AppalAIR is comprised of five faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences, drawing expertise from every science department on campus.
Current Members
Howard Neufeld (Chair) studies the ecophysiological effects of climate change and ozone air pollution on plants.
- Research Interests: Effects of Ozone and Global Warming on Plants; How Climate Change May Affect Invasive Plant Species
- Department of Biology
- Email: neufeldhs@appstate.edu
Jim Sherman is using remote sensing techniques to measure water vapor and atmospheric aerosols, which are key components to understanding environmental responses to climate change.
- Research Interests: Atmospheric Physics
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Email: shermanjp@appstate.edu
Baker Perry is using surface based and balloon-borne meteorological measurements to study synoptic climatology and orographically driven precipitation in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
- Research Interests: Synoptic Climatology, Orographic Precipitation, Snow and Ice, Tropical Climate-Glacier Interactions.
- Department of Geography and Planning
- Email: perrylb@appstate.edu
Rahman Tashakkori will manage data acquisition and manipulation, as well as data visualization for the AppalAIR researchers.
- Research Interests: Image Processing, Wavelets, Medical Imaging, Parallel and Distributed Computing, Stochastic Simulations
- Department of Computer Science
- Email: tashakkorir@appstate.edu
Chris Thaxton investigates planetary boundary layer physics using the WRF/MPAS regional modeltoward a better understanding of the effects of orography on regional meteorology and climatology in the Southern Appalachians, and improved sub-grid scale model parameterization schemes.
- Research Interests: Fluid Mechanics, Boundary Layers
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Email: thaxtoncs@appstate.edu
Adjunct Members
Patrick Sheridan is an atmospheric scientist with the NOAA-Earth Systems Research Laboratory's Global Monitoring Division (esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/aero), located in Boulder, CO. Sheridan's group monitors aerosols at selected regional sites worldwide to study their effects on solar radiation, and hence climate. Sheridan also serves as advisor for our NOAA-GMD Collaborative Aerosol Monitoring Station and played a key role in setting up the AppalAIR air sampling infrastructure according to NOAA-GMD specifications.
- Research Interests: Aerosol Monitoring and Climate
- Phone: 303-497-6672
- Email: patrick.sheridan@noaa.gov
- OAR/ESRL (Office of Atmospheric Research/Earth System Research Laboratory), Global Monitoring Division, NOAA
Douglas K. Miller: Current projects involve examining the hydrologic cycle at high elevation locations (in collaboration with researchers at Duke University) and examining the predictability of snowfall accumulations (in collaboration with researchers at the National Weather Service, Appalachian State University, and NC State University). Current research projects combine the use of weather observations collected in special data collection campaigns in the field with meso-scale model (WRF) simulations of specific weather events.
Student Members
Parker Davis | |
Aydan Gibbs | Aydan Gibbs is a graduate student in Appalachian States Masters of Engineering Physics program. Aydan is the lead graduate student at AppalAIR who is primarily working with the Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) and the Optical Particle Sizer (OPS). |
Eric Huffenus | |
Emma Ingram | Emma Ingram is a Sophomore at Appalachian State University who studies Physics with a concentration in Astronomy. Emma's research at AppalAIR includes work with the Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCN). |
Ryan Kitteringham | |
Stone Linker | |
Robert Hamrick | |
Jack Strichter | |
Cade Tischer | Cade Tischer is a senior at Appalachian State studying Applied Physics with a minor in Mathematics. Cade's primary work at AppalAIR involves research focused on measurements of the humidity dependence of aerosol light scattering coefficient f(RH), along with data quality assurance, data analysis, and studies based on the f(RH) datasets. |
AppalAIR Alumni
- Ethan Barber
- Shawn Beekman
- Taylor Foote
- Jordan Greene
- Ian Krintz
- Quinlin Riggs
- Forrest Ward
- Caleb Worthy
Collaborations
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (esrl.noaa.gov) - AppalAIR is the only participating site east of the Mississippi River in NOAA's global aerosol monitoring network.
Grandfather Mountain (grandfather.com) - AppalAIR monitors the weather station at the summit of Grandfather Mountain.
North Carolina Division of Air Quality (daq.state.nc.us) - The NC Division of Air Quality is assisting AppalAIR in the maintenance and calibration of their trace gas instruments.
MRI: Mountain Research Initiative (mri.scnatweb.ch) - AppalAIR is a member institution of the Mountain Research Initiative, which functions to coordinate and disseminate information about atmospheric research in mountains around the world.
State Climate Office of North Carolina (ncclimate.ncsu.edu) - This office maintains climatic records for the state and supports some of our meteorological monitoring.