Hello! I'm an assistant professor in Remote Sensing and Geospatial analysis, co-hired between the departments of Geography and Statistics. I am also a co-hire of Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.
My research focuses on how rainfall is measured and used for decision-making—moving from hazard, through exposure and vulnerability to impact. I use a variety of tools to explore this topic, from the geostatistical analysis of satellite rainfall estimates, to mixed methods research on weather impacts.
Recent examples include:
- Working alongside the humanitarian and insurance sectors to explore how tailored weather information can be better used to trigger action and prevent disasters in Somalia.
- Mixed methods research on the causal chain from weather hazard to impact.
- Assessing how satellite rainfall estimates can be used to reduce basis risk in index insurance.
- Creating geostatistical validation metrics and spatially correlated ensemble estimates of uncertainty for satellite rainfall estimates.
- Understanding how rainfall impacts a variety of other sectors, from forecasting infant hydrocephalus in Uganda, to assessing weather impacts on pollinators.
Finally, I very much enjoy teaching courses such as GEOG-364 (Spatial Analysis) and STAT-462 (Applied Regression Analysis).