About me

Education
Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences, Colorado State University, 2017
Dissertation: Reconciling TRMM precipitation estimates related to El Niño Southern Oscillation variability
Advisor: Christian Kummerow

M.S., Atmospheric Sciences, Colorado State University, 2010
Thesis: New look at the Earth's radiation balance from an A-train observational perspective
Advisor: Graeme Stephens

B.S., Meteorology, Penn State University, 2008
Minor in Mathematics

I am currently a Researcher at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My current research continues to discover new ways we can utilize satellite data and numerical weather prediction models to understand how clouds impact the world around us. I love exploring Wisconsin and relaxing near the lakes. I am a big fan of coffee, cooking, music, and being a dad!

I grew up near Cleveland, Ohio. There I experienced a broad spectrum of weather ranging from thunderstorms to lake-effect snow storms and blizzards. I have always been fascinated with clouds and learning more about what makes them do what they do! This led me to pursue a degree in Meteorology from Penn State University, where I got hands on experience with research working with Dennis Lamb and Jerry Harrington (Penn State), Nicole Mölders (University of Alaska-Fairbanks), and Chip Trepte (NASA LaRC; NASA Develop).

I obtained my Masters from Colorado State University working with Graeme Stephens, where I worked with the CloudSat Science Team to establish the Earth’s Energy Balance from a satellite perspective. I returned to graduate school to work on my PhD in 2012 with Chris Kummerow. My PhD research examined how we can relate interannual variability in clouds and precipitation with biases from various satellite-based rainfall retrievals from the TRMM and GPM satellite missions.