Check back soon for updates on my research program and topics that my graduate and undergraduate students are working on.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

• Austin Britton (PhD student 2022-) Winter storms in a changing climate.
• Megan Borowski (Master’s student, 2021-expected graduation S2024) – forecast verification of high resolution simulations of Florida summertime convection under different sea-breeze regimes.
• Hongsheng Wang (PhD student 2019-expected graduation F2023) – extreme precipitation, atmospheric dynamics, weather systems, climatology: Hongsheng’s work is examining over 70 years of extra-tropical cyclone tracks – seeing how the location and characteristics of these storms are modified by large-scale natural variability across the Pacific-North-American region, and its sub-domains.
• *Meirah Williamson (Masters student – graduated summer 2021) – heavy precipitation and flooding verification, socioeconomic impacts: Meirah’s research focused on verifying the WPC 1-day Excessive Rainfall outlooks. Specifically, by identifying to what degree damaging events are missed by these outlooks. She examined CONUS between 2016-2020. Her work is currently being prepared for a manuscript. Collaborators: Kevin Ash (UF), Pete Waylen (UF-Emeritus), Michael Erickson (WPC, Uni. Colorado).

*Meirah now works as a GIS specialist for the Illinois Water survey at the University of IL, Urbana Champaign.

UNDERGRADUATES AND GRADUATES ON TEMPORARY PROJECTS

• Sabrina Cohen (now master’s student at Colo. State) – hurricane Frances in a warmer climate
• Aidan Burchard Cruz (now PhD student at NCU) – variability of precipitation extremes in New England with Climate Change
• Surya Sekar (Rice Uni) – climate change projections in streamflow and snowmelt for the Colorado River basin.
• Michael Rodelo (NASA) – analysis of temperature and precipitation variability over the US – past and future.

GRADUATE STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES – METEOROLOGY, CLIMATOLOGY, CLIMATE SCIENCE

• Ongoing opportunities – I usually seek to recruit students every year on topics that related to applied meteorology and climatology. Prospective students may feel free to approach me with research ideas. I do not always have money to fund a student, and so it is imperative that students submit their applications by the due date below in order to be considered for departmental funding through a teaching (TA) or research (GRA) assistantship. We offer around 8-10 TAs and 1-2 GRAs each year. I may not unfortunately be able to respond to all requests, and I will usually not consider those in which a student is unfamiliar with my research focus areas and/or has skills or interests that substantially differ from mine.
• For this position, a degree in meteorology or physical geography is a must, as is experience with computer programming(e.g., R, Python, NCL), and a Linux/UNIX environment. Past experience using machine learning techniques, and evaluating large climate datasets a bonus.
• Fall 2023: General projects (external funding needed)
  • Spatial extent, patterns, and characteristics of heavy precipitation in past and future climate – specifically looking at variability of precipitation at monthly-seasonal timescales.
  • How well do seasonal climate models represent weather fronts, and what is the implication for the forecasting of extreme precipitation/pluvial periods?
  • Others (see blog)
• Projects typical have a focus on the United States. However, I encourage proposals for other project ideas from interested students in the areas of meteorology and climatology. Please look at my CV and interests to see if I would be a good fit for your interests.
• Due date for applications to the department are December 1 each year. If applying for external financial support, due dates are often before this, typically around the start of the year. For students looking at a Fall start for the aforementioned NSF project, applications after the due date are fine.

Student Profile

• Bachelor’s/Masters degree in meteorology, climatology, or related science
• Willingness to expand horizons through a geography program
• Computing experience – preferably in Python, NCL, R. GIS also acceptable.
• Familiarity with large atmospheric datasets and observations, and experience using them is preferred.
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Strong work ethic, shows integrity and self-motivation.

Opportunities for Funding

• Students can apply for UF fellowships for PhD, specifically, a ‘graduate student fellowship’ (GSF) is awarded to two eligible PhD students each year (international or domestic), and is based on the quality of the students application and fit to the program. For information on applying to UF Geography, including the GSF, please go to the website: http://geog.ufl.edu/forms/graduate-applications-forms/
• External fellowships are available through the following agencies/organizations. The opportunities listed below are for U.S citizens and permanent residents
  • American Meteorological Society: https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/information-for/students/ams-scholarships-and-fellowships/ams-graduate-fellowships/
  • National Science Foundation: https://www.nsfgrfp.org Due mid-October annually. More information on proposal development available here.
  • UCAR SOARS (focus on minority students): https://soars.ucar.edu 
  • UCAR Next Generation Fellowships: https://www.ucar.edu/opportunities/fellowships/ucar-next-generation-fellowships
• Some offer partial support, while others offer full rides. Please check all the guidelines and information carefully, including the due dates!
• For Fall start, it is best to contact me with your interest between August-November of the prior year. Please directly address me in correspondence.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES

I am happy to mentor undergraduate students for research projects in weather and climate science. Currently, I do not have funding to compensate students for formal paid internships, however, interested students can inquire regarding the possibility of short-term project work (e.g., 1-2 semesters formal independent study/special topics hours, typically 3 credit hours/semester).

Students are welcome to suggest their own research ideas. Additionally, I have some topics below for which I may be seeking student participation:

• Case study analysis – extreme flooding event in the United Kingdom or elsewhere (we’d use higher resolution reanalysis datasets to examine the cause and evolution of historical extreme weather)
• Climatology of weather systems (e.g., heat waves, cutoff low pressure…)
• Debunking or confirming weather folklore/sayings (e.g., “in [name your state] wait 10 minutes and the weather will change” – can we prove this? How variable is the weather in different places anyway?)

Student Profile

• Currently enrolled in a degree program at the University of Florida and/or enrolled in courses and in possession of a valid UFID
• Willingness to participate in formal research/IS hours*
• Enthusiastic about weather and climate and/or intends to pursue a related career field
• Upper-division (junior, senior level), and having taken some courses in weather and/or climatology (e.g., MET1010, GEO2242, GEO3250, MET3503…)
• Basic knowledge of UNIX/Linux systems and/or basic knowledge in scientific computing and data analysis software such as NCL, Python, R, GIS.
• Good communication skills, and/or a desire to improve those skills

*If a student can enroll in one semester but wishes to conclude the work ad-hoc in a second without enrolling, I am willing to entertain this, however I cannot take on students informally at this time.

Opportunities for Supplementary Funding

• The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers a scholarship annually for student research. If you wish to work on a project, I strongly recommend, and would advocate, that you also apply for this opportunity. See this link for more information: https://dean.clas.ufl.edu/clas-scholars-program/. Applications are due in February of each year.
• The University also offers a scholarship for Undergraduate Research. Due date is similar to the CLAS scholarship. You may apply for both opportunities. See this link for more details: https://cur.aa.ufl.edu/university-scholars-program/