Current Graduate Students

I am a Ph.D. student whose research is supervised by Dr. Andreas Zuend. I obtained my Masters degree in Remote Sensing from the College of Engineering, Anna University and my Bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering in India. My research interests centre around improving the modeling representations of gas–particle partitioning of aerosol components. As part of my research, I have worked on modelling isoprene-derived secondary organic aerosols using the AIOMFAC-based gas particle partitioning model. My current research work involves the development of software tools for improving the modular gas-aerosol box-model and implementing a 2-D product lumping scheme to have an adjustable degree of surrogate species for modeling biogenic/anthropogenic aerosol systems.

Conferences attended this academic year:

99th Canadian Chemistry conference and Exhibition, Halifax, Nova Scotia
100th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Toronto, Ontario

I joined as a PhDstudent at the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill University and my research is supervised by Dr. Peter Bartello. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. I became fond of Fluid dynamics which led me to my master’s degree in Climate Science from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. My thesis was about the non-linear adjustment in the tropics, in which I studied the evolution of the shallow water equations in spherical geometry. Currently, my broad area of interest is Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

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I am a Ph.D. student under the supervision of David Straub and Tim Merlis. My research interests include studying turbulence in idealized models and settings. My Ph.D. project is based on understanding how moisture affects the dynamics of idealized models. Currently, we are looking at the effect that moisture has on a forced, baroclinically unstable jet on a beta-plane. I completed my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. 

Awards:

NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships-Doctoral (2015-2018)
Graduate Mobility Award (2017)
Kenneth Eade Fellowship in Science (2014-2015)

Community engagement:

As the President of CAOS for the 2017-2018 year, I was involved in the organization of numerous events including several general meetings with the rest of the graduate students, the yearly holiday party, the "Burnside Mixer" with the math and geography departments, among other events.

I was born and raised in Siberia. I developed a passion for Science in Krasnoyarsk Summer School and eventually entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Russia, where I studied Theoretical Physics and obtained my B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics and Physics in 2015. For another year I was enrolled in the MIPT Master’s program where I worked on a statistical analysis of seismic data. However, I became more interested in geophysical applications rather than pure math and decided to apply for an M.Sc. program in Earth sciences elsewhere.
I joined McGill in Fall 2016 and expect to graduate from AOS M.Sc. program in August 2018. I am working on a project about cold air outbreaks and polar air mass formation from radiative perspective under co-supervision of Prof. Yi Huang and Prof. John Gyakum. My broader research interests include Arctic Climate, Radiative Transfer, Severe Weather, Climate Change and Machine Learning in Atmospheric Science.

Conferences attended this academic year:

Origin of Cold-Air Outbreaks: Polar Air Mass Formation from a Radiation Perspective (talk) at American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, New Orleans LA, December 2017

Awards:

The 2017 Peter Zwack Award by Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (2018)

Prior to joining the AOS department at McGill I studied at The University of Western Ontario in London, ON, where I received several undergraduate degrees including environmental science, actuarial science, and most recently physics. With this multidisciplinary background I decided that I wanted to combine my interests and found myself applying to the AOS department here at McGill to pursue a master's degree in the fall of 2016. Having taken many astronomy classes during my physics undergrad I was naturally drawn to the study of radiation and its interaction with the Earth's atmosphere.  Dr. Yi Huang, my current supervisor, and his radiation group seemed like a perfect fit to my interests and following my first year of course work I promptly joined his team.  During my time with Dr. Huang's group I have dedicated my time to researching the role of radiation in removing thermal disturbances in the atmosphere with sudden stratospheric warming events being my primary focus.  Having enjoyed the research so much I decided to fast-track to a Ph.D.,  set to commence the fall of 2018.

Awards:

NSERC - CGSM 2017/2018

Community engagement:

Introduction to Radiation and Atmospheric Science - Talk given in the AOS department at McGill on July 11, 2017
This talk provided background information on radiation and atmospheric science to a group of high school students that took part in the Explorations Summer Camp at McGill University. The discussion included: where radiation comes from, how it interacts with atoms and molecules, applications to the Earth’s atmosphere, the greenhouse effect, and applications of radiation towards research currently being conducted on sudden stratospheric warming events.

