Graduate Students:

In principle, I am able to supervise the research of any Graduate Student at the University of Maryland, College Park campus.  In practice, it is  easier to supervise a Graduate Student enrolled either in the:

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science (AOSC)

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (CHEM)

The requirements for obtaining an advanced degree are administered by the respective departments and differ in important respects between AOSC and CHEM.  Prospective students are encouraged to research the information given above and choose the program that  "best fits" their background and educational goals.  In general, a student with an undergraduate major of Chemistry or Chemical Engineering may deem CHEM to be a better fit whereas a student with an undergraduate focus in Earth Sciences, Mathematics, or Computer Science may deem AOSC to be a better fit.  If you apply to one of these programs and are interested in conducting research with my group, please send me an email  notifying me of your application (particularly helpful if the phrase "UMd Grad School Application" appears in the subject line).  I apologize but I am not able to conduct email dialog with all prospective students prior to acceptance into one of our graduate programs. I will nonetheless do my best to review the application package of all students who email me during the admissions process (provided you have applied to either AOSC or CHEM; within your email message, please specify the program to which you have applied).

The research we conduct requires development and/or use of computational tools (FORTRAN, MATLAB, and/or IDL) in a Linux environment.  AOSC 652, which provides an introduction to Numerical Methods in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science in a Linux environment, is taught each fall.  No prior Linux experience is required of our students.  However, students without a computational background must successfully complete AOSC 652 (as soon as possible) and are expected to develop an aptitude for simulating chemical processes in a computational setting and apply  this skill to a scientific problem in the fields of Atmospheric Chemistry and/or Earth Sciences.

Click here to see a list of UMd PhD Dissertation and Prospectus Committees on which I have served.

Undergraduate Students:

The AOSC program does not, at this time, offer an undergraduate major.  However, AOSC faculty teach many undergraduate courses that are attended by students in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences and there are three minor tracks, in Meteorology, Atmospheric Science, or Atmospheric Chemistry that students may pursue.  As of 6 July 2011, a new undergraduate major in AOSC is nearing final approval.  We hope to soon announce this exciting new opportunity!

The CHEM program offers plenty of opportunities for undergraduates to take elective courses in Atmospheric Chemistry and to conduct research with faculty such as myself.

Finally, the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, with which I am affiliated, also offers plenty of opportunities for undergraduate research.

I am not involved with Admissions at the Undergraduate Level.  As a result, I am not able to provide input to the Undergraduate Admissions process.

High School Students:

We are strongly committed to the education of students, including those at the High School level.  Our summers are spent conducting research supported by grants from federal agencies.  Most students at the High School level have not yet acquired sufficient computational programming skills to be able to contribute at a meaningful level.  If you believe you are the exception to this rule (there are always exceptions to rules!), please include, in your initial correspondence, a summary of your computational programming skills as well as a brief description of a specific problem you would like to pursue.

Pre-college students interested in pursuing a summer course in Atmospheric Science at the University of Maryland should consider enrolling in AOSC 200: Weather and Climate taught by our colleague Professor Robert Hudson in the Young Scholars program.

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science                                           College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry                                                                                  The University of Maryland Newsdesk

Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center                                                                                             The University of Maryland