
Joel Gratz will cover “Mountain Forecasting: Facts, Tips & Tricks” at FORTCAST’s fifth installment of What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate. Joel is the founder and CEO of OpenSnow and OpenSummit. Learn about the challenges of mountain forecasting 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, upstairs at Tap and Handle.
Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Email Dakota Smith at dakota@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
Fort Collins Atmospheric Scientists (FORTCAST) will host the inaugural Colorado Weatherfest 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Saturday, June 24. All events will take place at the CSU Department of Atmospheric Science, 3915 W. Laporte Avenue, on the CSU Foothills Campus.
Featuring a weather balloon launch and drone demonstration, the event – open to all ages – serves to introduce weather and climate principles through hands-on activities. Dozens of scientists from across Colorado will participate, including representatives from:
Colorado State University, Department of Atmospheric Science
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
Little Shop of Physics
Denver-Boulder National Weather Service
Colorado Climate Center
WeatherNation
Ball Aerospace
Center for Severe Weather Research
Earth System Modeling and Education Institute
University of Colorado, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Photo: A weather balloon launch will be among the activities at the inaugural FORTCAST Weatherfest, June 24.
Jakob Lindaas and Zitely Tzompa, both advised by Emily Fischer, attended the AMS Policy Colloquium in Washington, D.C. this week. They were awarded full financial support from NSF to attend the colloquium, based on a national competition.
There are those scientists who predict weather patterns one to seven days out, and there are those who model long-term probabilities in weather and climate for seasons or decades to come.
Libby Barnes, an assistant professor in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science, works at the challenging boundary between these short- and long-term forecasts. Her aim is to understand extreme weather two weeks to two months in the advance – in the field, what’s called sub-seasonal timescales.
A story on Climate.gov, a publication of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), details Barnes’ research goals: ensuring better predictions of the behavior of “atmospheric rivers.” Not actual rivers, these are tropical moisture patterns that typically flow from the tropics to mid-latitudes; they resemble rivers from a satellite view.
Atmospheric rivers provide the West Coast with up to half its annual precipitation, but can also cause damaging floods – and their behavior is hard to predict beyond seven- to 10-day time scales. Barnes and her team at CSU are studying atmospheric river behavior in part by examining the Madden-Julian Oscillation pattern in the tropics.
Barnes’ work – including her leadership of a task force working to predict sub-seasonal extreme weather – has been recognized many times over. Recently, she was a featured speaker at NOAA Science Days, an event that connects the entire NOAA community with NOAA-supported research. Barnes also participated in a public media event hosted by NOAA and the American Geophysical Union.
Photo: Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science Libby Barnes at her desk. On the left monitor: water vapor image of an “atmospheric river” in the Pacific Ocean; on the right, a diagram of atmospheric circulation in the tropics.
The Earth System Modeling and Education Institute (ESMEI), the institutional legacy of CMMAP, welcomed its summer interns this week. ESMEI offers paid summer undergraduate research internships in the Department of Atmospheric Science, where interns join world-class atmospheric scientists investigating the science of clouds, climate and climate change, weather, and modeling.
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program also gives interns the opportunity to attend scientific seminars, visit national scientific laboratories, and participate in a variety of professional development training. The program spans 10 weeks from late May through July. This year summer interns from CIRA joined the group.
Front row, left to right: Samantha Zito (Stony Brook University), Alison Banks (Salisbury University), Sarah Zelasky (UNC Chapel Hill), Leah Johnson (Earlham College), Jessica Solomon (Humboldt State University), and Caitlyn Garko (Colorado State University). Back row, left to right: Gabriel Rodriguez (Colorado College), Daniel Rodriguez (University of Colorado Boulder), Alexander DesRosiers (University of Florida), Eric Molten (Colorado State University), Isaac Fagerstrom (Hamline University), and Joseph Moody (University of Northern Colorado).