After finishing my bachelor's degree in Physics from Université de Montréal, I joined Prof. Tremblay's group at McGill University in 2011. Since then, I have first completed a M.Sc. in Arctic physical oceanography (in 2013) and I am now a PhD student, working on sea-ice modelling. My current project aims at improving the representation of large-scale deformations in Arctic sea-ice numerical models. To do so, I use a VP sea-ice model and observations of sea-ice deformations to study the relationship between the sea-ice mechanical properties and the deformation fields, considering both mechanical and thermal deformation processes. I am also currently leading the FAMOS Sea-Ice Rheology Experiment (SIREx) which aims at understanding if the current sea-ice rheology metrics (e.g. scaling and PDFs) are useful to discriminate between the different sea-ice models/rheologies and assess the ability of the different sea-ice rheologies to reproduce the characteristics of the observed deformation fields. 

Conferences attended this academic year:

A. Bouchat and B. Tremblay (2017), "Using RGPS deformation fields to constrain sea-ice mechanical strength parameters", Poster presentation at the Multi-scale modelling of ice characteristics and behaviour workshop, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, UK,
A. Bouchat and B. Tremblay (2017), "Using RGPS deformation fields to constrain sea-ice mechanical strength parameters", Poster presentation at the Forum for Arctic Modelling and Observational Synthesis Workshop 2017, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, USA
A. Bouchat and B. Tremblay (2017), "Using RGPS deformation fields to constrain sea-ice mechanical strength parameters", Oral presentation at the Canadian Sea Ice and Snow Evolution Network Workshop 2017, Victoria, BC

Awards:

NSERC Alexandre Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship M.Sc (2011-2012)
Environment Canada Atmospheric and Meteorological Graduate Supplements (2011, 2013)
FQRNT Master's research scholarship (2012-2013)
CMOS Peter Zwack Award (2013)
FQRNT doctoral research scholarship (offered in 2014, declined)
Governor General's Academic Gold Medal (2014)
NSERC Alexandre Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship Ph.D (2014-2017)

Publications:

Bouchat, A., and B. Tremblay (2017), Using sea‐ice deformation fields to constrain the mechanical strength parameters of geophysical sea ice, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 122, 5802–5825, doi:10.1002/2017JC013020.
Bouchat, A., and B. Tremblay (2014), Energy dissipation in viscous‐plastic sea‐ice models, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119, 976–994, doi:10.1002/2013JC009436. 

Community engagement:

Meeting Organizer, Polar Prediction Workshop 2018 (Montreal)
Meeting Coordinator & Online facilitator, Forum for Arctic Modelling and Observational Synthesis (Woods Hole, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Science animator, Let's Talk Science (Montreal, McGill) 
President, Council of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (Montreal, McGill, 2012-2013)

I got my bachelor's degree in physics (B. Sc) from Université Laval in october 2016 and did two internships in oceanography (internal gravity waves at UQAR-ISMER) and atmospheric sciences (inertia-gravity waves in the stratosphere at FZ Jülich, Germany) during those studies. I am now working under the joint supervision of Pr Bruno Tremblay and Pr David Straub. My project tries to understand the physical processes associated with brine rejection and ice formation along sea-ice leads in the Arctic Ocean. I use high-resolution numerical models to study heat fluxes and mixing of the upper layers down to the cold halocline.

Conferences attended this academic year:

Réunion Scientifique Annuelle de Québec-Océan, November 13-15 at Rivière-du-Loup

Awards:

Eben Hopson Fellowship (Scholarship, 2017-18)
Bourse de Maîtrise en recherche (FRQNT, 2017-18)
Bourse de stage international (Québec-Océan / FRQNT, August-October 2018)

I started graduate studies at McGill's atmospheric and oceanic sciences department in the Fall 2015, working with Prof. Bruno Tremblay and the sea ice group, after completing my bachelor’s degree in physics at Université de Montréal. My Ph.D. thesis topic is the regional and seasonal predictability of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. I am interested in Arctic climate, effects of climate change on high latitudes, sea ice decline and its interannual variability, predictions of sea ice, remote sensing of sea ice and sea ice dynamics. I completed a first project where I developed a seasonal forecasting model for the minimum sea ice extent in the Laptev Sea based on observed wintertime motion of sea ice. I am currently working on bias correction in an observational sea ice drift dataset. I expect to complete my Ph.D. by 2020.

Conferences attended this academic year:

ArcTrain Annual Meeting; Bremen (Germany), September 18-22, 2017, Oral+Poster, Winter coastal divergence as a predictor for the minimum sea ice extent in the Laptev Sea. 
Arctic Circle Assembly 2017; Reykjavik (Iceland), October 13-15, 2017, Oral, Regional and seasonal forecasts of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.
FAMOS 2017; Woods Hole (USA), October 24-27, 2017, Poster, Winter coastal divergence as a predictor for the minimum sea ice extent.
McGill Second Northern Research Day, McGill, January 24, 2018, Oral, Winter coastal divergence as a predictor for the minimum sea ice extent in the Laptev Sea.   

