Our Team
Describe your team here.
Arthur Hu is a postdoctoral research scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University. His research interest is on cloud physics, specifically on the present and the future of microphysical process modeling. During his PhD years, he had extensive experience in using AMP (a bulk microphysics scheme) to study the effects of structural differences between bin and bulk schemes and explore the possibility of a unified liquid water category bulk scheme. Arthur's postdoctoral research is focused on using AMP to identify the effects of different microphysical processes on the overall uncertainty across meteorological scales and using Bayesian inference methods to constrain these uncertainties. These efforts will hopefully start a paradigm shift for how weather and climate is fundamentally predicted.
Erin Guo is the Accounts Payable Coordinator at CCSR of Climate School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Binghamton University. She previously worked as a Financial Analyst at IPC System Inc.
Xiaoming Haugh is responsible for leading the administrative functions of CCSR, including operations, finance, compliance reporting, human resources and collaborates with departments across Columbia’s central administration to support CCSR’s financial, academic, and research goals. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Baruch College and another bachelor degree in Creative Writing in English from Queens College of the City University of New York. She also earned a master’s degree in Higher and Post-Secondary Education Administration from Teachers College of Columbia University. Prior to joining CCSR, Xiaoming accumulated managerial administrative experience within Columbia at the Mailman School of Public Health as well as the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Nicolas Leitmann-Niimi is a Staff Associate for the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University. He works on projects with Gregory Elsaesser related to the understanding of convective processes. His interests include data visualization, satellite remote sensing, and atmospheric modeling. Prior to working at CCSR, Nick completed his M.S. in Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.
Nick is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of NASA’s Risk Analysis and Solutions Innovators (RASI) Workgroup, whose mission is to enhance climate resilience at NASA Centers. Leading the Temperature and Precipitation Workgroup, providing projections for each NASA Centers using downscaled climate model data (NEX GDDP), as well as collaborating with NASA scientists at other NASA Centers to provide additional climate projections. Organized and presented at the RASI workshop held at Langley Research Center. Working on the ROSES funded project “Hampton Roads Coastal Resilience Project”, providing climate risk data for the Hampton Roads region and engaging with stakeholders to increase resilience. Helped create and write the “Resilient Future for JPL” report. Assisting the 'National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) Resilience Assessments for 2 NASA Centers a year by providing climate projections based on specific vulnerabilities and risks and interviewing NASA personnel on present and future climate impacts. Helped write and edit NASA’s Climate Adaptation Plan. Released RASI climate risk projections publicly for all NASA Centers and their surrounding regions. Co-author on the Urban Climate Change Research Network Third Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities, and provided temperature and precipitation projections for over 200 cities globally. Working on advancing research on analyzing compound climate events at NASA Centers and their surrounding regions.
Nick completed his M.A. in Climate and Society at Columbia University. Before working in climate research, Nick worked as an actor, having received his BFA in Musical Theatre from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM). He performed in the national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, as well as various other regional theatres around the US.
Natalie Kozlowski is a Staff Associate II for the Climate Impacts Group at the Center for Climate Systems Research. She serves as a scientific communicator and assists with the creation of visual representations to communicate key research findings to a variety of audiences. With a background in both academic research and public communications, Natalie is passionate about bridging the gap between climate research and public understanding and engagement.
Before joining CCSR, Natalie worked for Clark Conservation District in southwestern Washington where she acted as a communications coordinator between the District’s technical programs, such as livestock management and riparian habitat conservation, and the general public. Natalie received her Master of Science from the University of Oregon in Geography and Paleoecology, where she researched vegetation structure and fire frequency in the Puget Lowland throughout the Holocene. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University in Environmental Geology where she also played Division I soccer.
Dr. Muhammad Azhar Ehsan is a Climate Scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) within the Columbia Climate School, Columbia University. His expertise lies in climate science, particularly in understanding the large-scale motions of the atmosphere and ocean that contribute to predictability beyond the typical seven-day weather forecast.