Dear Faculty, Alums, and Friends of the Department:
We are pleased to invite nominations for the 2017 Colorado State University Atmospheric Science Distinguished Alum Award. This Award was created to honor former students whose accomplishments in their careers and service to the profession, the public and/or industry have brought recognition to that individual, to the department, and to Colorado State University. Award recipients will be honored in a special ceremony in ATS, to be held in late summer/early fall.
We invite nominations of outstanding alums at mid-career stage or beyond. We especially encourage nominations that reflect the diversity of our alumni population. The Department plans to confer up to two awards each year, typically at the mid-career and senior levels.
The nomination deadline is Saturday, July 15, 2017. Nominations will be reviewed by the Department Awards Committee. To nominate an individual, please complete the online nomination form available at atmos.colostate.edu/alumni/award-nomination.php and attach a current vitae or resume. Letters of support are not requested and will not be considered in the review process. If you wish to renew a past nomination, we ask that you submit a fresh nomination using the online form. A list of past recipients can be found on our Alumni page.
Please direct questions to Sarah Tisdale at Sarah.Tisdale@colostate.edu.
Sincerely,
the ATS Awards Committee
(Pictured above: 2016 Distinguished Alum Tom Peterson with Department Head Jeff Collett)
City of Fort Collins Environmental Program Manager Lindsay Ex will discuss the Fort Collins Climate Action Plan in the fourth installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate series. Find out what the city is doing to prepare for the future 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, upstairs at Tap and Handle.
Please RSVP. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts.
Email Dakota Smith at dakota@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) has selected Ph.D. student Alex Naegele as one of 20 early career academics to be a Sustainability Leadership Fellow for the 2017-18 academic year. Alex is advised by Dave Randall.
The program prepares future innovators and thought leaders with state-of-the-art science communication and career development training.
“Once again, we had a large number of excellent applications, demonstrating the high quality of CSU’s doctoral students and postdoctoral scientists,” said SoGES Director Diana Wall. “We are very pleased that sustainability is a core interest for so many of these young researchers.”
The group represents 15 departments and five colleges.
SoGES recognizes that CSU’s researchers and doctoral students are a primary informational resource to talk about the complex decisions that will determine our environmental future. Over the course of one year, fellows receive training to be leaders for the future to effectively communicate science to the media and public. They also receive coaching in professional development skills and techniques, and will learn new strategies to build successful careers that incorporate meaningful engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Alex describes her research:
My research focuses on the relationship between the atmospheric energy budget and the hydrologic cycle. Precipitation is one of the most important aspects of the climate system affecting life on Earth, however, it’s among the most poorly represented variables in global climate models. I use models on smaller scales to investigate the processes affecting the intensity and distribution of precipitation. A large part of my research focuses on the role of clouds in this relationship and how precipitation might be expected to change in a warming climate.
Christina McCluskey and Aryeh Drager were honored this afternoon for outstanding student publications. Christina received the Alumni Award for an outstanding paper based on Ph.D. research. Christina is co-advised by Paul Demott and Sonia Kreidenweis. Aryeh received the Riehl Memorial Award for an outstanding paper based on M.S. thesis research. Aryeh is advised by Sue van den Heever.
Herbert Riehl, Jr. was in attendance for presentation of the Herbert Riehl Memorial Award that honors his father. Aryeh and Christina each gave brief technical presentations on their research following announcement of their awards.
Both Christina and Aryeh first came to CSU as CMMAP summer interns. Christina is one of a handful of students who have received both the Riehl and Alumni awards.
During the award ceremony, student volunteers also were recognized for their assistance at the AMS annual meeting and with prospective student visits spring semester.
Spring 2017 student volunteers
Aryeh Drager with advisor Sue van den Heever and Herbert Riehl, Jr.
Christina McCluskey with advisors Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott
A.R. “Ravi” Ravishankara has been named a University Distinguished Professor, the university’s highest honor for faculty.
Ravi joined CSU in January 2014 and holds joint appointments in the Chemistry and Atmospheric Science Departments. Ravi is the fifth Atmospheric Science faculty member to be named a University Distinguished Professor. Previous appointees are Tom Vonder Haar, Graeme Stephens, Dave Randall and Sonia Kreidenweis.
