Grant Generators

From left: Christopher Thorncroft, Kristen Corbosiero, Brian Tang, Paul Roundy and Mathias Vuille. (Photo by Mike Nolan)

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 24, 2018) – UAlbany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES) is continuing to add federal funding to its growing research portfolio.

After announcing three grants worth more than $2 million from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) earlier this year, the department was recently awarded another $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The funds will support the following DAES faculty:

• Brian Tang and Kristen Corbosiero ($397,626): Tang, an assistant professor, and Corbosiero, an associate professor, are investigating the effects of ventilation, a flux of cooler, drier air, into tropical cyclones. Past research has found that this air exchange generally impedes tropical cyclone intensification.
• Paul Roundy ($357,566): Roundy, an associate professor, is aiming to explain how background winds alter the trajectory of rainfall in the tropics. Large regions of rainfall are frequent in the tropics and typically move slowly eastward around the world. By better understanding the influence of background wind patterns on this rainfall, meteorologists can more accurately forecast when and where these storms will occur.
• Christopher Thorncroft ($358,184): Collaborating with Sharanya Majumdar from the University of Miami, Thorncroft, DAES department chair and full professor, is examining why some African disturbances develop into Atlantic tropical cyclones, while others do not. The research will provide information to support forecasting of tropical cyclogenesis.
• Mathias Vuille ($231,438): Vuille, a full professor, is collaborating with the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the University of California, Irvine, and researchers in Argentina to develop a tree-ring network for the tropical Andes Mountains in Peru and Bolivia. The tree-ring data will be used to reconstruct climate variability for the past several hundred years, highlighting how volcanic eruptions, the South American monsoon, and other extreme weather have affected climate in the region.

Leaders in Atmospheric Science Research:

DAES faculty have been awarded 10 grants worth more than $8.97 million from national research agencies — just in the past academic year.

The inflow of major research dollars makes sense given that DAES and UAlbany’s Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC) combine for the largest concentration of atmospheric, climate and environmental scientists in New York State, and one of the largest in the nation, with close to 120 faculty, researchers and staff.

DAES also features one of the largest graduate programs in the nation, with 75 students.

“Advancing our scientific understanding of weather and climate is critically important to the future of society,” Thorncroft said. “Our department’s continued success with mobilizing federal funding is a credit to the faculty. From the recent ONR grants that will shed light on the variability and predictability of weather in the Arctic, to the NSF grants that will help us determine which environmental factors influence rainfall in the tropics and tropical cyclone intensity, I remain impressed by the breadth of weather and climate-related issues we are tackling.”

Next Stop: ETEC

UAlbany’s $180 million Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex (ETEC) will be the future of home of DAES and ASRC students, faculty and staff. It will also house the University’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, Weather & Climate Business Analytics Center, and New York State Mesonet, the nation’s most advanced weather-detection system, amongst various other departments.

UAlbany broke ground on the complex at the Harriman State Office Campus last month. Occupancy is expected in 2021.

You can learn more about ETEC here.

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