Graduate Students

Current Graduate Students

Jackie Beck: MS, Atmospheric Sciences, 2021-present.

Eshita Eva: PhD, Geography, 2021-present.

Sara Johnson: PhD, Geography, 2020-present.

Jami Orrell: MS, Atmospheric Sciences, 2019-present.

Alyssa Reynolds: MS, Atmospheric Sciences, 2020-present.

Ben Salopek: MS, Atmospheric Sciences, 2021-present.

Josh Steiner: PhD, Atmospheric Sciences, 2021-present.

Past Graduate Students

Yuechun Wang, Ph.D. (Atmospheric Sciences), “Investigating Soil Moisture–Precipitation Feedback on the North American Monsoon System”, 2016-2021. Now employed at Amazon Web Services.

Zack Leasor, Ph.D. (Geography), “Utilizing Antecedent Soil Moisture to Improve Monthly Temperature Forecasts”, 2017-2021. Now employed as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Ohio State University.

Zhiying Li, Ph.D. (Geography), “Dominant Drivers of Hydrological Change and Prediction of Future Streamflow in the Contiguous United States”, 2017-2021. Now employed as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College.

Jordan Pino, Ph.D. (Geography), “Modeling the Effects of Winter Storms on Power Infrastructure Systems in the Northern United States”, 2016–2019. Now employed as a Senior Data Scientist at Baltimore Gas & Electric

Ning Zhang, Ph.D. (Geography), “Soil Moisture Mapping in South Central United States by Blending In-situ, Modeled and Remote Sensing Data”, 2015–2020. Now employed as a Project Scientist at the University of California, Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Chen Zhao, Ph.D. (Geography), “Impact of Initial Soil Moisture on the Accuracy of Runoff Simulation”, 2015–2020. Now employed at Synoptic Data as a Back-End Developer.

Jason Murray (Texas A&M University), M.S. (Hydrologic Sciences), “Hydrologic Impacts of Climate and Landuse Changes in the West Fork San Jacinto River Of Texas”, 2014–2018. Now employed at US Army Corps of Engineers.

Stephen Shield, M.A. (Geography), “Predictive Modeling of Thunderstorm-Related Power Outages”, 2016–2018. Now a PhD student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Zachary Leasor, M.A. (Geography), “Spatiotemporal Variations of Drought Persistence in the South-Central United States”, 2015–2017. Now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Ohio State University.

Liyan Tian (Texas A&M), Ph.D. (Geography), “Analysis of Spatial-Temporal Variations of Drought in Oklahoma”, 2014–2017.

Shanshui Yuan (Texas A&M), Ph.D. (Geography), “Assessment of multiple approaches for using soil moisture to evaluate drought in the U.S. Great Plains”, 2011-2016. Now an Associate Professor at Hohai University.

Chris Maderia (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “Importance of Tree Species and Precipitation for Modeling Hurricane-Induced Power Outages”, 2012–2015.

Natalie Teale (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “Hydroclimatic conditions associated with rapid flooding in watersheds of the New York City Water Supply System”, 2013–2015. Now a Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College.

Trent Ford (Texas A&M), Ph.D. (Geography), “Soil moisture impacts on convective precipitation in Oklahoma”, 2013-2015. Now Illinois State Climatologist.

Yue Wang (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “The Effect of Teleconnections on North Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Precipitation”, 2012–2015.

Michelle Ruiz (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “Assessment of the potential effect of climate change on hurricane risk and vulnerability in Florida”, 2010–2014. Now Academic Advisor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Christopher Labosier (Texas A&M), Ph.D. (Geography), “Hydroclimate-wildfire relationships in the southeastern U.S.”, 2009–2014. Now an Associate Professor at Longwood University.

Daniel Russell (Texas A&M), MGS- non-thesis (Geosciences), 2012–2013.

Laiyin Zhu (Texas A&M), Ph.D. (Geography), “Investigation of variations and impacts of tropical cyclone precipitation in Texas (1960-2009)”, 2008–2013. Now an Associate Professor at Western Michigan University.

Trent Ford (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “Investigation of vegetation-soil interactions and their influences on summer precipitation in the United States Great Plains”, 2011–2013. Now Illinois State Climatologist.

Mlenge Fanuel Mgendi (co-chair), Ph.D. (Geography), “An ecological analysis of the impact of weather, land cover and politics on childhood pneumonia in Tanzania”, 2008–2012.

Sandeep Patil (Texas A&M), M.S. (Hydrologic Science), “Analysis of spatial performance of meteorological drought indices”, 2009–2012.

Lei Meng (co-chair), Ph.D. (Geography), “Examining the relationship between fall/spring soil moisture and summer precipitation in the northern Great Plains”, graduated 2009. Now an Associate Professor at Western Michigan University.

Anna Nordfelt (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “Anthropogenic modification of precipitation around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex”, graduated 2008. Now employed at AIR Worldwide.

Srinivasan Ganesh (Texas A&M), M.S. (Geography), “Investigation of the utility of the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) as an indicator of drought”, graduated 2007. Now employed by Institute of Information Technology.