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Tobias Ross

Profile picture for Tobias Ross

Contact Information

4052-E Natural History Building
1301 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Assistant, Advisor: Sonia Lasher-Trapp

Biography

I am a second-year PhD student working with Professor Sonia Lasher-Trapp in the Cloud Microphysics Group. My research interests lie in understanding how microphysical processes that affect precipitation formation in deep convective clouds can influence their dynamics and other larger-scale characteristics. I believe that successfully tackling these problems warrants the use of a combination of real-world observations and numerical modelling. My M.S work explored possible trends in convective outflow characteristics resulting from aerosols acting as CCN using a combination of in-situ aircraft observations, radar observations of thunderstorms, and idealized modelling of select cases from the Clouds, Aerosols, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) field campaign. My PhD work expands on this by seeking to understand the influence of different combinations of CCN and Ice Nucleating Particles (INP) on convective precipitation production. Thus far, this has involved designing and testing a new immersion-freezing algorithm within the microphysics subroutine of Cloud Model 1 (CM1) that can use INP-temperature spectra measured during CACTI.

 

Education

  • Combined BSc. MEnv. in Meteorology and Climate Science: University of Leeds, UK (2019) 
  • M.S. Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2022)
  • PhD. Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (ongoing)

 

Awards and Honors

UIUC Graduate Dept. / Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences Block Fellowship (2019-20)

 

Courses Taught

ATMS-100: Introduction to Meteorology - Teaching Assistant 

Additional Campus Affiliations

  • Co-chair, Midwest Student Conference on Atmospheric Research (MSCAR) (2022)
  • Secretary, Department of Atmospheric Sciences Student Organization (DASSO) (2022-23)
  • Head of Poster Committee, SESE Research Review (2022, 2023)
  • Graduate Ambassador, Department of Atmospheric Sciences (2021-22)

Recent Publications

Ross, T. I. D., and S. Lasher-Trapp, 2024: On CCN Effects upon Convective Cold Pool Timing and Features. Mon. Wea. Rev., 152, 891–906, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-23-0154.1.