» CEESMO Members
Director
Dr. Menas Kafatos
Professor, Director, Center of Excellence in Earth Observing
Dr. Menas Kafatos joined Chapman University in 2008 as the Vice Chancellor for Special Projects. He is the founding Dean of the Schmid College of Science and Technology, Director of the Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations (CEESMO), and Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics.
He received his B.A. in Physics from Cornell University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972.
Dr. Kafatos has almost 40 years of experience in undergraduate and graduate Earth systems science, hazards, remote sensing and data information systems, physics, computational and theoretical astrophysics, astronomy, and foundations in quantum theory.
He has published numerous books and more than 250 articles on computational science, astrophysics, Earth systems science, hazards and global change, general relativity, cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and consciousness. He has been the Principal Investigator on more than 50 astronomical observational programs and on four NASA Science Applications grants.
His current research interests include interdisciplinary Earth system science, natural hazards and climate change, tropical cyclones, and aerosols and pollution in mega-cities.
Our Researchers
Eyal Amitai, Ph.D.
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chapman University
Ph.D. degree in Atmospheric Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 1996.
Since 1996 working at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Currently, a member of the NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions (PMM) science team and of the NASA Energy and Water Cycle (NEWS) science team. PI on NASA and NSF grants and Co-I on several other grants.
Emmanuel Dinnat, Ph.D.
Hesham El-Askary, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science and Remote Sensing and Director, MS Hazards, Global and Environmental Change
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chapman University
Ph.D. in Computational Sciences and Informatics, George Mason University
Research interests include: dust storms monitoring and detection using different remote sensing technologies. He is also involved in studying air pollution problems over mega cities due to natural and manmade effects as well as climate change and its impacts on sea level rise for coastal areas. He also contributed in studying the global ENSO impact on a local scale over Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region using the hourly precipitation data from NCDC and currently studying that impact over California.
Dr. El-Askary has published over a 20 refereed research publications, conferences full paper and book chapters in these research areas. Dr. El-Askary’s research has been supported by NSF, NASA, USDA and EU. Dr. El-Askary has received the Saudi Arabia award hosted by the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO) affiliated with the League of Arab states for the best published article in Environmental Management among 150 articles in 2006. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), AGU, EGU, COSPAR, and Phi Beta Delta Honor Society.
Francis Fujioka, Ph.D.
Dr. Seung Hee Kim
Staff Researcher
Xue Liu, Ph.D.
Visiting Research Associate Professor
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chapman University
Ph.D. from Wuhan University, China.
His current research interests include terrestrial remote sensing, land use land cover change, environmental information and decision support, natural hazards, global environmental change and human environment interaction. He has worked at Tsinghua University, Beijing, University of California, George Mason University and the Institute for Global Change since 1996.
Boksoon Myoung, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Chapman University and Research Professor, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations
Ph. D. in Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University
Research interests include: Data analysis and modeling of land-atmosphere-vegetation interaction and vegetation phenology, regional climate with an emphasis on hydrometeorology, modulation of climate change on vegetation activity and carbon flux, water cycles and precipitation variability, modulation of climate change on extreme weather events (drought and flood) and its mechanisms, and storm track dynamics and variability.
Dimitar Ouzounov, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
School of Earth and Environmental Science, Chapman University
PhD degree in Geophysics - Institute of Earth Physics, Moscow, Russia, 1990.
Research Interest: Geophysics, Lithosphere-Atmosphere Coupling, Electromagnetic Studies of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, Applications of Remote Sensing for Disaster Management
Recent research on study of natural hazards by a joint satellite and ground based survey of Earth’s electromagnetic environment. Since 1999 working at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Currently is a member of the Goddard Applied sciences team. PI on several NASA research proposals. Science adviser for NASA DEVELOP program for the advancements in the Earth system science education.
David Stack, M.S.
Research Faculty
Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations
M.S. degree in Hazards, Global and Environmental Change, Chapman University
Research interests include: computer simulation of complex systems, regional-scale agricultural yield modeling, ecosystem modeling, GIS and remote sensing applications, examining environmental issues in the context of complex networks, and improving the communication of science to the public. Additionally, he is interested in how computer programs (specifically the Python programming language) can be used to analyze "Big Data" to further understand the Earth's coupled natural and human systems.
Craig Tremback, PhD.
Senior Scientist and Research Professor
Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations
Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University, 1990.
Research interests include: computer simulation of complex systems, regional-scale agricultural yield modeling, ecosystem modeling, GIS and remote sensing applications, examining environmental issues in the context of complex networks, and improving the communication of science to the public. Additionally, he is interested in how computer programs (specifically the Python programming language) can be used to analyze "Big Data" to further understand the Earth's coupled natural and human systems.
Support Staff
Ismael Smiley Calderon
Support Staff
Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations
Nikolaos Hatzopoulos
Computational Support Specialist
Student Workers
Luciano Rodriguez, M.S.
Student Worker
Andreas Schilbach
Student Worker
Collaborators
Paul Chan, