My interest in atmospheric science stems from a lifelong passion for mathematics. I knew from a young age that I would pursue math in higher education. I had a knack for it as early as 4th grade when I began to be included in advanced math programs at school. I later became a high schooler who had to hide the inexplicably exhilarating rush I would get taking tests in math class for fear of total social exile. So when I found out, in my dorm bathroom stall during my freshman year of my undergraduate math program, that I was going to be a mother, my determination to become an accomplished and impactful member of academia only grew stronger. I sat for my finals fall of my sophomore year with only three days until I was due to deliver, I got my first 4.0 semester GPA that spring semester with a newborn baby, and I have since overcome every obstacle I have encountered as I am determined to be an example for every other young, single mother with ambitions of her own.
During my undergraduate years, I explored different career paths. I took math education classes, passed actuarial exams, and even shadowed an optometrist. It had become a habit of mine to ask anyone I could about their careers, such as the customers at the store I cashiered at, creating a mental scatter plot of job satisfaction and regrets of life choices across fields. While shadowing the optometrist during my junior year, she confessed, “I would have studied atmospheric science but I couldn’t do the math.” Apart from weather forecasting, I had never even heard of it. My undergraduate school had no atmospheric science department and offered few meteorology courses. So I researched the field and soon became convinced that this was what I had been searching for: a career in academia where I could use my mathematical knowledge to branch out into something new and practical, and do work that served a greater purpose.
I have always taken an interest in Earth’s mysteries: the undiscovered depths of the oceans, the undetermined formation of our moon, and our place within the vastness of the universe. To me, atmospheric science is a field where I get to attempt to solve some of the real life puzzles that are Earth’s mysteries. Rutgers’s program quickly became my top choice as I was fascinated by Professor Broccoli’s work in paleoclimatology so I was elated when I was accepted into Rutgers University to earn my PhD in atmospheric science under Professor Broccoli’s wing.
Through my research, I hope to make contributions to paleoclimatology to help further our understanding of our planet’s past. Understanding how fundamental physical mechanisms in the climate system have lead to changes in past climate betters our understanding of the mechanisms causing present day climate change. My goal is to eventually work in a research laboratory such as GFDL, NOAA, or NASA GISS where I could contribute to the work towards understanding the effects of natural and anthropogenic forcings on our climate. The NSF GRFP would provide me with the support and flexibility necessary to not only pursue and share the research that drives me but to also be an educator and mentor through outreach opportunities.
While at Hofstra, I took a course geared at teaching math majors how to communicate mathematics. We spent the semester giving oral presentations on math topics and fine-tuning our skills. Communicating STEM is not always easy but it is incredibly important since information can only be optimized if it is effectively shared. This course prepared me for graduate school because I will need these skills to present my research and effectively share it with the scientific community. In many of my graduate courses, we have had oral presentations as final projects so I have been given ample opportunity to continue to hone my skills and keep communication a part of my learning process.
Although I was not exposed to research at my undergraduate university, I did get the opportunity in one of my statistics courses to do a project that helped me realize research was something I would enjoy. I performed a regression analysis on data of murders and executions in states with the death penalty over a 20-year period to test my hypothesis that the death penalty does not deter murder. I concluded that my hypothesis was correct, and I presented my results on a poster board in class. This was a pivotal moment for me as it was the first time that I had the opportunity to apply the math I had learned in the classroom to a real life problem. I was dazzled that I could infer something about human nature using numbers and I was excited to share my results. The excitement I felt for trying to solve a real life puzzle has carried over into my graduate research.
When I began my graduate studies at Rutgers, I immediately became drawn to the mystery of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition in which Earth’s glacial cycles switched from lengths of 41,000 to 100,000 years without clear cause. This propelled my research into exploring the orbital forces driving the glacial cycles. In my first year, I have begun using model outputs from general circulation model runs done by one of Professor Broccoli’s past students. I have been exploring the effects of obliquity and precession on global climate and, thus, the glacial cycle by looking at key variables such as surface air temperature, albedo, precipitation, and snowfall. I’ve examined these values for low minus high obliquity as well as for winter solstice perihelion minus summer solstice perihelion (i.e., conditions favorable for glaciation minus conditions not favorable). I was curious about the physical mechanisms behind the insolation-driven climate changes that result from variations in these orbital variables.
I also wanted to know how much of an impact each orbital forcing has on the mean annual climate and if one plays a larger role than the other. One notable finding was that while precession can result in greater values of changes in global cooling of surface air temperature than obliquity, it cools in the summer and warms in the winter, while obliquity cools year round. The orbital forcings also have interesting effects on precipitation and the fraction that is snow, especially over the locations of the Laurentide and Scandinavian ice sheets, which I would like to study further. This preliminary research made me eager to pursue my research into better understanding the effect of obliquity on climate.
