The tropical atmosphere is churned relentlessly by deep convection, in which air from Earth’s surface rises upwards through the atmosphere like bubbles in a boiling pot of water. Through its impact on clouds and water vapor, deep convection has an enormous effect on the global energy budget, yet it remains a major source of uncertainty in our understanding of future climate change. I use satellite observations and high-resolution atmospheric models to investigate how tropical convection is affected by anthropogenic warming. Specifically, I seek to understand the large-scale interactions between convection and sea surface temperature patterns as well as the effects of warming on the spectrum of convectively generated clouds.

I use computational and agent-based models alongside traditional applied math approaches to understand a diversity of complex systems. I’m especially interested in disease dynamics, collective animal movement, and urban traffic and mobility.

I’m working a collaborative capstone project with Audubon Washington to assess the implementation of conservation and management strategies pertaining to migratory shorebirds. Using the Skagit Bay delta as a case study, we are conducting qualitative interviews of a diverse group of stakeholders with differing expertise and responsibilities with land management projects. We are also conducting a document analysis of three shorebird conservation strategies and stakeholders’ management plans to further understand on-the-ground actions for migratory shorebird conservation. Our aim is to use our findings to identify barriers and opportunities for conservation strategy implementation, and develop a template for future Pacific Flyway regional studies.

I develop mathematical models to understand how bacteria survive in cold, saline, and isolated environments in Arctic permafrost. I model the energetics of the microbial community; I try to figure out how much food is available to the microbes and how much they need to consume to survive. My work is relevant to understanding the limits of life and is therefore relevant to the wider field of Astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life.

The goal of my research is to use decision analysis to help inform species reintroduction and conservation management decisions using structured decision making for 3 case studies: vertebrate restoration to the island of Guam, management of a reintroduced population of hihi (Stichbird; Notiomystis cincta) in New Zealand, and Streaked Horned Lark (SHLA; Eremophila alpestris strigata) reintroductions in Washington State. Each case study has unique aspects but share common characteristics of difficult conservation decisions, including multiple management objectives, complex alternative structures, limited available information, and uncertainty in species responses to management actions. Together, these case studies will demonstrate how values-based decisions can be made by utilizing all available scientific information to improve the likelihood of successful outcomes. My work is directly applicable to management of the species considered and each case study’s framework was formulated based on collaborative input from managers, stakeholders, and scientific experts.

My project is a collaborative effort to produce guidance and information on ‘other effective area-based conservation measures,’ or OECMs. For countries aiming to meet global biodiversity conservation targets/goals, OECMs are viewed as new ways to recognize biodiversity conservation efforts made by sustainable-use sectors. Our team focuses on the fisheries sector and how certain area-based fisheries management measures also contribute to biodiversity conservation. Our work has supported the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) efforts to produce preliminary guidance that will help countries recognize OECMs, developing supplemental informational material, and hosting regional workshops. In addition to helping countries meet conservation goals, OECMs are a shift towards one hundred percent sustainable use of the oceans.

Lakes and reservoirs support critical ecosystem functions, provide numerous goods and services, and contribute to sustainable local and regional communities. Given lakes’ multidimensional role in bolstering human well-being, understanding human use of them over large scales of space and time is critical for lake valuation and conservation. My dissertation work leverages multiple streams of social media and cellular location data to quantify the distribution of human activity on waterbodies in western Washington. In addition, I also aim to classify the specific cultural ecosystem services associated with lake use through machine learning-based analysis of post text and images. By exploring applications of cellular data toward mapping human recreation across vast landscapes, I hope to demonstrate the utility of this underutilized data source for enhancing public resource management.

My research focuses on understanding the interaction between active tectonics (geologic faults) and surface processes (erosion and deposition). Currently, my study area is in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, a place that is extremely arid and deformed by faults. Some of the questions that I want to answer are: How do arid environments record changes in climate and tectonics? How fast are these faults moving? What indicators from the landscape are key to understanding these processes? I use techniques from geomorphology, geodesy and geochronology, combining numerical modeling and fieldwork observations.