Bio

I’m a climate scientist who studies how the land surface modifies the rest of the coupled Earth system. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, where I lead the Computational Climate research group.

What we study:
In the Computational Climate research group, we study how changes in the land drive changes in the both local and large-scale climate, by modulating fluxes of water, energy, and carbon between the land and the atmosphere. We use models of varied complexity to test how individual land-surface properties modify energy and water fluxes to the atmosphere, and how those flux changes in turn impact atmospheric dynamics and climate, both locally and in regions far away from the initial land change. We develop the idealized land surface model (the Simple Land Interface Model, SLIM) which couples to the Community Earth System Model and allows users to isolate the effect on the Earth system of changes in individual aspects of the land surface.

The overarching goal of the Computational Climate research program is to understand where the atmosphere is sensitive to changes in the land surface, what particular properties of the land surface modulate climate, and how continentality influences the coupled global climate system. In addition to our main areas of research, we also engage in interdisciplinary research collaborations on a wide range of topics, ranging from macrosystems ecology to the study of exoplanets.

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Publications and Full CV

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Education

2019 – Ph.D in Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

2018 – MSc in Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

2016 – MSc in Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

2013 – BSc in Honours Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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Academic Experience

2024-Present – Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2023-2024 – Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

2022-Present – Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

2022-Present – Research Associate, Coldwater Lab, Center for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan, Canmore, AB, Canada

2021-2022 – Postdoctoral Fellow, Coldwater Lab, Center for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan, Canmore, AB, Canada

2019-2020 – Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

2013-2019 – Graduate Research Assistant, University of Washington

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Select Awards

2021 – James R. Holton Award, American Geophysical Union

2019-2022 – James S. McDonnell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Dynamic and Multiscale Systems

2019 – Community Earth System Model Graduate Student Award

2018 – Andrew Slater Award, National Center for Atmospheric Research / Land Model Working Group

2016-2019 – National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Studies Doctoral Fellowship

2017 – Husky 100 Award, University of Washington

2015 – Advanced Studies Program (ASP) Visiting Graduate Student Award, National Center for Atmospheric Research

2013-2014 – National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Alexander Graham Bell Canadian Graduate Studies Fellowship/Postgraduate Studies Fellowship

2009-2012 – Chancellor’s Scholarship, University of British Columbia

2010 – Trek Excellence Scholarship, University of British Columbia

2009 – President’s Scholarship, University of British Columbia

2008 – Premier’s Excellence Award, Government of British Columbia

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