about
Greetings (again)! Here’s a more formal bit about my background and how these experiences have shaped my thinking.
I’m a research scientist at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. I spend my time thinking about the drivers of regional sea level change, especially along the world’s coastlines, and their links to ocean water mass change. These changes are linked to increases in ocean heat content and corresponding changes in ocean circulation (i.e. Gulf Stream strength and position and patterns of meridional overturning). I leverage observational datasets and state of the art earth system models to try and better understand links between these process and build a mechanistic understanding that can be leveraged to anticipate future changes (across weekly to decadal timescales).
Prior to starting at GFDL, I worked as a postdoctoral investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and before that completed my PhD at the University of Washington (UW) in physical oceanography. At UW, my research centered on the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (Seaglider and Deepglider) to explore ocean mesoscale eddy structure, evolution, and decay. In pursuing this work, I spent time in the field deploying/piloting/recovering gliders and in the classroom helping teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in fluid mechanics and geophysical fluid dynamics. During my time at UW I also completed a masters degree in applied mathematics taking coursework that applied ODE and PDE methods to fluids problems. This graduate work at UW followed four years at the University of Maryland where I obtained a bachelors of science in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
I am particularly interested in how people interact with the ocean and perceive its role in Earth’s climate. Prior to starting research as a physical oceanogrpaher, my studies at the University of Maryland focused on water resources (i.e. surface water hydrology, ground water hydrology, and coastal engineering). This background has influenced the ways in which I engage with physical oceanography and climate system questions. I often focus on mechanistic relationships that can be revealed and explored using a variety of observations and modeling tools.
As much of my early research centered on the collection of ocean observations using autonomous underwater vehicles, I often had the opportunity to engage and interact with those outside of academia. Through chartering fishing vessels to deploy and recover gliders and regularly participating in education/outreach events I was able to share details of how we study the ocean and understand its behavior. I believe that sharing these types of stories, some of which became unexpectedly interesting, are key to meaningful engagement. In my continued work leveraing state-of-the-science climate models I think that similar connections can be made through data visualization and consideration of the intersection between theory and high performance computing.
Outside of work I enjoy running, climbing, cycling, swimming, reading, brewing (+ drinking) coffee, and xc-skiing. Recent favorite books are: Debt: The First 5000 Years (David Graeber), Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky), A Manual for Cleaning Women (Lucia Berlin), Killing Commendatore (Haruki Murakami), Circe (Madeline Miller), The Power Broker (Robert Caro), Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (Liu Cixin), The Dispossessed (Ursula Le Guin) …