Awards:

Max Dunbar Award in Oceanography (2015)           
International Graduate Mobility Award (2017)
Winner of Mon projet nordique contest (2017)

Community engagement:

AOS Open House, October 22, 2015, Oral presentation, Département des sciences atmosphériques et océaniques - Climat des hautes latitudes
Outreach to undergraduate students, February 2, 2016, Physics Dept., Université de Montréal, Oral presentation, Flash-Bac: Maîtrise en sciences atmosphériques et océaniques
McGill Mini-Science Public Lecture Series - Weather and Climate: going to extremes (Volunteer) - 2016
International Arctic Research Center Summer School on Arctic Climate Modeling, Fairbanks, Alaska (USA) - July 2016
PGSS representative for the Council of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Students - 2016-2018
Working group on the implementation of the Climate Officer position at McGill University - 2016/2017
Winter School in Marine Environmental Prediction, Rimouski, Qc. - March 2017
The Arctic Ocean and the marginal ice zone, Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Norway) - August 2017
Outreach to undergraduate students, March 8, 2018, Physics Dept., Université de Montréal, Oral presentation, SAPHARI: Étudier la glace de mer en Arctique - du baccalauréat en physique au doctorat en sciences du climat
Organization committee of the 5th Polar Prediction Workshop, Montreal, 7-8-9 May 2018

I graduated from the National Central University with a Bachelor of Science in Taiwan in 2012. Afterwards I went to the National Taiwan University to complete my Master’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences in 2014. My thesis was about evaluating the uncertainty of tropical cyclone tracks and the associated remote precipitation under the interaction with Asian winter monsoon system. In Fall 2015, I arrived at McGill University to continue education as well as research as a PhD student. My research interests include mesoscale and synoptic meteorology as well as numerical modeling. Currently, I’m working on the climatology of slantwise convection and its parameterization in numerical models. This project is supervised by Prof. Peter Yau and co-supervised by Prof. Daniel Kirshbaum.

Conferences attended this academic year:

EGU (the European Geosciences Union) General Assembly 2018. (8-13 April 2018)
T.-C. Chen, M. K. Yau and D. J. Kirshbaum.
Topic of poster presentation: Assessment of slantwise convection within mid-latitude cyclones from reanalysis data

Awards:

Graduate Mobility Award (2017)
Lorne Trottier Fellowship (2016)
Dr. and Mrs. Milton Leong Fellowships in Science (2016)

Publications:

Chen, T.-C., M.K. Yau, D. J. Kirshbaum, 2018: Assessment of conditional symmetric instability from global reanalysis data. Submitted to Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.

Community engagement:

President of McGill Taiwanese Graduate Student Association, 2017 Summer-2018 Spring.

I am a MSc student in physical oceanography working with Prof. David Straub and Prof. Louis-Philippe Nadeau. My current research interest is to understand how the upper-ocean turbulent eddies might affect the big-picture wind-driven circulation. Theory, modelling and observations are used to characterize the physics. Before joining McGill, I did my BSc in Marine Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, a foodie destination in China). 

Conferences attended this academic year:

2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting. Poster Presentation: A shallow water model forced by flow-dependent Ekman pumping
2018 Ocean Mesoscale Eddy Interactions with the Atmosphere Workshop. Poster Presentation: The application of flow-dependent Ekman transport to a two-layer shallow water model

Awards:

Stephen and Anastasia Mysak Graduate Fellowship (2017)
Graduate Excellence Fellowship (2017)
Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Award (2017)
Travel Grant from the World Climate Research Programme (2017)
Stephen and Anastasia Mysak Graduate Fellowship (2016)
Graduate Excellence Fellowship (2016)
Mitacs Globalink Graduate Fellowship (2016)
 
(Webpage: www.meteo.mcgill.ca/~yanxu)

I am a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Dr. Bruno Tremblay. My research is in partnership with the Canadian Ice Service, which is part of the Meteorological Service of Canada under Environment and Climate Change Canada. I work in the Applied Science group.  I am also co-supervised by Dr. Barbara Casati, (Meteorological Research Division of Environment and Climate Change Canada), and Dr. Adrienne Tivy (Canadian Ice Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada).
I received my MSc. from Queen's University in 2015 and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo in 2008. I also have a Diploma of Excellence in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Waterloo, 2008.

