Leadership in NASA Mission

  Flying into Hurricane Ingrid

  NASA News Release

Radio program interview

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My research interest is clouds. Much of my past and ongoing research activity focuses on satellite remote sensing of clouds and study of cloud dynamics . Recently, I started to participate in airborne field campaigns, flying into convective clouds (heck of a ride! see video) to collect in situ measurements. Meanwhile, I am always keen to analyze model simulations to help interpret observations.

On satellite remote sensing, I am a member of NASA CloudSat/CALIPSO Science Team and of NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Team. On field work, I am a Science Leader of NASA SEAC4RS field campaign (see photos below) and a member of NSF CONTRAST campaign. I am also a team member of European Union's MOZAIC project.

1. EAS 311/B9014: Fundamentals of Atmospheric Science (syllabus)
(now taught by Prof. Booth)

2. EAS 488/B8800: Climate & Climate Change (syllabus)
(now taught by Prof. Booth)

3. EAS426/Engr301: Introduction to Remote Sensing/Image Analysis (short syllabus)
(now taught by Prof. McDonald)

4. EAS 417/B9025: Satellite Meteorology (syllabus)

5.New Classes: am designing new classes, focusing on atmospheric sciences and climate; stay tuned

It's important to note that Atmospheric Science is a quantitative field. A common misunderstanding among many students is that it's mostly descriptive (like what we see on Weather Channel). But the truth is quite the opposite: our primary teaching/research tool is math, physics and computer programming (in fact, the weather forecastes seen on TV are largely based on the output of supercomputers sovling partial-differential equations of the atmosphere), so strong quantitative skills are important prerequisite for my classes.

Here is a good introduction to the modern Atmospheric Science prepared by the National Center for Atmospheric Science (NCAR).

(Grad Students) Ricardo Anderson and Zena Marchant

(Alumni) Dr. G. Y. Liu (postdoc, 2007-2010), Cheila Benavides (MS, 2010), Mya M. Teiktin (MS, 2010), Hanii Takahashi (Ph.D. 2013), Amelia Prasad (Res. Assoc. 2012 - 2013)

These beautiful photos summarize the theme of our group: Big Apple and Deep Convection ! What's loading sign for? Well, that's an important character one needs to develop if he/she wants to be successful in academia - patience.