# **About Me** --- # **Bio** ## **Early Life** I was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Burlington, a suburb of Boston. Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by physical science, data, and the natural world. As a result, I excelled in science and math throughout my education. Soon after I started high school, I became very passionate about music, prompting me to learn to play the guitar. I quickly became involved in writing my own songs with friends, recording them, and performing them live. By the end of my senior year I was a part of three separate bands and had recorded an album. ![Performing Live](_static/performance.jpg) *Me playing guitar on stage in Somerville, Massachusetts with my band, "Reapercussion" in December 2017.* In June 2018, it was time for me to graduate from Burlington High School. During my time there, I proved myself to be a capable and successful student, accumulating a 3.74 GPA. ## **College** In August 2018, I moved to Plymouth, New Hampshire so I could pursue a B.S. in meteorology at [Plymouth State University](https://www.plymouth.edu/). ### **Academic Success** At Plymouth State, I reached new academic heights! At the time of graduation in May 2022, I achieved a 3.91 GPA, never receiving less than an A in any of the courses offered by the Meteorology Department. Because my GPA was the highest in my graduating class of meteorology students, I was awarded the class of 2022 "Outstanding Meteorology Graduating Senior" award by the [Meteorology Program](https://www.plymouth.edu/science/program/bs/meteorology). In addition to a bachelor's degree in Meteorology, I also obtained a minor in Technical Mathematics. Out of my own interests, I took additional courses covering GIS as well as political science, getting more than halfway to both a GIS certificate and a political science minor. ![Meteorology Award Presentation](_static/outstanding_meteorology_award.jpg) *The Plymouth State Meteorology Program chair, [Dr. Lourdes Aviles](https://www.plymouth.edu/person/lourdes-b-aviles) (right), presents me (left) with the 2022 Outstanding Meteorology Graduating Senior Award in April 2022.* ### **Tutoring** Tutoring played another major role during my time at Plymouth State University and was one of the most rewarding experiences in my college career. Throughout all four years, I regularly assisted my classmates with coursework, particularly in calculus, physics, programming, and meteorology courses. I felt it was important to be a team player, and make sure my friends succeeded with me. Due to my academic successes, my freshman year calculus professor recommended that I become a math tutor at the school's Math Activity Center. I worked at the Center during the fall of my sophomore year, assisting students that arrived looking for help with algebra, pre-calculus, and calculus. However, I was unable to fit professional tutoring into my schedule the following semester and I did not return to the Math Activity Center. At the start of my senior year, the Atmospheric Dynamics course did not have a listed tutor. The professor recommended that I be the tutor for the class which I accepted. This began a year of tutoring at Plymouth State's [Office of Academic Support Services](https://www.plymouth.edu/academics/plymouth-academic-support-services) (the Math Activity Center merged with this office during the 2020-2021 school year) where I tutored physics students and some calculus students. Although I never formally tutored Atmospheric Dynamics, I assisted my classmates with the class as we learned the material together. ### **Website Development** One of my greatest personal discoveries during college was my passion for computer programming. I began writing Python code in December of 2019 and quickly became hooked. A year later I attempted to build my first website using Python's [Flask](https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/stable/) library and writing my own HTML. The website was built to support a summer forecasting challenge my friends and I developed to keep our forecasting skills sharp over the summer months. Although the website was never launched, the experience I gained led me to volunteer to develop some web pages for the [Plymouth State Weather Center](https://vortex.plymouth.edu/) website between the end of my junior year of college and the beginning of graduate school. For more information on my work done for the Plymouth State Weather Center, click [here](projects.md#plymouth-state-weather-center). ### **School Clubs** When I started at Plymouth State, I quickly became involved in clubs on campus. During my first month, I began participating in both the University's chapter of the [American Meteorological Society](https://chapters.ametsoc.org/united-states/plymouth/student/plymouth-state-university) (AMS) as well as [Catholic Campus Ministry](https://www.plymouth.edu/student-life/community-impact/reflection-spiritual-care-center) (CCM). I remained a part of these groups all four years I attended Plymouth State. I took on additional responsibility as a member of the executive board of CCM for my sophomore, junior, and senior years. In this role, I handled the group's external communication and planned meetings and events. During my senior year, I was elected outreach coordinator for the school's AMS chapter. Like with CCM, I handled the group's external communications and helped make planning decisions for the group. ![Tabling for CCM](_static/Catholic_Campus_Ministry_tableing.jpg) *Me (center) and my fellow CCM executive board members tabling at the fall 2021 semester Plymouth State activities fair.* ## **Graduate School** In August of 2022, I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to pursue a master's degree in Atmospheric Science at the [University of Utah](https://atmos.utah.edu/). I began my work as a research assistant, studying under [Dr. Zhaoxia Pu](https://www.inscc.utah.edu/~pu/), during June of 2022. My work focused on drought in the western United States during 2021 and 2022. For more details on my work at the University of Utah, click [here](experience.md#the-university-of-utah-department-of-atmospheric-science). I saw continued academic success during graduate school. Over the course of two years, I took six classes in addition to performing research, accumulating a 3.90 GPA by the time of graduation. On the weekends, I did my best to take advantage of my proximity to the Wasatch Mountains. When there was snow on the ground, I was skiing, and when there wasn't, I was hiking. ![Skiing](_static/ski_photo.jpg) *Me skiing at [Solitude Mountain](https://www.solitudemountain.com/) on a warm April day in 2023.* ## **North Carolina** After completing my thesis in August 2024, I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to be with my now fiancée while she pursues a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science at NC State University. ### **Career Development** I continued to work with Dr. Zhaoxia Pu remotely as a research associate until November. In this position, I added additional analysis to work I had done for my thesis and revised previously written scientific manuscripts to be submitted for publication. As my work with the University of Utah was coming to a close, I secured a position at the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)](https://www.epa.gov/) contracted through [Oak Ridge Associated Universities](https://www.orau.org/) working as an air quality researcher and data scientist. I started in December 2024 working for [Dr. Havala Pye](https://havalapye.wordpress.com/). For details about my work at the EPA, click [here](experience.md#u-s-environmental-protection-agency). Unfortunately, due to employment restructuring at the EPA, [my contract was not renewed](https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-research-contractors-prep-to-end-work-wednesday/). As a result, I was laid off in May 2025 and am currently searching for a new place to apply my data analysis and scientific programming skills. ### **Activities** Since moving to North Carolina, I have continued partaking in outdoor activities. My fiancée and I make regular day trips to explore North Carolina's state parks. We frequently play tennis and pickleball and have taken up disc golf. I have also learned how to play golf over the past summer and have become passionate about the sport. Although skiing has become harder to come by since moving to Raleigh, I was still able to incorporate it into my schedule during winter 2025 and I hope to be able to continue that through future winters. In addition to outdoor activities, I continued playing guitar and writing music. After reconnecting with an old friend from South Carolina we collaborated on a new song that has been released on Spotify. I also love playing board games with friends and have begun to participate in bar trivia on a semi-regular basis. --- # **Hobbies** * Skiing * Hiking * Guitar * Writing music * Golfing * Disc golf * Tennis * Board games * Programming * Debating * Trivia --- # **Personal Interests** * Music * Weather * Physics * Mathematics * Civil engineering * Transportation * Car mechanics * History * Economics * Politics * Government