The CSU announcement of Ravi’s award states:
Ravishankara has had a long research career spanning both government and university positions. Over four decades, he has studied the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere as it relates to stratospheric ozone, climate change and regional air quality. His experiments have contributed to deciphering ozone layer depletion, and to quantifying the role of chemically active species that affect climate. His research has advanced our understanding of the formation, removal and properties of pollutants in the atmosphere.
Ravishankara joined the CSU faculty in 2014 after a lengthy career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder. His Ph.D. in physical chemistry is from the University of Florida, and he also holds an M.Sc. in physical chemistry, and a B.Sc. in physics and chemistry, both from the University of Mysore, India.
Since his arrival at CSU, Ravishankara has contributed to new scientific directions in atmospheric chemistry, taking a leadership role in the Partnership for Air Quality, Climate and Health (PACH) and participating in the CSU Global Grand Challenge sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research. He has also actively contributed to the mentorship of students, postdocs and young faculty.
Ravishankara’s many honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, American Geophysical Union, Royal Society of Chemistry, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed research papers and has received awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American Chemical Society, Department of Commerce, NOAA and the National Academy of Sciences.
“There are few faculty on the CSU campus that have achieved the scientific impact and world-wide recognition of Dr. Ravishankara,” wrote Department of Chemistry Chair Chuck Henry in his nomination letter. “He is a brilliant scientist and steadfast advocate for science who epitomizes the ideals of the UDP.”
The Graduate Student Council recognized Assistant Professor Libby Barnes as an Honorable Mention recipient of the third annual Graduate Advising and Mentorship Award. The award was created by the Graduate Student Council to acknowledge outstanding advisors and mentors at CSU.
Three winners and three honorable mentions were selected from a field of 75 nominees. Professor Chris Kummerow also was among the nominees. Awards will be presented at the Faculty Council Meeting on May 2.
For how common wildfires are in our region, we do not know nearly enough about the composition of the smoke, how much it matters for our air quality, what happens when smoke and clouds interact, and whether that’s important for understanding weather. With a $3.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Atmospheric Chemistry program, Colorado State University is one of five universities working to gather a more comprehensive data set aimed at understanding how wildfire smoke changes chemically with time.
Assistant Professor Emily Fischer in the Department of Atmospheric Science is lead investigator for the CSU team. She is joined by five other co-investigators on the project: Jeffrey Collett, Sonia Kreidenweis, Delphine Farmer, Paul DeMott and Amy Sullivan. The areas of knowledge represented by these faculty include trace gas chemistry, cloud and precipitation chemistry, aerosol-cloud interactions, and instrument development.
M.S. student Ben Toms has been awarded a 2017 Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. The DOE CSGF, administered by the Krell Institute of Ames, Iowa, is funded by the DOE’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Each year, the program grants fellowships to support doctoral students whose education and research focus on using high-performance computers to solve complex science and engineering problems of national importance. Less than 5 percent of applicants are chosen for the fellowship each year.
DOE CSGF students receive full tuition and fees plus an annual stipend and academic allowance, renewable for up to four years. In return, recipients must complete courses in a scientific or engineering discipline plus computer science and applied mathematics. They also must do a three-month research practicum at one of 21 DOE laboratories or sites across the country.
Toms joins a group of 20 first-year fellows in 2017, bringing the total number of current DOE CSGF recipients to 79 students in 14 states. Toms will apply the fellowship to using machine learning algorithms such as neural networks to analyze massive quantities of data related to the Madden-Julian oscillation.
“The general question is: can machine learning algorithms infer relationships beyond those distinguished via typical objective analysis techniques? I’ll initially be applying these machine learning algorithms to cloud-resolving model output, but I will also integrate reanalysis data and satellite-based observations into my analyses,” Toms explained.
