Scholarship and Biography

I am the Director of the Vic '63 and Bobbi Samuels '63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT).

For my research, I am a physical oceanographer who studies how water moves and mixes in the ocean. I am particularly interested in connecting the small, fast motions of turbulence to decadal-scale, global processes like El Niño and climate change. I have spent many months living and working on oceanographic research vessels in places like the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Honors

Harry Pierce Prize
McGill University (Canada, Montreal), 2004
ARCS Fellowship
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation (United States, Artesia) - ARCS, 2005
Top Scholar Award
University of Washington (United States, Seattle) - UW, 2005
Dean A. McManus Excellence in Teaching Award
University of Washington (United States, Seattle) - UW, 2009
Program for Interdisciplinary Pedagogy Fellowship
University of Washington Bothell (United States, Bothell), 2010-2011
First Place Graduate Student Oral Presentation Award
Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (United States, Seattle) - CERF, 2011
Bonderman International Travel Fellowship
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (United States, Ann Arbor) - UM, 2012-2013
OMSI Science Communication Fellowship
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (United States, Portland) - OMSI, 2017
Heart of the Community Award
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2025

Organizational Affiliations

Associate Professor of Climate Science, Environmental Studies Program, Brandeis University

Affiliated Faculty, Martin A. Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University

Director, COMPACT: Vic ’63 and Bobbi ’63 Samuels Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation, Brandeis University

Education

University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Ph.D.
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
M.S.
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
M.S.
McGill University
B.Eng.