Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Meteorology
Saint Louis University
2016

Graduate Certificate

Advanced Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Saint Louis University
2016

Master of Science (M.S.)

Meteorology
Saint Louis University
2013

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Atmospheric Science, Minor: Physics
University of Louisville
2011

Wildland Fire Research

Remote Sensing Tools

Air Quality Model Development

ATMS301 - Current Topics in Atmospheric Science

This 1-credit hour course will review and discuss the current literature in atmospheric science in a journal club format.  Students are expected to listen to seminars, periodically review articles, participate in discussions, and prepare questions for the presenter. Students will be expected to fill out an speaker evaluation form and write a 1-to-2-page short summaries related to each weekly topic by the preceding course date. Students may be required to present their own presentations, but are all expected to actively participate in class and online discussion forums. Outside speakers from NOAA, NASA, other agencies, and Universities will also be invited to provide their perspective. 

ATMS572 - Numerical Weather and Prediction

This 3-credit hour course will allow students to become familiar with numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, use statistical methods and software to analyze results, and implement scientific communication techniques to share their findings with broad audiences. The course involves learning and developing the skills to (1) identify appropriate data sources, (2) obtain relevant data including quality checking, (3) load data into computing packages such as Matlab or R, (4) decide what outputs the programs should provide to address specific scientific questions, (5) design algorithms and write programs/codes to read data, implement quality assurance, and check results for correctness, (6) run programs to work with large datasets and format outputs into a usable form, (7) analyze outputs using statistical methods to address scientific questions, (8) write reports and design effective visualizations of the results to communicate scientific findings to the intended audience in appropriate production formats, and (9) document the data processing and results.

Special Act Award, Scientific-Professional performance award, July 2019-July 2020

U.S. EPA ORD/NERL “November STEMbassador,”Oct. 2017

US2020 STEM mentoring Awards for “Excellence in Volunteer Experience and Volunteer Mobilization”, EPA-RTP STEM outreach program, Oct. 2017

Special Act Award, Scientific-Professional performance award, May 2017

Wildfire, Smoke Exposure, Human Health, and Environmental Justice Need to be Integrated into Forest Restoration and Management

Wildfire, Smoke Exposure, Human Health, and Environmental Justice Need to be Integrated into Forest Restoration and Management

Scientists, planners, foresters and fire managers, fire safety, air quality, and public health practitioners must collaboratively work together. This article is the result of a series of transdisciplinary conversations to find common ground and subsequently provide a holistic view of how forest and fire management intersect with human health through the impacts of smoke and articulate the need for an integrated approach to both planning and practice.

An evaluation of empirical and statistically based smoke plume injection height parametrisations used within air quality models

An evaluation of empirical and statistically based smoke plume injection height parametrisations used within air quality models

Air quality models are used to assess the impact of smoke from wildland fires, both prescribed and natural, on ambient air quality and human health. However, the accuracy of these models is limited by uncertainties in the parametrisation of smoke plume injection height (PIH) and its vertical distribution. We compared PIH estimates from the plume rise method (Briggs) in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modelling system with observations from the 2013 California Rim Fire and 2017 prescribed burns in Kansas. We also examined PIHs estimated using alternative plume rise algorithms, model grid resolutions and temporal burn profiles. For the Rim Fire, the Briggs method performed as well or better than the alternatives evaluated (mean bias of less than ±5–20% and root mean square error lower than 1000 m compared with the alternatives). PIH estimates for the Kansas prescribed burns improved when the burn window was reduced from the standard default of 12 h to 3 h. This analysis suggests that meteorological inputs, temporal allocation and heat release are the primary drivers for accurately modelling PIH.

Evaluation of Novel NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Evaluation of Novel NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Aerosol Products and Assessment of Smoke Height Boundary Layer Ratio During Extreme Smoke Events in the Western USA

We analyze new aerosol products from NASA satellite retrievals over the western USA during August 2013, with special attention to locally generated wildfire smoke and downwind plume structures. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm from MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (Terra and Aqua Collections 6 and 6.1) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Deep Blue (DB) and MODIS (Terra and Aqua) Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) retrievals are evaluated against ground-based AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) observations.

A Multi-Analysis Approach for Estimating Regional Health Impacts from the 2017 Northern California Wildfires

A Multi-Analysis Approach for Estimating Regional Health Impacts from the 2017 Northern California Wildfires

Smoke impacts from large wildfires are mounting, and the projection is for more such events in the future as the one experienced October 2017 in Northern California, and subsequently in 2018 and 2020. Further, the evidence is growing about the health impacts from these events which are also difficult to simulate. Therefore, we simulated air quality conditions using a suite of remotely-sensed data, surface observational data, chemical transport modeling with WRF-CMAQ, one data fusion, and three machine learning methods to arrive at datasets useful to air quality and health impact analyses. To demonstrate these analyses, we estimated the health impacts from smoke impacts during wildfires in October 8–20, 2017, in Northern California, when over 7 million people were exposed to Unhealthy to Very Unhealthy air quality conditions. We investigated using the 5-min available GOES-16 fire detection data to simulate timing of fire activity to allocate emissions hourly for the WRF-CMAQ system.

Evaluation of Stratospheric Intrusions and Biomass Burning Plumes on the Vertical Distribution of Tropospheric Ozone Over the Midwestern United States

Evaluation of Stratospheric Intrusions and Biomass Burning Plumes on the Vertical Distribution of Tropospheric Ozone Over the Midwestern United States

Here we study ozone impacts in a Midwestern city, for the first time in St. Louis, Missouri, using a series of ozonesonde profiles taken during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC⁴RS) field campaign in August–September 2013.