Dr. Ehsan primary research involves diagnosing and extracting valuable information from observational and climate model datasets. He conducts research and develops products to provide climate information across short (weeks to seasonal) and long (decadal to climate change projections) timescales, with a focus on understanding the interactions between these temporal scales. Additionally, he studies the sensitivity of regional climates to changing sea surface temperature patterns in the tropical Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, identifies sources of predictability, and investigates the physical processes underlying regional hydroclimatic conditions.
Before joining CCSR, he served as an Associate Research Scientist and Postdoctoral Research Scientist at IRI. Prior to his tenure at IRI, he held a Postdoctoral position at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. Additionally, he worked as a researcher at the Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research (CECCR) at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and as a Scientific Officer at the Global Change Impacts Studies Center (GCISC) Islamabad Pakistan.
He oversees the monthly climate forecast and ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) briefing at the IRI. Additionally, he is responsible for content creation that details ENSO monitoring and forecast information, as well as global climate information. His research interests include;
Research Interests
- ENSO Dynamics, Forecasts, teleconnections, and Impacts
- Research and Development of Climate Forecasts: (Weekly, seasonal and out to a year and beyond),
- Regional Climate Variability and its relation to Changing Sea Surface Temperatures,
- Climate Impacts.
Google Scholar Link
Dr. Michael J. Puma is a Professor of Climate at Columbia University's Climate School, where he leads the Center for Climate Systems Research, working in close collaboration with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He oversees a team of 40 scientists and staff advancing research in climate science, space studies, and climate impact analysis. As Editor of Earth's Future (AGU), Dr. Puma focuses on global food security, human migration, and the interactions between water and climate.
His research explores how shocks—such as conflicts, extreme floods and droughts, volcanic eruptions, and policy changes—disrupt interconnected global food systems. He develops strategies to balance efficiency and resilience in these systems, providing pathways for both short- and long-term stability. Dr. Puma also studies the drivers of human migration, particularly when food and water scarcity arise from environmental change and conflict. Currently, he is developing an innovative approach that applies quantum probability theory to understand and prevent catastrophic cascades in global food systems, aiming to better explain the rapid shifts between cooperative and competitive behaviors observed in food trade networks during recent crises. His work delivers critical insights for policymakers addressing global food insecurity and humanitarian challenges. His research has been funded by major institutions including NASA, the European Commission, the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, DARPA, and the United Nations Development Programme.
Dr. Yang is an Associate Research Scientist working at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) at the Columbia Climate School of Columbia University and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). His research focuses on developing digital twins for agricultural systems by integrating physics-based models, remote sensing data assimilation, and advanced AI techniques to enhance agricultural predictions and optimize farm management practices. He is a core member of the AgLIS development team - a fully coupled framework integrating the DSSAT crop model with NASA’s Land Information System (LIS), and a coordinating group member of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP). In addition, his work explores the potential of opportunity crops to improve food and nutrition security under a changing climate. His broader research interests include Genetics × Management × Environment interactions, the Water–Energy–Food Nexus, hydroclimatology, nutrition and health, and socioeconomic impacts.
Dr. van Lier-Walqui is a Research Scientist and has worked at CCSR since 2013. His expertise is in using Bayesian inference methods to estimate parameters and quantify uncertainty in physical models of clouds and precipitation. This involves making comparison between observations, such as advanced polarimetric and profiling radars, and model simulations of weather. These efforts leverage the rich microphysical information content of observational systems to improve our understanding and model representation of cloud and precipitation processes. Furthermore, the Bayesian methodologies used allow for robust estimation of uncertainty that can inform forecast representations of physical process uncertainty, e.g. via probabilistic forecast ensembles.
Malgosia Madajewicz is an economist with research expertise in adaptation to climate change, economic development, and evaluation of the effectiveness of programs, policies, and adaptation strategies, including assessing the value of climate information. Much of her research has focused on the role that institutions and networks play in influencing the effectiveness of policies and strategies, and in the use and value of climate information. She is a member of the research team that comprises the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), which is a NOAA-funded RISA (Regional Integrated Science and Assessment). She is currently serving as an external member on the Community-Based Adaptation working group of the New York City Panel on Climate Change. She holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University and has previously served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Dr. Nazarenko joined CCSR in 1997 and specializes in climate system simulations. She examines climate response under the forcings of changing well-mixed greenhouse gases, ozone, stratospheric aerosols, solar irradiance, soot effect on snow and ice albedo, land use changes, and tropospheric aerosols with their parameterized. Also she examines the simulated, indirect effect on clouds based on empirical evidence of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration; global climate feedbacks under the different combinations of climate forcings; prediction of future climate for the conventional increase CO2 in the atmosphere and for alternative Representative Concentration Pathways scenarios.