If a weather model correctly forecasts a thunderstorm, but gets the location wrong, then is it still considered accurate? What if a second weather model forecasts clear skies instead of the same thunderstorm? Is that model more or less accurate than the first? Arguably the first one is more accurate because it got the initial processes right—that is, unless you're at the thunderstorm's location without an umbrella. Then they're equally wrong. Now replace thunderstorm with sea ice, and that is the focus of my research.

Current verification metrics for measuring the accuracy of forecasts don't always measure the performance of these models spatially in a meaningful way. My research focuses on spatial verification and spatial metrics for sea ice models. From a broad perspective, I am interested in how we can assess the accuracy of spatial data. With specific application to sea ice, I am researching how we can compare sea ice forecasts against observations from a spatial perspective. I want to make new rulers that don't exist to measure in space and time.

My research projects include: 1. Assessing sea ice concentration estimates in sea ice charts. 2. Using spatial techniques to assess the accuracy of forecasted sea ice pressure in numerical models. 3. Investigating and developing new spatial verification techniques, with specific application to sea ice models.

I am currently doing my master’s with Bruno Tremblay, studying decadal variability in the sea ice extent. Arctic climate and sea ice prediction are my main research interests. I graduated in 2017 from my Bachelor degree at Université de Montréal in physics and started my master's in September 2017.

Conferences attended this academic year:

Journée de conférences du Portail nordique de l'UQAM.

Awards:

FRQNT master’s scholarship

Currently, I’m a Ph.D. student at McGill University in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department. My Ph.D. research focuses on the physical understanding and observational retrieval of cumulus entrainment and detrainment and is supervised by Prof. Daniel J. Kirshbaum and Prof. Pavlos Kollias of Stony Brook University. Before coming to McGill University in 2014, I received a Bachelor and Master degree in meteorology from Leibniz University (Germany).

Conferences attended this academic year:

AGU Fall Meeting 2017: Evaluating cumulus entrainment retrieval methods using large-eddy simulation
(Upcoming in April) EGU General Assembly 2018: Evaluating Shallow-Cumulus Entrainment Retrievals Using Large-Eddy Simulation

Community engagement:

CAOS- Secretary

I am a Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Yi Huang. I received my Bachelor's degree in Atmospheric Science from Nanjing University (China). I am interested in understanding the role of radiative process in the Earth climate system. My current research involves:

1) Using satellite observational data to statistically evaluate the distribution and variability of water vapor in the upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric region.
2) Theoretical investigation of the correlation between radiation energy and key climate variables, e.g., temperature and water vapor.

Conferences attended this academic year:

Gorden Research Conference Radiation and Climate, Lewiston, United States           
Poster: Feng, J., Y. Huang, Cloud-assisted retrieval of lower stratospheric water vapor from nadir view satellite measurements, GRC & GRS: Radiation and Climate.
Canadian Meteorology and Oceanography Society 2017 Congress, Toronto, Canada            
Presentation: Feng, J., Y. Huang, Cloud-assisted retrieval of lower stratospheric water vapor from nadir view satellite measurements, CMOS congress.  

Awards:

Graduate Mobility Award (2017) 
Peter-Zwack Award (2017)   
GREAT Award (2016)
Kenneth Eade Fellowship (2016)

Publications:

2017. Feng, J., Y. Huang (accepted), Cloud-assisted retrieval of lower stratospheric water vapor from nadir view satellite measurements, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology.

I finished both my bachelor and master degree of atmospheric sciences in National Taiwan University (NTU). My research during the MS program focused on climate variabilities, teleconnections, and if we could reproduce them via modelling. I also worked on carrying out numerical analyses to clarify the relations between cloud composition in the tropics and the phases of MJO when working as a research assistant in NTU.
 
From autumn of 2014, my career as a PhD student started in McGill University. I am working with Dr. Hai Lin from Environment and Climate Change Canada and my co-advisors are Dr. Timothy Merlis and Dr. Jacques Derome in McGill University. My current research project is the MJO and its extratropical responses under various atmospheric status and its application on subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) predictions.

I graduated from McGill University in June 2018 with a Bachelor degree in Earth System Science and a minor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. Currently, I am pursuing a master in oceanography under the supervision of Carolina Dufour and Timothy Merlis. My research is on ocean heat uptake and its link to the meridional overturning circulation from models. I expect to graduate in winter 2020.

Awards:

After a graduating at the Culinary Institute of Quebec (ITHQ) in Oenology, I completed a BSc in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill. I was mostly curious in the physics of weather and climate  in relation to viticulture. I became found of fluid dynamics and ocean physics which lead me to pursue a MSc in oceanography under the supervision of Carolina Dufour. My research consists evaluating the cross frontal mass transport by mesoscale eddies across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and assessing how well they are represented in numerical climate models. I expect to graduate in winter 2019.

