Research Staff

• Postdocs • Research Scientists • Research Associates • IT Staff

Postdoctoral Fellows

Marybeth Arcodia

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2021 – University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science – Miami, FL
Postdoctoral fellow with Elizabeth Barnes
Research involves using explainable artificial intelligence techniques to better understand the Earth’s climate predictability

Jennie Bukowski

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2021 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Postdoctoral fellow with Sue van den Heever
Research focuses on high-resolution mesoscale modeling and ensemble modeling of convective cloud systems, storm dynamics, and aerosol-cloud-environment interactions; also interested in precipitation extremes, dryland meteorology, mineral dust, and statistical applications

Frances Davenport

Ph.D. in Earth System Science – 2022 – Stanford University – Stanford, CA
Postdoctoral fellow with Elizabeth Barnes
Research focuses on AI methods for improved climate predictions using climate models and observations

Chenrui Diao

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences – 2022 – Texas A&M University – College Station, TX
Postdoctoral fellow with Elizabeth Barnes and Jim Hurrell
Using climate models and observations to study climate variability at decadal to multi-decadal time scales and anthropogenic impacts on the climate system

Martin Fernandez

Ph.D. in Physics – 2023 – University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA
Postdoctoral fellow with Elizabeth Barnes
Using AI/ML methods to improve predictions on a broad range of timescales, from weather forecasting to climate predictions

Meghan Helmberger

Ph.D. in Geography and Arctic Climate – 2023 – University of Colorado Boulder – Boulder, CO
Postdoctoral fellow with Jim Hurrell
Research focuses on atmosphere – sea ice – ocean interactions and sea ice predictability

Ching-Shu Hung

Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Science – 2022 – University of Tokyo – Tokyo, Japan
Postdoctoral fellow with Christine Chiu and Peter Jan van Leeuwen
Understanding cloud processes and their interactions with aerosol, precipitation, and radiation across various scales and cloud regimes

Seongjun Kim

Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering – 2021 – Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) – Ulsan, South Korea
Postdoctoral fellow with Jeff Collett
Research focuses on the measurement and analysis of atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to identify their main sources and secondary formation from passive/active air samplers, canisters, sensors, and PTR-MS

Chia-Pang Kuo

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences – 2018 – Texas A&M University – College Station, TX
Postdoctoral fellow with Chris Kummerow
Research focuses on Optimal Estimation based microwave and hyper-spectral remote sensing

Claudia Mignani

Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences – 2021 – University of Basel, Switzerland
Postdoctoral fellow with Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott
Research focuses on interactions between aerosol particles, ice formation in clouds and precipitation

Chelsea Nam

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2021 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Postdoctoral fellow with Michael Bell
Studies tropical cyclones using radar observations and numerical simulations

Marina Nieto-Caballero

Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering — 2021 — University of Colorado Boulder
Postdoctoral fellow with Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott
Research focuses on microorganism identification, functionality profile assessment, and microbial source tracking in atmospheric, aquatic and terrestrial environments, as potential ice nucleation particles in polar regions

Bryam Orihuela-Pinto

Ph.D. in Climate Science – 2022 – University of New South Wales – Sydney, Australia
Postdoctoral fellow with Pat Keys and Frances Davenport
Research focuses on using AI and satellite imagery to explore how climate change impacts sustainable development

Bowen Pan

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences – 2019 – Texas A&M University – College Station, TX
Postdoctoral fellow with Sue van den Heever
Research focuses on numerical simulation of the aerosol and cloud interaction, impacts of Saharan dust to regional climate

Da Pan

Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering – 2021 – Princeton University – Princeton, NJ
Postdoctoral fellow with Jeff Collett
Research focuses on developing advanced instruments and measurement methods for greenhouse gases, air pollutants, and reactive nitrogen to facilitate effective mitigation

Simon Pfreundschuh

Ph.D. in Microwave Remote Sensing – 2022 – Chalmers University of Technology – Gothenburg, Sweden
Postdoctoral fellow with Christian Kummerow
Research focuses on using methods from the field of AI to improve global, satellite-based rain measurements and contributes to a global precipitation monitoring system that allows communities worldwide to monitor and manage water resources, precipitation-related natural hazards, and how these will change due to global warming

Rick Schulte

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2022 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Postdoctoral fellow with Sue van den Heever
Research focuses on the remote sensing of clouds, precipitation, and convective mass flux from INCUS and CloudSat

Itinderjot Singh

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences – 2022 – University of Illinois – Urbana, IL
Postdoctoral fellow with Sue van den Heever
Running high-resolution numerical simulations of deep convection to assist in retrieval algorithm development for the INCUS satellites