Dr. Inoue is an Associate Research Scientist at Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) at the Columbia Climate School of Columbia University. His research focuses on the weather and climate features associated with tropical moist convection over a wide range of spectra from an individual-convective scale to planetary and global scales. His research uses theories, observational data including satellite observations, and general circulation models for understanding the interactions between large-scale environment and moist convection.
Prior to joining CCSR in 2022, Dr. Inoue worked at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, and at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University as an adjunct postdoctoral researcher from 2018 to 2022. He also worked at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) as a postdoctoral researcher from 2016 to 2018. He completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016.
His research interests aim in understanding the role aerosols play in the Earth system, by studying the interactions and feedbacks between the atmosphere, the terrestrial biosphere, the ocean, and climate.
Kevin Karl is a Research Associate at the Center for Climate Systems Research, focusing on the intersection of food systems and climate change. He also works as an environmental statistics consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He received his Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, with a concentration in Urban and Social Policy.
Prior to joining CCSR, Mr. Karl was a Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where he focused on policy solutions that address pressing issues across food systems, energy systems and climate change. Previously, he was an Associate with the Rockefeller Foundation’s Food Initiative, where he worked to advance food-based interventions in American healthcare systems. He also co-founded GreenItUp, a start-up that informs online grocery shoppers about the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their individual food purchases.
Mr. Karl has spent the bulk of his career working as a farmer. Most recently, he launched an urban educational farm for a non-profit organization called Growing Gardens. Prior to his work addressing urban food security, he started two farming businesses— one in Canada and one in the U.S.— and is passionate about ecologically regenerative agricultural practices.
Dr. Mezuman is an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research, specializing in the development and application of physical and statistical models to examine human-natural interactions. Based at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), she contributes to the development of the ModelE Earth System Model, focusing on the interconnections between the atmosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere. As the lead fire modeler at GISS, she develops pyrE, the NASA GISS interactive fire-climate module, and collaborates closely with the Atmospheric Composition and Terrestrial Biosphere groups to enhance the understanding of fire dynamics and their broader environmental impacts. Her research is dedicated to improving the estimation of physical processes such as fire spread and lightning ignitions, exploring the reciprocal effects of human activities and fires, quantifying fire's role in the carbon cycle and its impact on air pollution, refining future fire risk estimations, and investigating the implications of fires on climate mitigation strategies and the transition to clean energy.
Dr. Sinclair is an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR). His research interests are motivated by the question: what are the primary causes of uncertainty in Earth’s energy budget, and how do we go about reducing them? Clouds play a major role in the energy budget, reflecting incoming shortwave and absorbing outgoing longwave radiation. His research focuses on studying the dominant cloud properties and drivers that affect this radiative balance with the goal of being able to better understand relationships governing these properties. His research uses theory, observational analysis, radiative transfer modeling as well as reanalysis studies. His current research focuses on remote sensing of cloud micro- and macro-physical parameters using multi-angular multi-wavelength polarimetric observations in conjunction with other instruments.
Prior to joining CCSR, Dr. Sinclair held a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). He completed a Ph.D. at Columbia University's Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering where he held a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Doctoral Scholarship. He also completed a master’s degree in Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science. He obtained a Bachelor of Applied Science with Specialized Honors in Space Engineering from York University, where he specialized in atmospheric science and spacecraft optical instrument design.Dr. Jyoti Singh is a postdoctoral scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) at Columbia University, specializing in crop-climate modeling. She earned her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in November 2021, where she studied the impacts of climate change on crops and fruits in the Himalayas and Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. In 2015, she received a Master's in Remote Sensing and GIS, focusing on Agriculture and Soils. During her master's program, she developed expertise in processing and analyzing satellite data for climate and agricultural applications, which continues to inform her research today.
