About Me

I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma (OU) and plan to complete my degree in the fall of 2026. I have been at OU since 2016, having previously earned a B.S. in Meteorology (2020), a B.A. in Mathematics (2020), a minor in History, and an M.S. in Meteorology (2023). I have spent most of my time at OU working with Dr. Steven Cavallo, exploring a variety of questions surrounding tropopause polar vortices (TPVs). Although they are mostly found in the polar regions, high in the atmosphere and largely invisible, TPVs can have major impacts on weather at the surface, even in the midlatitudes. In the Arctic, TPVs help to form and strengthen storm systems called Arctic cyclones, which in turn can impact sea ice distributions. As research into TPVs is relatively new, there are still plenty of open questions waiting to be answered. You can read more about some of my past projects in the research section.

Throughout my academic career, I have worked extensively with model output, reanalysis data, and direct observations, using software like Python, shell scripting languages, and web development tools (check out my real-time TPV diagnostics for example). I also have experience running both weather and climate models, cycling data assimilation systems, and conducting statistical analyses of large datasets. Outside of work, I enjoy golfing, exploring national parks (I've made it to just over a third of them so far!), and baking far more often than I probably should.