Conferences attended this academic year:

Ocean Sciences (Portland) 
Québec Ocean 

Community engagement:

PGSS representative for upcoming academic year (2018-2019)

Before joining the AOS department at McGill, I completed my B.Sc. in Honours Physics Co-op at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. I previously worked in the AOS department on a co-op term during the summer of 2016 and I began my studies here at McGill in September 2017. Presently, I am a year 1 M.Sc. candidate working under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Zuend. My thesis project involves developing a thermodynamic model to predict the mixture viscosities and diffusivities of atmospherically relevant aqueous, organic aerosols using a group-contribution framework.

As part of my coursework, I have also undertaken a project to perform a time series and trend analysis on emission data of various pollutants at urban, suburban, and rural sites in Ontario. My research interests focus mainly on the physical properties of aerosols; however, I also have personal interests in effective scientific communication to the public and scientific outreach.

I completed my B.Sc. at McGill University in mathematics (mostly in Burnside as well!). I then did my M.Sc. in Paris, the first year of which I did in climate science at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the second year in mathematical modelling at the (now called) Université Paris-Saclay. I did a small 2 month internship in natural language processing in Grenoble and came back to McGill University for my Ph.D. in January 2016. My supervisor is Tim Merlis.

My Ph.D. project is to look at the reasons for the polar amplification of surface air warming beyond the surface albedo feedback. In global climate models that deactivate this feedback (by maintaining a constant surface albedo for example), the surface warming is still amplified at the poles. Hence my project is to investigate other potential reasons for this surface temperature change pattern. 

My current research is to look at the forcing dependence of the extratropical lapse rate feedback. Previous research showed that the surface temperature is more sensitive to an increase in longwave radiative forcing than an increase in surface forcing of the same magnitude for the polar troposphere. I am particularly looking at how this may be a cause for the residual polar amplification seen in geoengineering global climate model experiments and how this may change the moist EBM framework.

I expect to graduate around January 2020.

Publications: 

Henry, M. and T.M. Merlis: The role of the nonlinearity of the Stefan-Boltzmann law on the structure of radiatively forced temperature change. Submitted to Journal of Climate.
Merlis, T.M. and M. Henry: Simple estimates of polar amplification in moist diffusive energy balance models. Submitted to Journal of Climate.

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at McGill University, where I also gained experience as a research student in the SURE program. After working for a few years, I returned to McGill in 2018 for a Master’s degree in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. My research under the supervision of Professor Bruno Tremblay is on the predictability of minimum Arctic sea ice extent with time scales from one month to seasons using Global Climate Model observations. Here, I will identify model deficiencies responsible for the reduction in forecasting skill with long lead times. This study will contribute to improving seasonal forecasting of sea ice, which will help us understand future climate projections and plan for the consequences on our environment including sea level rise, polar amplification, and impact of ice loss on mid-latitude weather.

Bio coming soon

I received a B.Sc. degree in Physics from Université Laval in 2016. I joined the M.Sc. AOS program at McGill in 2016 and fast tracked to the Ph.D program in 2018. My current research interests include exoplanets' atmosphere, atmospheric hydrological cycle, climate dynamics. Presently, I'm working on " Tidally-locked Earth-like exoplanet: how the water cycle changes towards the inner edge of the habitable zone ", under the supervision of Dr. Tim Merlis.
 

Awards:

McGill Space Institute (MSI) graduate fellowship (2016-2018)

I received the B.Sc. in Physics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong in 2012. It was an easy decision for me to pursue graduate studies in atmospheric sciences because I have always been fascinated by tropical cyclones and other weather phenomena since I was young. I obtained my M.Sc. in Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate from the University of Reading, UK in 2013 and then worked in the private sector of meteorology in the UK for nearly 2 years. I joined McGill AOS department as a PhD student in Fall 2015, under the supervision of Prof. M. K. (Peter) Yau. My research interests span over the tropical cyclones, tropical meteorology, mesoscale convective systems, severe weather and cloud dynamics. My current research focuses on the eyewall replacement cycles of tropical cyclones.

Conferences attended this academic year:

“A Dynamical Perspective on Inner Eyewall Dissipation in Hurricane Wilma (2005)” (April 2018), poster presentation at the AMS 33rd Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology

Awards:

Graduate Excellence Award, McGill University (2015-2018)
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Graduate Award, McGill University (2015-2016)
GREAT Award (2017)

Publications:

Menelaou, K., M. K. Yau, T.-K. Lai, 2018: A possible three-dimensional mechanism for oscillating wobbles in tropical cyclone-like vortices with concentric eyewalls. Accepted for publication in J. Atmos. Sci.

