Here is my CV, my ORCiD, and my Google Scholar page.
Hi, from my office in beautiful Davis, California. I’m a new member of the faculty here at UCD in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. I am an affiliate of the Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Group which is a cluster of about a dozen and a half faculty members from across the university who work with students on problems related to Earth’s atmosphere. I study convective clouds of various types and with various methods. See my Research page. I graduated with BS’s in Physics and Meteorology from NC State University (Go Wolfpack) in 2009. I moved on to graduate school at Colorado State University in June of that year. I received my Master’s degree in 2011 after working with Graeme Stephens and my PhD in 2014 after working with Sue van den Heever. I won a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship which I used to study for two years at the University of Miami with Brian Mapes. Since September 2016, I’ve been working here at UCD as an adjunct professor. That means I split my time between the university and outside obligations.
OK, now a little bit of information about me that isn’t on my CV. I love the outdoors. In the summer, I spend my time in the mountains hiking. In the winter, I spend my time in the mountains snowboarding. I’m an avid Atlanta Braves fans and baseball fan in general. I enjoy traveling. Either for science or vacation, I have been to the UK, France, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Australia, and Thailand over the past 10 years. I have built a woodshop in my garage and enjoy building furniture. Finally, since living in the Napa Valley of beer during grad school, I have enjoyed home brewing and tasting the efforts of the pros.
Follow me on Twitter @mattigel !
Or, follow my CoCoRaHS station if you really want to.
My group welcomes students of all academic and personal backgrounds who are willing to work hard and to the best of their ability.
(Updated Autumn 2024)
Student Group Members
Dario Falcone (PhD: 2021-) is a 2020 graduate of the University of Richmond (Roll ‘ders!) where he received a BS in Physics and a minor in Mathematics. Within the academic sphere, he is interested in better understanding and representing the role clouds play in a changing climate. In his free time, Dario enjoys cooking, gardening, getting outdoors, and playing sports.
Sam Wu (Undergraduate: 2024-2025) is a physics major, with an interest in atmospheric modeling. He is working on a project to better understand hydrometeor behavior in clouds. Outside of academics, I am an avid runner, and I also enjoy spending time hiking and backpacking.
Blake Nash-Laboe (Masters: 2024-) is a graduate of the University of Oregon where he received a BS in Environmental Science and a minor in Earth Sciences and Geography. He is interested in understanding the atmospheric conditions that impact the development of pyrocumulonimbus clouds in wildfire plumes. In his free time, Blake enjoys hiking, reading, and playing ice hockey.
Past Group Members
Yu-Lai Chang (Masters: 2022-2024) moved to Davis with degrees from National Taiwan University. Before joining the group, he was the leader of weather forecast group in PRECIP/TAHOPE field campaign. Yu-Lai’s research interest is Tropical Precipitation and Tropical Dynamics. In his free time, he likes hiking, cooking and biking.
Gerardo Carrillo-Cardenas (Undergraduate: 2020-2021) enjoys watching sports, as well as playing basketball with his friends and family. Gerardo worked to better understand the evolution of deep convective cloud top morphology from GOES. He is currently attending the University of Utah.
Derek Ngo (Undergraduate 2020-2021) One of his favorite things to do is head out to Tahoe for some hiking or snowboarding in the winter. Derek worked with some LES of tropical deep convective anvils to better understand their microphysical evolution.
Nick Falk (Undergraduate: 2018-2019) worked on a project examining the impact of hydrometeor fall speed relationships and the care we need to take in comparing bin and bulk CRM simulations. Nick is currently attending Colorado State University. Nick’s webpage.
Hrag Najarian (Undergraduate: 2017-2019) is currently attending the University of Oklahoma. See Hrag’s description (sorry, no slides…) of our work together at the 2019 AMS Annual Meeting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiYjaKahvzw . Or, read his extended abstract. Find out more here .
