Contact Information
Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Climate, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences (CliMAS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Prior to joining UIUC in 2024, I was briefly a postdoc at the University of Miami. I was a postdoc in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research from 2021-2023. I completed my PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in 2021 at Princeton University. I completed my B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Physics in 2016 from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Research Interests
Climate science, atmospheric physics, climate change, global warming, climate variability, radiative forcing, climate feedbacks, radiative transfer, clouds, climate modeling, and satellite observations.
Research Description
How Earth gains and loses energy is key to its habitability because perturbations to the planetary radiation balance alters the entire climate system. Clouds, aerosols, greenhouse gases, land, ocean, and ice, all interact with radiation. Therefore, changes in these constituents manifest as radiative changes at the top-of-the-atmosphere observable from space. We now not only have continuous satellite observations, but also climate models that represent the Earth system better than ever before. My research program takes full advantage of this unprecedented and timely opportunity to provide physical mechanisms and theories that explain how these radiative changes cause Earth to accumulate heat. Clouds are central to Earth’s heat budget as they cover two-thirds of the planet. My research not only provides a process-based understanding of how radiation responds to clouds, but also how clouds respond to surface warming, leading to a holistic understanding of the feedback loop.
Education
Ph.D. Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, 2021
B.S. Mathematics and Minor in Physics, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 2016
Awards and Honors
Paul Crutzen Publication Award, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, European Geosciences Union, 2025
U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research Advanced Study Program Fellowship, 2021-2023
Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology Award, 2019-2021
High Meadows Environmental Institute Mary and Randall Hack ’69 Graduate Award for Water and the Environment, 2019-2020
High Meadows Environmental Institute Princeton Energy and Climate Scholar, 2018-2020
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Center for Climate Sciences Summer School, 2018
University of Minnesota Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Award, 2013 & 2015
Courses Taught
Fall 2025: ATMS 140 - Climate and Global Change
Spring 2025: ATMS 512 - Clouds and Climate
Additional Campus Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Climate, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
External Links
Media Coverage and Highlights of First-Author Research Papers
Raghuraman et al., 2024 (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics):
Paul Crutzen Publication Award, Science, Eos, University of Illinois News, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics News, ETV Bharat, New Scientist, University of Miami News, European Geophysical Union News, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Highlights/Letters
Raghuraman et al., 2023 (Geophysical Research Letters):
Editor's Highlight, GFDL Research Highlight, Top 10% of Most-Viewed Papers Published by GRL in 2023
Raghuraman et al., 2021 (Nature Communications):
NBC News, Princeton University News, NOAA Research News, GFDL Research Highlight, 2021 Top 25 Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Articles, Editors' Highlights
Invited Presentations
Department of the Earth, Atmosphere, and Climate, Iowa State University, 2025
Mathematics Climate Research Network, 2024
School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 2024
Department of Climate, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Seminar, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2024
Department of Earth and Climate Sciences Seminar, Tufts University, 2024
Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change, World Climate Research Programme, 2023
Climate and Radiation Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 2023
Center for Climate Sciences, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2023
Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System Science Team Meeting, NASA Langley, 2023
Climate and Weather Seminar Series, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2023
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Colorado State University, 2022
Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity and Cloud Feedback Virtual Symposium, 2022
Libera Satellite Science Team Meeting, University of Colorado Boulder/NASA, 2021
Libera Satellite Workshop, University of Colorado Boulder/NASA, 2021
Service
Core Team Member, World Climate Research Programme Working Group on Earth’s Energy Imbalance, 2023-present
Conference Session Organizing
"Spectral Dimension of Shortwave and Longwave Radiation in the Earth System", American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 2022 – Present
"Insights on Interactions Among Earth System Components", Gordon Research Seminar on Radiation and Climate, 2023
"The Role of Radiation in Climate Forcing, Feedbacks and Variability", American Meteorological Society 16th Conference on Atmospheric Radiation, 2022
Reviewer
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Communications Earth & Environment, Earth System Dynamics, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Nature Climate Change, Science Advances
Public Engagement, Outreach, and/or Extension
Scientific contributor to the Communicating Climate Risk project, World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF)/University College London, 2021-present
Interviewed by The News-Gazette, 2025
Interviewed by Mongabay, 2024
Interviewed by Salon, 2021
Note: if you get a "you do not have access to Sites" error when opening my Personal Website (linked at the top of the page), try opening it in a different browser (e.g., Safari, Firefox, etc.) or an Incognito browser.
Recent Publications
Hodnebrog, Ø., Myhre, G., Jouan, C., Andrews, T., Forster, P. M., Jia, H., Loeb, N. G., Olivié, D. J. L., Paynter, D., Quaas, J., Raghuraman, S. P., & Schulz, M. (2024). Recent reductions in aerosol emissions have increased Earth’s energy imbalance. Communications Earth and Environment, 5(1), Article 166. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01324-8
Raghuraman, S. P., Medeiros, B., & Gettelman, A. (2024). Observational Quantification of Tropical High Cloud Changes and Feedbacks. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129(7), Article e2023JD039364. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039364
Raghuraman, S. P., Soden, B., Clement, A., Vecchi, G., Menemenlis, S., & Yang, W. (2024). The 2023 global warming spike was driven by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(19), 11275-11283. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11275-2024
Raghuraman, S. P., Paynter, D., Menzel, R., & Ramaswamy, A. V. (2023). Forcing, Cloud Feedbacks, Cloud Masking, and Internal Variability in the Cloud Radiative Effect Satellite Record. Journal of Climate, 36(12), 4151-4167. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-22-0555.1
Raghuraman, S. P., Paynter, D., Ramaswamy, V., Menzel, R., & Huang, X. (2023). Greenhouse Gas Forcing and Climate Feedback Signatures Identified in Hyperspectral Infrared Satellite Observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(24), Article e2023GL103947. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103947