Her research aims to improve crop models to better simulate the effects of environmental stresses on agriculture. At Columbia, she is enhancing the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) by integrating the impact of waterlogging on various crops. This enhancement seeks to refine crop growth simulations under extreme weather conditions. Previously, as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University (2021–2024), she focused on improving the Community Land Model (CLM) to enhance the representation of winter wheat and the effects of ozone damage on crops.
In addition to crop modeling advancements, Dr. Jyoti Singh studies climate intervention strategies, a deliberate effort to cool the Earth by reflecting some sunlight away. While these strategies may assist in mitigating global warming, they also pose potential consequences for agriculture by altering solar radiation, water availability, and crop productivity. Her research investigates how these factors impact crop and fruit production, ensuring agricultural resilience is considered in climate intervention discussions.
Jonathan is a Research Scientist and has worked at Center for Climate Systems Research since 2018. He works on modeling, remote sensing, and measuring of trace gases, with a particular focus on emissions from soils and biomass burning and their implications for atmospheric composition, climate, and human well-being.
Jonathan earned his Ph.D. in 2009 from Stony Brook University. Prior to becoming a Research Scientist at CCSR, Jonathan was an Earth Institute Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate Research Scientist at the Earth Institute's Agriculture and Food Security Center (2009-2014), an Associate Editor at Nature Geoscience (2014-2017), a Research Associate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2017-2018), and a Senior Fellow in the NASA Postdoctoral Program (2018-2021).
I am a climate change scientist and crop modeler. I study food systems and global food security at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). As a central initiative within AgMIP, I co-lead AgGRID and the Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison (GGCMI), and I am the coordinator of the agriculture sector in ISIMIP, a cross-sectoral model intercomparison project.
Dr. Jingbo Wu is currently a Senior Staff Associate II for the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University. She works on projects with Gregory Elsaesser focused on global clouds and convective systems. Her interests include evaluating and improving cloud and convective parametrizations in the NASA GISS GCM using satellite and field observations, developing and managing software to analyze and visualize complex dataset from observations and model simulations.
She works on analysis and model development in support of research on the interactions among atmospheric constituents, climate, and societal impacts.
She supports the Climate Group by assisting in priority climate research, forecasting activities, and developing climate information products. Developed, enhanced, and maintained several forecasting models to support climate forecast creation.
She develops real-time IRI seasonal NMME forecast system and sub-seasonal weekly and biweekly forecast system, generated hindcast and verification; develops Weather Regimes real-time multiple scale longer leads forecast and probabilistic Weather Regimes real-time forecast.
She routinely produces monthly real-time seasonal NMME forecasts and sub-seasonal MME weekly and biweekly forecasts, both globally and regionally; generates ENSO forecast graphs every month; as well as produces winter daily Weather Regimes real-time multiple scale longer lead forecast and probabilistic Weather Regimes forecast.
She manages and maintains complex S2S database archive in IRI Data Library to ensure IRI Data Library hosts all available S2S data timely and are up to date.
Manishka has a background in climate change, conservation and environmental management. At CCSR, she carries out research, stakeholder engagement, and management of the Adaptation for Development and Conservation (ADVANCE) partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Manishka also provides technical input and capacity building for ADVANCE projects in Asia and Latin America with a focus on climate impacts and integrating climate risk information into planning. She has over 10 years of professional experience and previously worked at IUCN Sri Lanka, Environmental Foundation, and as a consultant. In 2007, she received the UNESCO MAB Young Scientist Award. Manishka has a MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University and a MS in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford, UK.
Dr. Aleinov specializes in systems analysis, dynamic vegetation modeling, and land surface modeling with a particular focus on the NASA GISS global climate model (ModelE).
Henrique is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) within the Columbia Climate School. His research tackles the challenges posed by climate change to agriculture, hydrologic dynamics, and water quality in the New York City watershed. Henrique utilizes advanced hydrologic modeling tools, including SWAT and SWAT+, in conjunction with remote sensing data and comprehensive Earth System science databases.