Hungjui Yu

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences – 2018 – National Taiwan University – Taipei, Taiwan
Postdoctoral fellow with Kristen Rasmussen
Using observations and model simulations to understand the global and regional convective activities and the cloud feature variation under current and future climate

Research Scientists

Emily (Qi-jing) Bian — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Environmental Science – 2011 – Hong Kong University of Science and Technology – Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Researcher with Sonia Kreidenweis and Jeff Collett
Research focuses on source apportionment of air pollutants using statistical approaches

Becky Bolinger — Research Scientist II / Assistant State Climatologist

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2014 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher and Assistant State Climatologist to Colorado State Climatologist Russ Schumacher
Climate variability, seasonal climate prediction, drought monitoring, the climate and hydrologic cycle of Colorado, climate communication and services for Colorado

Paula Brown — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Geography and Statistics – 2007 – University of Otago-Dunedin, New Zealand
Researcher with Chris Kummerow
Understanding changes in atmospheric moisture and its role in global moisture budgets

Jessie Creamean — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Chemistry – 2012 – University of California, San Diego – La Jolla, CA
Researcher with Sonia Kreidenweis and Paul DeMott
Research focuses on polar and high alpine aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions with specific focus on marine and terrestrial ice nucleation

Jen DeHart — Research Scientist I

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences – 2017 – University of Washington
Researcher with Michael Bell
Research focuses on tropical cyclone structure and precipitation using radar measurements

Charlotte DeMott — Senior Research Scientist

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 1996 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Eric Maloney
Understanding processes responsible for the existence of tropical weather variability on 30-60 day timescales, and how those processes are represented (or not) in general circulation models

Paul DeMott — Senior Research Scientist

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 1990 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Sonia Kreidenweis
Understanding how the physical, chemical, and biological makeup of certain aerosols of natural and anthropogenic origin influence the formation of ice crystals (precursors of precipitation) in clouds

Brenda Dolan — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2009 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Steven Rutledge and Michael Bell
Using remote sensing, primarily polarimetric radar at multiple wavelengths, to understand cloud processes and microphysics under a variety of regimes, including tropical and mid-latitude locations, winter and severe storms, and oceanic to complex terrain locations

Bonne Ford — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2014 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Jeff Pierce
Using chemical transport models and satellite observations to understand air quality

Leah Grant — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2018 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Sue van den Heever
Dynamical and microphysical processes in convection using numerical models and observations

Aaron Hill — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Geosciences – 2019 – Texas Tech University – Lubbock, TX
Researcher with Russ Schumacher
Research focuses on machine learning techniques to probabilistically forecast convection hazards, including extreme rainfall, severe wind, hail and tornadoes

Tom Hill — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Molecular Microbial Ecology – 1995 – University of East London – United Kingdom
Researcher with Sonia Kreidenweis
Gaining a deeper understanding of the sources, numbers and identities of ice nucleating particles—especially, biological ice nuclei released by terrestrial and marine ecotypes

Phil Klotzbach — Senior Research Scientist

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2007 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Bill Gray
Atlantic hurricanes, from intra-annual to multi-decadel variablilty timescales

Antonios Mamalakis – Research Scientist I

Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering – 2020 – University of California, Irvine – Irvine, CA
Researcher with Jim Hurrell and Elizabeth Barnes
Research focuses on using methods of explainable artificial intelligence to explore climate predictability and impacts of climate change and of solar climate intervention

Peter Marinescu – Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2020 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Researcher with Sue van den Heever
Research focuses on the feedbacks and interactions between microphysical and dynamical processes within convective clouds using both models and observations

Russell Perkins — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry – 2017 – University of Colorado Boulder
Researcher with Paul DeMott and Sonia Kreidenweis
Research focuses on understanding how materials found in sea spray aerosol affect aerosol phase transitions and ice nucleation

Ilana Pollack — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry – 2004 – University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, PA
Researcher with Emily Fischer
Ilana’s research focuses on in-situ measurements of atmospheric trace gases using hands-on, high-tech instrumentation and techniques. Current and prior research areas include: tropospheric oxidant cycling processes and mechanisms, trends in precursor emissions and secondary pollutant production, wildfire smoke composition and chemistry, and the transport and transformation of reduced versus oxidized nitrogen species.

