Name: Allison Aiken
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Biography:
Allison Aiken has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She came to LANL as a postdoc in 2010 and is a former Director’s postdoctoral Fellow in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division. Aiken develops new analytical techniques and tools to measure atmospheric particles within complex environments. She is focused on experimental and observational aerosol science with extensive experience in conducting experiments in the laboratory and in remote field locations. Aiken is considered one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thomson-Reuters as of 2014 due to her highly-cited publication record (top 1%) in her field. At LANL she has focused on global observations and atmospheric measurements for climate and national security. She enjoys working with large groups of people to solve complex problems. Some of her most recent elected service roles include the Board of Directors for the American Association for Aerosol Research (2019-22) and the chair of the User Executive Committee (2021-22) for the U.S. DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility.
Institution/Lab: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Website: https://www.lanl.gov/search-capabilities/profiles/allison-aiken.shtml
SRP Collaboration Topic/Title: Aerosol Science
Field or research area: Earth and Environmental Science
Please select all the topical areas that apply to your project:
Computational Science Applications (i.e., bioscience, cosmology, chemistry, environmental science, nanotechnology, climate, etc.); Data Science (i.e., data analytics, data management & storage systems, visualization); Machine Learning and AI
Brief Abstract:
Aerosols are small particles (<~10 microns in diameter) that are suspended in a gas, like the Earth’s atmosphere. These particles are central to understanding the water cycle and transport of nutrients within the Earth System. A complete understanding cannot be provided without ground-based and vertically resolved observations, particularly for aerosol-cloud interactions. The goal of this study is to analyze diverse and large datasets collected by the U.S. DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) mobile facility during campaigns that we have deployed instrumentation to and are actively involved in with funding from the Atmospheric System Research (ASR). Two examples include the Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) campaign in Colorado focused on aerosol impacts on mountain hydrology and the Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) in California focused on aerosol-cloud interactions. Data includes but are not limited to those collected by the Aerosol Observing System (AOS) and the tethered balloon system (TBS). Specific aims are directed at answering key aerosol process science objectives related to identifying different aerosol regimes, the processes controlling their lifecycles, quantifying impacts on the radiative budget, and the sensitivity of cloud phase and precipitation to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations.
Desired relevant skills, background, or interests:
Desired relevant skills include: experience and/or exposure to different computing languages, e.g., Python, Igor, R, JupyterHub, etc. as well as applying and/or developing statistical and mathematical algorithms, e.g., positive matrix factorization, K-means clustering, machine learning/AI, etc. Examples of desired interests include but are not limited to: large data science, environmental science, atmospheric science, high-time resolution measurements, chemistry and mass spectrometry, physics/optics, single-particle measurements, climate science.
Other comments:
Do any special requirements apply? other
Other, specify: None known.
Keywords:
Aerosols; water-uptake; aerosol-cloud interactions; observations; mass spectrometry; data deconvolution; statistics and data analytics; machine learning; clustering algorithms; land-atmosphere interactions; supermicron and bioaerosol; urban emissions; vertical profiles; field measurements; laboratory experiments
Lightning Talk Title: Aerosol Science for Climate and Global Security