Kenneth A. Sinclair

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.