Community engagement:

I am the founder and former president (2010-2011) of the Meteorological Society, the Student Union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

(Webpage: www.meteo.mcgill.ca/~tklai)

I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and my Master’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences at Tsinghua University, China. Now, I am a PhD student co-supervised by Prof. Huang and Prof. Gyakum focusing on the downwelling radiation based on the observations on the ground near St. Lawrence River.

Publications:

Liu L, Tian F. Efficient metal emissions in the upper atmospheres of close-in exoplanets. Earth Planetary Physics, 2018, 2:22–39.

I am an MSc. student studying under the supervision of Prof. Carolina Dufour. My current research focuses on assessing the representation of Southern Ocean stratification in relation to the formation of the Weddell Sea Polynya in numerical models. More broadly I am interested in physical oceanography and marine geophysics. I graduated in 2018 from the University of Southampton (at the National Oceanography Centre) with a BSc(Hons) in Oceanography with an orientation in coastal oceanography and geophysics. During this time I undertook research programs at the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Oxford. I expect to graduate in summer 2020.

Awards

Stephen and Anastasia Mysak Award 2018
Best Graduating Student, Department of Earth and Ocean Science University of Southampton 2018

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Synoptic Meteorology group under the supervision of Prof. John Gyakum. After completing my Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Sciences and Mathematics (double major) at Lyndon State College in Vermont, I came to McGill in September 2015. My research focuses on the conditions leading to long-duration freezing rain events (ice storms) over North America. More broadly, I am interested in synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, in particular various aspects of winter storms, as well as orographic effects.

Conferences attended this academic year:

18th Cyclone Workshop, Sainte-Adele, Quebec, 1–6 October 2017
Oral pres.: A Multi-Scale Analysis of Widespread Long-Duration Freezing Rain Events over North America. 
2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, 11–16 December 2017.
Poster: A Synoptic- and Planetary-Scale Analysis of Widespread North American Ice Storms 
Upcoming: 8th GEWEX Open Science Conference, Canmore, Alberta, 6-11 May 2018
Poster: Long-Duration Freezing Rain Events over North America: Regional Climatology and Maintenance Mechanisms
Upcoming: 29th Conference on Weather Analysis & Forecasting, Denver, CO, 4–8 June 2018
Oral pres.: Long-Duration Freezing Rain Events over North America: Regional Climatology and Maintenance Mechanisms.

Awards:

2nd Place Student Oral Presentation: AMS 28th Conference on Weather Analysis & Forecasting (2017)
Accepted with funding to NCAR Advanced Study Program Summer Colloquium (2017)
Accepted to summer research internship with U.S. National Weather Service/NCEP (Summer 2017)

Community engagement:

Student member of AMS Committee on Weather Analysis & Forecasting
Conference program chair: AMS 29th Conference on Weather Analysis & Forecasting/25th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction
CAOS Faculty Representative (2016-present)
 
(Webpage: www.meteo.mcgill.ca/~cmccray)

I am a first year Master’s student in the Synoptic Meteorology group under the supervision of Prof. John Gyakum. After completing my Honours Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill University, I took a year off to backpack through Europe. I always knew I wanted to continue my studies and pursue a Master’s degree, and so I returned to McGill University and the Synoptic Meteorology group where I knew I could really delve deeper into my passion: extreme weather and climate change. Following this passion, my thesis research focuses on better quantifying, understanding, and predicting extreme precipitation in the St. Lawrence River Valley (SLRV), as well as assessing past and projected trends of these types of events.

Awards

J Stewart Marshall Prize (2017)
Environment Canada NSERC USRA Supplement (2016)
CMOS Undergraduate Scholarship (2016)
Trevor Ross Science Bursary (2016)
JW McConnell Bursary (2016)
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) (2015)
Stuart Dunn Memorial Scholarship (2014)

I am a Master’s student and I joined McGill in September 2017. I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (Meteorology concentration) at University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). I am interested in numerical modeling, especially of mesoscale phenomena and climate change. I am supervised by Prof. M.K. (Peter) Yau. My current research is on how the different scales of the potential vorticity perturbations affect numerical weather forecasts.

I did my BSc in Physics from McGill University and joined the AOS department in September 2017. I have been doing research under the supervision of Dr. Bruno Tremblay, looking at the link between Wind induced Vorticity Input and the partitioning of Ocean Heat and current in the North-North Atlantic. Aside from the Arctic Climate, I am also interested in all things cryospheric:  sea-ice, snow, mountains, and glaciers -- esp in the context of climate change.

