Christopher Callahan

/

Undergraduate, Program in Environmental Sciences, Northwestern University

Summer Research Assistant, RDCEP

 

 

Chris is a senior environmental science major at Northwestern University, working as a research intern for RDCEP in the summer of 2017. His research interests are varied, ranging from general climate statistics to more specific areas like the attribution of extreme events.

Devshi Mehrotra

/

Undergraduate, University of Chicago

Research Assistant, RDCEP

 

 

 

Devshi is a student at the University of Chicago who hopes to engage in a combined study of computer science and public policy during her undergraduate experience. She is interested in exploring the ways in which technology can be leveraged to better inform policy decisions, ultimately affecting social change. In addition to her work as a Research Assistant at RDCEP, she is involved in Mock Trial, ChoMUN, Student Government, and the Community Service Center. 

Sydney Purdue

/

Undergraduate, Department of Mathematics, University of Chicago

 

 

 

Sydney is an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. She is a rising second-year anticipating a major in Computational and Applied Math and a minor in Molecular Engineering. In her free time, she works with University Theater in various capacities. This is her first year working with RDCEP.

Kevin Schwarzwald

/

Yenching Academy, Peking University

Pre-doc, RDCEP

Kevin has a BA in Physics and Public Policy from the University Chicago and a Master's in China Studies at Peking University, where he researched the effect of Chinese fiscal structures on urban expansion. His research focuses on analyzing climate model output, projected changes in climate variability, and the impact of climate variability on society. In his spare time, he co-runs an interdisciplinary meet-up group designed to connect young natural and social scientists researching climate and energy matters and blogs about urban policy.

Pete Vilter

/

Undergraduate, Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago 

With RDCEP:

  • Research Assistant, 2014-2015
  • Teaching Assistant, summer 2014

Pete is an undergraduate at the University of Chicago majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Environmental Studies, projected to graduate in 2015. He's excited to be using his skills as a software engineer to contribute to such important research.

Amanda Zhang

/

Undergraduate, Department of Computer Science Harvard University

Research Intern, RDCEP

 

Amanda Zhang is a graduate of Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, and was a RDCEP Summer Scholar and Winter Quarter RA in 2014.  She is now attending Harvard University majoring in Computer Science.  During her free time, she enjoys baking and visiting art museums.  She is excited to expand her computer science skills and contribute to influential research at RDCEP.

Jillian Durkin

/

Research Assistant, RDCEP

MPP Candidate, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

MBA Candidate, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago

Jillian Durkin is a second year M.P.P./M.B.A. student at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and Booth School of Business. Her research interests are in environmental and energy policy issues in developing countries. She has previously earned a B.A. in Economics and International Studies at Northwestern University.

At RDCEP, Jillian is involved in Chicago Climate Online, which seeks to become a preeminent policy resource for researchers. C2O is designed to serve a broad audience including such groups as undergraduate and graduate students conducting research for a thesis, journalists, and staff members for policymakers.

Matz Haugen

/

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Statistics

University of Chicago

I currently do research on extreme event characterization, modeling and forecasting using geological data like climate models and observations. For example, are days of extreme temperatures getting more frequent? Or is the annual temperature profile more variable with the current post-industrial climate forcings compared to the pre-industrial era? To answer these questions I look at climate model output, e.g. Global Circulation Models, using different starting conditions and see how their behavior changes statistically.

Related to this is also the desire to incorporate a more statistical framework with the current deterministic climate models. This involves for example adaptive grid sizes and time steps dependent on desired spatio-temporal resolution.

Whitney Huang

/

Graduate Student, Department of Statistics at Purdue University

Whitney Huang is a fouth year PhD Student in the Department of Statistics at Purdue University.  He is working on Spatial Extremes and Spatio-Temporal Statistics under Prof. Hao Zhang. He received his Bachelors degree in Mechanical engineering from  National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan and his Master degree in Statistics from University of Akron, Ohio.

Chen Chen

/
chen_chen.png

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago

Chen received her PhD in Climatology from the department of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, and is currently involved at the Center for Robust Decision Making on Climate and Energy Policy at Computation Institute, as well as the research network of statistical methods for atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

Her research interests include climate variabilities and impacts, climate change sensitivity, modeling and diagnostics, predictability and forecast, geophysical fluid dynamics (rotating horizontal convection).
 

Jeremy Klavans

/

MSESP Candidate, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Jeremy Klavans is a first year M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy candidate at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. His research interests include climate, energy and environmental policy. Jeremy holds a B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy and Political Science from the University of Miami.