I spent a little over a year during my undergraduate years working as a tutor at Mathnasium, a math learning center for kids K-12. The curriculum and teaching style made it possible for kids who thought they hated math to find themselves having fun and seeing real improvement. It is crucial that math is taught effectively as it is everywhere, in everything, and is an invaluable tool in all fields. I have some especially fond memories during my time working there as I developed close bonds with some of the students, such as Ellie, an eccentric 8th grader. She had a lot of trouble with math, but she once said to me through her dark purple lipstick, “The only reason I come here so often is because you’re here.” By the end of that conversation, I had realized just how much of an impact I could have on another human being; that something about the way I taught math made Ellie want to come in several times a week and work on a subject that was hard for her. I could see the impressions I was making on students in other ways as well.
As the only female employee at the center, an elementary school girl once asked me about the disparity between the amount of men and women who do math. Perhaps society and even parents don’t always reinforce a young girl’s abilities in STEM the way they would for a young boy. I grew up with two parents who instilled in me the value of an educated woman and who recognized and, subsequently, reinforced my own natural tendency towards STEM. I gave the student a mini-speech about how the lack of female representation is exactly why girls like her need to do math and why she needed to get back to work.
Intellectual Merit: I received a number of honors during my undergraduate career. My first semester as a mother of a newborn, I received my first 4.0 semester GPA putting me on the Provost’s List, which I achieved again in the spring semester of my senior year. I was on the Dean’s List for the three semesters in between. I was accepted into Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honorary society. I was Hofstra University’s single recipient of the Edward Ostling Award for Excellence in Mathematics for both the years of 2016 and 2017 for my successes in my math courses. I also placed in the CWU Kryptos cryptography competition for which I competed annually. I was proud to have graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, a 2½ year old, and having not missed a beat.
I am grateful for the invaluable ways in which having studied math improved the way I think, learn, and solve problems and that I will be able to utilize these skills in my graduate and future career. The courses I took prepared me for graduate school, such as the statistics project that exposed me to research and the math communication course that readied me for oral presentations. The quantitative skills I developed allowed me to come into atmospheric science with the tools necessary to understand difficult quantitative concepts and, therefore, focus my energy on other aspects of the field. I believe the even more valuable takeaway from having studied math is the style of mathematical thinking that has been instilled in me.
I have become more logical and precise in my reasoning and problem solving, making it second nature to look at a problem, break it down into its core constituents, and recognize which tools I possess to solve the problem and how to apply them. The proof-based nature of math trained me to always ask questions and understand the proof behind why something is true instead of making assumptions. In math, if you cannot prove something, it is either not true, or you do not fully understand the components of it to formulate a proof, both of which are important to recognize. I believe this mathematical style of thinking will be one of my strongest assets throughout my career and although it would be impossible to remember everything I learned in my math courses, the problem solving skills they taught me will be forever instilled in me.
I was distraught leaving my Mathnasium tutoring job when it was time to start graduate school. I recognize the importance of communicating STEM to young minds and plan to always stay involved in educating kids. One thing I did recognize was that the students at the tutoring center came from families economically privileged enough to afford it. Even so, Ellie, my dark-purple-lipstick student mentioned earlier, had to take three months off during the holiday season because her family couldn’t afford it. If only economically privileged students have access to resources such as tutoring, the disparity we already see socioeconomically in areas such as high school graduation rates will only be reinforced. This is why I have recently started volunteering with New Jersey SEEDS, a non-profit organization that helps academically talented students from low-income families succeed through tutoring and mentoring, with the goal of getting them into elite colleges with financial aid. As a volunteer, I tutor them in math, and I hope to recruit some future atmospheric scientists, an option that I personally wish I had learned about earlier in my academic career.
In an effort to communicate my research and to bring awareness to the field of atmospheric science, I plan to be involved in the outreach programs within Rutgers, such as the annual Climate Symposium in which over 200 attendees from various institutions and disciplines come together to discuss climate change through talks and posters. I plan to present my own research through a poster presentation, as this is the perfect opportunity to communicate and foster collaboration with researchers and students not necessarily in my discipline. I will also be involved in Rutgers Day, a university wide outreach event where departments and clubs set up tents with activities for the thousands of visitors who attend. Bringing more awareness to the field can not only result in more future scientists, but also make it easier to communicate science to the general public as people will feel more comfortable if they feel they know who the research is coming from. I will participate in creating an interactive and engaging experience to present at Rutgers Day to draw attention and interest from both adults and children.