Conferences attended this academic year:

CSI Arctic Science
NVP Summer school on Marginal Ice Zone
Quebec Ocean Annual Scientific Meeting

Awards:

MEOPAR Training Award (2017)
McGill Graduate Mobility Award (2017)

This is Devendra Pal, PhD student at Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Canada. I am working with Professor. Parisa A. Ariya, James McGill Professor of Chemistry and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. My research focus on air quality and aerosol sciences, with emphasis on characterization of aerosols emitting from combustion sources, and behavior of oxygenated organic compounds in atmospheric particulates, in particular potential impacts of engineered nanomaterials on environment and adverse human health. I obtained my Master of Science degree in Physics (M.Sc. in Physics) from Banaras Hindu University, India in 2014. Before undertaking doctoral studies in 2017, I have been worked as project associate at Space and Atmospheric Science Division Physical Research Laboratory, India.

Conferences attended this academic year:

2018 Gananoque environmental and engineering conference.
Presentation: Concurrent Physical and Chemical Studies of nano- and micro-aerosols in Urban Metropolitan Environment Montreal Canada.  (Devendra Pal and Parisa A. Ariya).
Mining and Native people: Building a positive relationship with first nations workshop at UdeM (April 2017)
Intercultural Indigenous Workshop (IIW): Sharing perspectives and experiences of research in Canada’s North at McGill University (November 2017)

Awards:

NSERC Create Mine of Knowledge award

I'm a Ph.D. student in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department at McGill University. As an undergraduate, I attended the National University of Cordoba, where I obtained my Licentiate degree in Physics in 2009, with an orientation in Atmospherics physics. 
My research focuses on understanding the nature of the persistence of the improvements on precipitation forecasts by assimilating radar data observations into the numerical weather prediction models. My research is being supervised by Prof. Isztar Zawadzki and Prof. M.K. (Peter) Yau.

Conferences attended this academic year: 

AMS 38th Conference on Radar Meteorology (August 2017) 
Presentation: An Iterative Method for Assimilating Precipitation Observations ( Andrés A. Pérez Hortal, I. Zawadzki, and M. K. Yau)

I am a 4th year PhD student working with Prof. Bruno Tremblay, working on the implementation of a Maxwell-Elasto-Brittle sea ice model to simulate the formation of ice bridges in narrow channels of the Arctic. The goal of this project is to investigate the performance of this model at producing stable ice bridges and to study the ice material properties that best reproduce the observations. We want to identify which model components are necessary for the formation of an ice bridge, and use this knowledge to improve the modelled inter-annual variability of Arctic land-fast ice.
After completing an undergraduate diploma in Physics in 2009 at Université Laval (Québec), I first arrived at McGill in 2011 to do a MSc in synoptic climatology, under the co-supervision of Prof. Seok-Woo Son and Prof. John Gyakum. After completing the masters in 2013, I got acquainted with sea ice research through my work in the following year as a research assistant for Prof. Bruno Tremblay. Since the start of my PhD in fall 2014, I became an ArcTrain associate student since 2014 and a member of Québec Océan since 2015

Conferences attended this academic year:

ArcTrain 4th Annual Meeting, Bremen (Germany). (September 2017)
Presentation: Modelling Land-fast Ice Bridges Using the Elasto-Brittle Model. Mathieu Plante and Bruno Tremblay.
Multi-scale modelling of ice characteristics and behaviour Workshop [SIPW01], Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge (UK) (September 2017)
Poster: Using the Elasto-Brittle Rheology to Model Land-fast ice. Mathieu Plante and Bruno Tremblay.

Awards:

Bourse de doctorat en recherche, Fond de recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologie (FRQNT) (2014-2017)
Eben Hopson Fellowship (2016-2017)

Publications:

Plante, M. , Son, S. , Atallah, E. , Gyakum, J. and Grise, K. (2015), Extratropical cyclone climatology across eastern Canada. Int. J. Climatol., 35: 2759-2776. doi:10.1002/joc.4170
Lemieux, J.‐F., L. B. Tremblay, F. Dupont, M. Plante, G. C. Smith, and D. Dumont (2015), A basal stress parameterization for modeling landfast ice, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 120, 3157–3173, doi:10.1002/2014JC010678.

I'm a first year masters student in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences who is researching climate dynamics and climate change modelling under the supervision of Dr. Timothy Merlis. In April 2017 I earned a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering with a Minor in Philosophy from Carleton University in Ottawa. I started at the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill in May 2017 under a USRA grant, and began my masters degree in Sept 2017. My research project focuses on the recent expansion of the tropical climate and its respective relations to climate change and natural variability of sea surface temperature.

