Join the Lab

Join the Lab!

I'm actively recruiting motivated researchers who'd like to join our collaborative and interdisciplinary new lab in CU's Mechanical Engineering Department! We have open projects in all current research areas, with particular current focuses on analyzing recent field data (AEROMMA and USOS) to understand urban emissions and ozone formation, model development with GEOS-Chem to identify important atmospheric oxidation pathways, and instrument development to prepare mass spectrometers for field deployment on future missions with NASA, NOAA, and other collaborators. I encourage CU undergraduates, current and prospective graduate students, and potential postdoctoral researchers to reach out with an indication of your research interests.

For (prospective) PhD students: I can currently take graduate students through CU's Mechanical Engineering (deadline Dec 1 for international applicants, Dec 15 for domestic) and Environmental Engineering (deadline Dec 1 for Fall admission) programs. I encourage applicants interested in working with me to reach out ahead of time! You don't need an atmospheric chemistry background or specific experience with air quality instrumentation or modeling -- those are among the details you're meant to learn in graduate school. Instead, we hope that applicants are motivated, passionate about the research we do, and able to work well as part of a team. You also won't have to participate in every aspect of our lab's work if you aren't interested -- students can explore their research interests within our lab's broad scope, and then we'll work out what projects' combination of modeling, field research, and lab work best fits your goals. While I have funding to support graduate students, I always encourage you to seek out external funding from fellowships such as NSF's GRFP, NASA's FINESST, DOD's NDSEG, DOE's CSGF, the UCAR Next Generation Fellowship, and the Hertz Fellowship, and I'm happy to work with you on crafting proposals. These fellowships are both prestigious awards and a ticket to greater flexibility and self-direction in the research you conduct during your graduate studies.

For MS students and undergraduates: Please reach out if you're interested in conducting research in my lab as part of a Master's Thesis program or during your undergraduate studies at CU! While our fieldwork-based projects typically take more time than a Master's Thesis allows, there are opportunities in atmospheric chemistry modeling, working with previous field data, and conducting laboratory experiments. I especially encourage undergraduates with any interest in scientific research to give it a shot -- there's no better way to find out if it's a career path you might enjoy. And if you do decide that atmospheric / environmental science research is up your alley, NASA and NOAA both have excellent internship opportunities for the summer after your Junior year.

For postdocs: While I do not currently have funding specifically allocated for postdocs, I am always happy to work with motivated and qualified postdoc candidates on crafting a fellowship proposal to work with me, including the NOAA Climate & Global Change Fellowship (my personal favorite), the NSF AGS-PRF, or the Schmidt Fellowship. I'm especially keen for anyone with experience using (and/or motivation to learn) gas-phase mass spectrometry for atmospheric research, and potentially deploying such mass specs on upcoming field campaigns.