Before joining CCSR in 2024, Henrique earned a Master's degree in Natural Resources in 2020 and a Ph.D. in Earth System Science in 2024, both from Auburn University. His research interests encompass model-data integration, hydrologic and water quality modeling at multiple scales, trend analysis of hydrologic and biophysical variables, and the impacts of land-use and cover change on water quantity and quality.
Dr. Hannah Liddy is the executive officer of the global research project AIMES - Analysis, Integration and Modeling of the Earth System. AIMES is a core project of Future Earth and facilitates multidisciplinary and multinational activities aimed at addressing integrative research that is beyond the scope of individual scientists or institutes. Current focal areas include quantifying and understanding the consequences and feedbacks of human activities on biogeochemical cycles and the climate system past and present, development of Earth system models, global climate and land model benchmarking, and facilitating and encouraging a Young Scholar's Network that supports interaction between natural and social sciences as well as the humanities. She completed her Ph.D. in earth science with a focus in paleoclimate and isotope geochemistry at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Haley Plaas joined the Center for Climate Systems Research in early 2025, and her current work focuses on further developing atmospheric gas-phase chemistry within the GISS-ModelE Earth System Model. Haley’s scientific interests broadly cover biological and ecological controls on atmospheric chemistry, aerosol-formation, and climate-feedbacks in the Anthropocene.
Before coming to Columbia, Haley received her PhD in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from UNC-Chapel Hill (2019-2023). During her doctorate, she characterized primary and secondary aerosol formation in the airshed of polluted waterbodies, particularly those impacted by toxic blue-green algal blooms. Following her PhD, Haley completed a postdoc at North Carolina State University (2024-2025), during which she studied the delivery of atmospheric iron to ocean ecosystems using a submodule of the Community Earth System Model.
Dr. Gregory Cesana is currently a research scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University (New York, NY). He has received a B.S (2005) and M.Sc (2007) in Atmosphere/Ocean/Soil remote sensing (environmental sciences) from the University of Toulon. From 2008 to 2010, he pursued his professional career in the climate research field as a research engineer at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD, École Polytechnique) in Paris, France, where he developed cloud datasets using satellite observations for climate model evaluation. In January 2011, he became a Ph.D student at Sorbonne Université (Paris, France, formerly known as Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI), during which he used CALIPSO satellite observations to characterize cloud and radiation biases in climate models. After graduating in December 2013, he then moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA) for a postdoctoral research scientist position from January 2014 to March 2017. There, he extended his knowledge of satellite data for model evaluation using other A-train constellation instruments (CloudSat’s cloud profiling radar, Aqua’s CERES instrument among others). Since he joined Columbia University in March 2017, Dr. Cesana has worked closely with the modeling team of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) to help them improve the representation of cloud-climate processes in the GISS model using satellite observations.
Dr. Cesana’s research is focused on improving our understanding of cloud processes and cloud-radiation interactions in the past, present and future climate. In particular, he’s interested in the modifications that clouds and precipitation undergo in response to anthropogenically induced energy imbalances, commonly referred to as “cloud feedbacks”. Reducing the uncertainty caused by these feedbacks is critical to predict the future climate change. To tackle this problem, he currently works on the development and the use of satellite observations to evaluate the representation of cloud-radiation feedbacks in climate models. He specializes in active sensor satellite observations from a-train CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites, which give access to unprecedented cloud-related information such as the detailed vertical structure of clouds and their water phase partitioning, as well as their precise spatial distribution over continents and polar regions. These unique observations bring new perspectives and open the path to new breakthroughs in the understanding of the climate system.
He works on analysis and model development in support of research on the interactions among atmospheric constituents, climate, and societal impacts.
Florian Tornow is an Associate Research Scientist who works on the Aerosol Cloud Meteorology Interactions Over the Western Atlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) NASA Earth Venture program, which aims towards a better understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions, through the use of measurements obtained from an aircraft campaign. Before joining CCSR, he graduated with a PhD in Meteorology and worked as a Research Assistant for the ESA (European Space Agency) project CLARA (Clouds, Aerosol and Radiation Assessment Products for Earth-CARE) at the Institute for Space Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin.