According to Department Head Jeff Collett, this is only the second DOE CSGF awarded to an ATS student. Toms also was offered a Department of Defense fellowship but was allowed to accept just one, due to federal rules.
“What a wonderful achievement this is, being offered two highly prestigious fellowships. Congratulations Ben! It is a pity that you have to choose one,” Sue van den Heever, Ben’s advisor, said in response to the announcement.
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.
CSU economics professor Anders Fremstad will discuss the economics of climate change mitigation in the third installment of FORTCAST’s What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate series. The informal, interactive discussion of this topic of local and global importance will be 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Tap and Handle.
Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts!
Email Dakota Smith at dakota@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
Colorado State University hurricane researchers are predicting a slightly below-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2017, citing the potential development of El Niño as well as recent anomalous cooling in the tropical Atlantic as primary factors.
The CSU Tropical Meteorology Project team is predicting 11 named storms during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Of those, researchers expect four to become hurricanes and two to reach major hurricane strength (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater.
Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project welcomes a new face to its longtime seasonal hurricane forecasts: Michael Bell, associate professor in CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science.
Bell has entered into a research partnership with Philip Klotzbach, the primary author of the seasonal forecasts and verifications, to become the reports’ co-author.
Armed with drones, weather balloons, and a healthy sense of adventure, scientists led by Susan van den Heever, associate professor of atmospheric science in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, are peering into storm clouds as they form, in a manner never done before. Their goal: bolster prediction models with cutting-edge observational data and, ultimately, provide a clear picture of exactly how storms gather their strength.
Leah Grant, advised by Sue van den Heever, has been awarded a Student Council Travel Award. CSU’s Graduate School distributes ten $250 travel awards quarterly. According to the Graduate School, more than 70 students applied for the third quarter and the applicants were an extremely competitive group.
Leah’s award will go toward her travel to attend the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2017 in Vienna, Austria, in April. There she will present the work she did last semester at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Leah worked with Prof. Todd Lane to determine how cold pools interact with tropical convective systems. They simulated idealized tropical convective systems and changed the cold pools by altering the evaporation rates below cloud base, and looked at how the precipitation, intensity, and system structure responded.
Christina McCluskey, who recently was selected for an NCAR Advanced Studies Program Postdoc Fellowship, received the 1st Place Oral Presentation Student Award for the 14th Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography with her presentation “Ice Nucleating Particles over Oceans to High Latitudes.” The conference was part of the AMS 97th Annual Meeting in Seattle in January.
Christina is advised by Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott.
Learn about Front Range Air Quality and how it affects your health at the second installment of FORTCAST’s “What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate” series. Dr. Emily Fischer (CSU Atmospheric Science) and Dr. Sheryl Magzamen (CSU Epidemiology) will present an informal and interactive discussion touching on many aspects of Colorado air quality 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, at Tap and Handle.
Please RSVP here. CSU students, bring your ID for $2 off drafts!
Email Dakota Smith at dakota@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
(From left: Brody Fuchs, Erik Nielsen and Sam Childs)
Brody Fuchs, advised by Steve Rutledge, and Erik Nielsen and Sam Childs, both advised by Russ Schumacher, earned presentation awards at recent American Meteorological Society conferences.
Brody received second place for his poster, “Relationships Between Storm Microphysics, Dynamics, and Charge Structure,” at the annual AMS meeting in Seattle in January.
Erik received second place for his talk, “Observations of Extreme Short-Term Precipitation Associated with Supercells and Mesovortices,” and second place for his poster, “An Updated U.S. Geographic Distribution of Concurrent, Collocated Tornado and Flash Flood Events and Look at those Observed during the First Year of VORTEX-SE.” Erik’s presentations covered separate research and both were presented at the annual AMS meeting in January.
Sam received third place for his talk, “Cold Season Tornadoes: Climatological, Meteorological, and Social Perspectives,” at the Conference on Severe Local Storms in Portland, OR, in November.
Department of Atmospheric Science graduate students and staff members participated in the Little Shop of Physics Open House on Saturday, Feb. 25.