Emily Riley Dellaripa — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography – 2013 – University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science – Miami, FL
Researcher with Eric Maloney and Sue van den Heever
Research in convective mesoscale organization in the tropics with a particular focus on the Madden-Julian Oscillation in order to improve the representation of deep convection in climate models

Amy Sullivan — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Chemistry – 2006 – Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta, GA
Researcher with Jeff Collett
Examining the composition of organic aerosols, with a particular focus on biomass burning and secondary organic aerosols

Lantao Sun — Research Scientist III

Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science – 2010 – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Urbana, IL
Researcher with Jim Hurrell
Research focuses on climate variability and change, geoengineering, climate impact of Arctic sea ice loss, stratosphere-troposphere coupling and subseasonal-to-decadal prediction

Danielle Touma — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Earth System Science – 2018 – Stanford University – Stanford, CA
Researcher with Jim Hurrell
My research focus is extreme climate events under human-driven climate change and climate variability

Yong Zhou — Research Scientist II

Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Science – 2006 – University of New Hampshire – Durham, NH
Researcher with Jeff Collett
Focus on analytical techniques for studying volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere

Research Associates

Kelley Branson — Senior Research Associate

B.S. in Computer Science – 1985 – University of California-Riverside – Riverside, CA
Research associate with Dave Randall. Responsible for computer services for Eric Maloney and Scott Denning, and provides assistance to all professors who have CMMAP ties.
Computer admin. for Professor Dave Randall and CMMAP

Mark Branson — Senior Research Associate

M.S. in Atmospheric Science – 1991 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Research associate with Dave Randall
Focus on general circulation modeling

Don Dazlich — Senior Research Associate

M.S. in Meteorology – 1982 – University of Maryland – College Park, MD
Research associate with Dave Randall
Numerical modeling of cloud systems and climate

Timothy Devadoss — Research Associate

M.S. in Engineering – 2023 – West Texas A&M – Canyon, TX
Research associate with Jessie Creamean
Research Technician for the Department of Energy INP (ice-nucleating particle) instrument mentors Thomas Hill and Jessie Creamean

Peter Goble — Climatologist and Water Availability Specialist

M.S. in Atmospheric Science – 2016 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Research associate with Colorado Climate Center
Concentration in collecting data and monitoring Colorado’s climate with an emphasis on drought preparedness and mitigation

Steve Hilberg — Research Associate II

B.S. in Meteorology – 1974 – St. Louis University – St. Louis, MO
Research associate with Colorado Climate Center
CoCoRaHS Project Manager, CoCoRaHS data QA/QC

Carson Hume — Research Associate II

B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Spanish – 2019 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Research associate with Sonia Kreidenweis
Technician for the Department of Energy INP (ice-nucleating particle) instrument mentors Thomas Hill and Jessie Creamean

Lena Low — Research Associate I

B.S. in Environmental Studies: Chemistry – 2021 – Reed College – Portland, OR
Research associate with Jeff Collett
Research focuses on in-situ measurements of atmospheric trace gases including volatile organic compounds and reactive nitrogen species

Noah Newman — Colorado Climate Center Education and Outreach Coordinator

B.S. in Liberal Arts – 1997 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Coordinator with Colorado Climate Center
Climate education and outreach

Henry Reges — CoCoRaHS National Coordinator/International Relations Envoy

B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences – 1997 – University of North Carolina – Asheville, NC
National coordinator for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network (Colorado Climate Center)
Supports more than 250 state and regional coordinators, network operations, member of WMO’s Expert Team on Climate Monitoring and Assessment

Steve Saleeby — Senior Research Associate

M.S. in Atmospheric Science – 2000 – North Carolina State University – Raleigh, NC
Research associate with Sue van den Heever (2010-present) and previously Bill Cotton (2000-12)
Numerical modeling and development

Julian Turner — Research Associate IV

B.A. in Environmental Studies – 1999 – University of Colorado Boulder
Research associate with Colorado Climate Center
Web developer and database administrator for the CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow) Network

Alistair Vierod — Research Associate I

B.S. in Watershed Science – 2019 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Research Associate with Colorado Climate Center
QA/QC for the CoAgMET network

IT Staff

Mostafa El-Kady — Research Associate IV

M.S. in Civil Engineering – 1995 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Research associate with Dave Randall
System administrator

Ammon Redman — Research Associate IV

M.S. in Business and Computer Information Systems – 2010 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Research associate with Sue van den Heever, Russ Schumacher, Elizabeth Barnes, Emily Fischer, Bill Cotton, Jeff Pierce, Scott Denning, Eric Maloney and for the department
IT support

Rick Taft — Senior Research Associate

M.S. in Mathematics – 1987 – Colorado State University – Fort Collins, CO
Former research associate with Wayne Schubert, Dick Johnson, Bill Gray, and Michael Montgomery
Member of the ATS ComSys Team and helps maintain the ATS website