Awards:

Undergraduate Student Research Award (2017)

Community engagement:

 I'm the first year representative in our graduate student body (CAOS) who represent and organize events for our departments graduate students.

Before joining the AOS department, I obtained a BSc in Chemistry from McGill University where I worked in the Synthetic Organic Chemistry research group of Dr. Moitessier. I later earned a BSc in Atmospheric Sciences from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) where I worked in the Climatology research group of Dr. Gachon. My research interests are in the area of atmospheric chemistry and physics. Presently, I am working under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Zuend. My research project involves improving the parameterization of physicochemical processes related to organic aerosols such as gas-particle partitioning and liquid-liquid phase separation in large-scale simulations of the atmosphere.

I joined the AOS Department at McGill University in 2017 as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Frederic Fabry. I have done Master of Technology from Andhra University and dissertation at National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, India.
I am interested in research related to Data Assimilation (DA), as it's evident that DA play an important role in the prediction quality of day-to-day Weather Forecast. For my research I am using Global Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Model.  

I started out as an undergraduate student at McGill in the department of Earth System Science. After taking a few Atmospheric Science courses I changed majors, and have been part of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department ever since. In 2011, during the last year of my Bachelor’s degree, I spent the summer at the University of Manitoba taking a field course on severe thunderstorms and storm chasing. After a year off, I returned to McGill to begin a Master’s degree under the supervision of Hai Lin, and completed it in 2014.
I am currently working on completing my PhD advised by both Hai Lin and Timothy Merlis. My research interests pertain to low-frequency climate patterns, and understanding their impacts on seasonal climate, as well as the mechanisms required to remotely initiate them. My current project investigates the changing relationship between El-Niño and the extratropical low-frequency patterns associated with it. I expect to complete my PhD in 2019.

Publications:

Soulard, N., and Lin, H. (2016). The spring relationship between the Pacific-North American pattern and the North Atlantic Oscillation. Climate Dynamics, 48(1-2), 619–629. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-016-3098-3

Community engagement:

Part of talks at the McGill Sustainability Symposium on applied sustainability projects in a higher education institution.
Judge for the grade 11 Science Fair at Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School.

I received my B.Sc in Physics from UBC and I joined McGill in September 2017. I'm currently a first year master student supervised by Prof. Daniel Kirshbaum. My research interests are on initiation of deep convection.

I joined McGill in 2018 as a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Daniel Kirschbaum. My research will focus on assessing the ability of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to accurately predict extreme precipitation events (such as summer thunderstorms and winter ice storms) as well as refining our understanding as to the physical mechanisms that trigger such events. My wider research interests extend into how changes in the climate may affect the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, with a view to improving the scientific basis on which policy makers may act to implement local and regional mitigation measures.

Prior to coming to McGill, I received a Master’s degree in Astrophysics from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Bio coming soon

I am Chun-Chih (David) Wang and I am a Ph.D 5 student at McGill Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.  I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Meteorology and a minor degree in Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University.  I joined McGill in 2012, when I started my M.Sc degree and now I am continuing my study here as a Ph.D.  My supervisor is Dr. Daniel Kirshbaum. My research interests include mesoscale and boundary layer meteorology.  I have been mainly studying diurnally-forced thermally-driven circulations (such as mountain-plain solenoids, land/sea breezes). Currently, I am doing research on lake breezes and their associated moist convection initiation in southern Ontario, using observational datasets collected during the 2015 Environment Canada Pan Am Science Showcase and cloud-resolving numerical simulations.

Awards:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Doctoral Fellowship (2016-2018)

Publications:

Wang, Chun-Chih and D. J. Kirshbaum, 2015. Thermally forced convection over a mountainous tropical island. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, vol. 72. pg. 2484-2506
Wang, Chun-Chih and D.J. Kirshbaum, 2017. Idealized simulations of sea breezes over mountainous islands.  Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, vol. 143, pg. 1657-1669

Community engagement:

Webmaster of the McGill Council of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS) 2014-2015 
Faculty representative of the McGill CAOS 2016-2018
McGill Weather Forecasting Club co-host 2017-2018

Bio coming soon

Hossein Amini Kafiabad (PhD)

Olivier Asselin (PhD)

Gabriel Auclair (MSc)

Natalia Bliankinshtein

Kevin Bowley (PhD)

Sisi Chen (PhD)

Zhong Yi Chia (PhD)

Yukie Hata (PhD)

Georgina Paull (PhD)

Alexandre Shanks (MSc)