The 26th annual open house featured over 350 hands-on science experiments for all ages, interactive presentations, and Bohemian science spectacles. Little Shop of Physics estimates roughly 8,500 visitors attended this amazing day of science outreach, the largest event to date for the Colorado State University campus. The community was treated to a variety of science activities all in one place. An “Exploring the Atmosphere” room featured a variety of activities that focused on weather and climate.
Thanks to the combined efforts of our ATS graduate students and staff members from ESMEI, CIRA, AAAR, and FORTCAST for making this event a success!
Ben Toms, advised by Sue van den Heever, was selected as a first place winner in the oral presentation category in the Environmental Information Processing Technologies Conference Student Competition. According to the award announcement, competition judges chose Toms’ presentation, “Development of a Novel Road Ice Detection and Road Closure System: Modeling, Observations and Risk Communication,” from a field of “many, very high quality and professional Presentations so that it is a tribute to you in presenting you this Award.”
Ben would like to thank the American Meteorological Society and Lockheed Martin for funding his travel to the conference. An early online release of a paper related to his presentation may be found in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.
Melissa Burt, Emily Fischer and Manda Adams (pictured from left to right) were presented with the AMS Special Award for the Earth Science Women’s Network at the 97th AMS Annual Meeting in Seattle. The award recognized ESWN’s inspirational commitment to broadening the participation of women in the Earth Sciences and providing a supportive environment for peer mentoring and professional development.
AMS gave this statement with the award, “Having more women in science improves research outcomes and makes our economy stronger, while opening doors of opportunity and equity for women around the world.”
All three women are ESWN board members.
Stephanie Henderson and Brandon Wolding, both advised by Eric Maloney, were selected to receive Outstanding Student Paper Awards based on their presentations at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting. This award is only granted to the top 5 percent of student participants.
The work Stephanie presented examines the influence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation on Northern Hemisphere atmospheric winter blocking. Brandon’s study used the tropical weak temperature gradient balance to examine how changes in the moist thermodynamic structure of the tropics affect the Madden-Julian Oscillation in two simulations of the Superparameterized Community Earth System Model, one at pre-industrial levels of CO2 and one where CO2 levels have been quadrupled.
Congratulations, Stephanie and Brandon!
When fires – accidental or controlled – burn across Colorado and surrounding states, billions of microscopic soot particles flutter into the atmosphere. If they rise high enough, and conditions are just right, these black carbon particles can trigger the formation of ice in clouds.
The composition and lifetime of clouds have major implications for weather and climate. Yet all the microphysics of how ice crystals form in clouds remain unclear, as do what sources – wildfires, dust storms or sea spray among them – contribute the most. Colorado State University atmospheric scientist Gregg Schill is seeking to isolate the relationship between clouds, and the black carbon from burning biomass. His goal: providing real data to help climate modelers predict critical climate effects in years to come.
Schill is a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor of Atmospheric Science Sonia Kreidenweis, and he works with Paul DeMott, a senior scientist in Kreidenweis’ group. Schill’s research is supported by the NSF Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
“We’re interested in measuring the specific contributions of black carbon to ice nucleating particles,” Schill said. “Ice nucleating particles have large implications for both precipitation and cloud radiative properties, and they form the basis for one of our largest uncertainties in the prediction of climate change.”
To kick off the new year, FORTCAST is introducing a series of talks titled What’s Brewing in Weather & Climate. The first talk features Colorado State Climatologist Nolan Doesken discussing “Colorado’s Amazing Climate.” Join us 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Tap and Handle (upstairs) for an informal and interactive discussion on many aspects of Colorado’s weather and climate.
Arrive by 6:25 p.m. for a chance to win a NOAA weather radio. CSU students also can get $2 off drafts with their student ID.
Please email Dakota Smith at dakota@atmos.colostate.edu with any questions.
President Obama today named CSU Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Michael Bell as recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The PECASE award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. 102 recipients were named this year across all fields of science and engineering. Michael was nominated for this award by the Department of Defense.