Erik Mencos Contreras serves as Staff Associate of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Program (AgMIP). He supports the AgMIP Coordination Unit by working collaboratively with program managers, researchers, Columbia University finance officers, and sponsor agency officials on the overall research coordination and financial management of the program. Erik assists AgMIP research output by supporting the writing and editing of multi-author, peer-reviewed papers, as well as white papers, concept notes, and reports. He was Chapter Scientist and Contributing Author for the Food Security chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land. He also supports the organization and execution of multi-disciplinary workshops worldwide. He liaises with international partners at all levels of the program, including Regional Research Teams in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; Research Leaders in the U.S., Europe, and Australia; and the AgMIP Steering Council, comprised of internationally renowned experts in the field. Erik has a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico.
Erica Albert is a Staff Associate for the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University. She works on projects concerning urban climate change and nature-based solutions. Before joining CCSR, Erica worked for the National Audubon Society, where she educated the public on ways to better understand and protect Long Island's ecosystems.
She earned her MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and her BA in Environmental Policy from Binghamton University. Her research background concerns urban and suburban water quality, including Harmful Algae Blooms and PFAS.
Dr. Ensheng Weng is trained as an ecologist, specialized at vegetation modeling. He is also broadly interested in ecosystem ecology, paleo-climate and vegetation, and Earth system sciences. Ensheng’s research is focused on modeling vegetation dynamics and distribution at regional and global scales based on plant traits-mediated plant competition and community assemblage. Specifically, he uses mathematical and simulation modeling approaches to explore the underlying demographic and physiological processes that shape vegetation structure and dynamics in different environmental conditions. He also uses data assimilation approaches to improve model parameterization and analyze model structure and uncertainty.
Chris Lawrence is currently a postdoctoral research scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) at Columbia University. His current research focuses on the impact of atmospheric aqueous chemistry on the iron cycle (an important micronutrient for oceanic microorganisms). His broader interests include the atmosphere's role in the nutrient and organic carbon cycles under changing emissions and climate change, particularly within clouds and precipitation.
Chris received his PhD at the University of Albany in 2024, studying the changing chemical composition of cloud water and precipitation in the Northeast U.S.
Dr. Assia Arouf is broadly interested in Earth's climate system, with a focus on clouds. Her research aims to better understand the cloud radiative effect and cloud feedback. She typically works with satellite observations, in combination with radiative transfer codes and climate models, aiming to improve our understanding of clouds and climate projections.
Dr. Arouf is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), Columbia University and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS) in the city of New York. She is Co-President of Columbia University Postdoctoral Society (CUPS).
Dr. Arouf received her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Sorbonne Université (Paris) and the work was conducted at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD). She did her masters in Remote Sensing at Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) and Université Paris Cité in France and her undergrad at Institut d’Aéronautique et des Etudes Spatiales (IAES) in Algeria.
Dr. Robertson is a Senior Research Scientist and leads the IRI Climate Forecasting Group at the Center for Climate Systems Research. He has 40 years of experience in climate research, ranging from midlatitude meteorology, coupled ocean-atmosphere climate dynamics, sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasting, downscaling, and tailoring of climate information for climate adaptation and climate risk management in the global South. He is an Adjunct Professor in Columbia Climate School's Climate and Society MA Program and has taught in many capacity building training courses on seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasting for climate services. He co-chaired the WWRP/WCRP Sub-seasonal to Seasonal Prediction Project (S2S) and is currently a member of the WMO Expert Team on Climate Services Information System and Climate Information for Decision Support (ET-CIDS).
After graduating from the University of Leeds, UK, with a BSc in mathematics and geography, Andrew received an MSc from Imperial College, London in atmospheric physics and dynamics, and a PhD in atmospheric dynamics from the University of Reading in 1984, under the supervision of Brian Hoskins. He held postdoctoral and research positions at the Universities of Paris, Munich, and UCLA prior to joining the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) in 2001. He joined CCSR in July 2024.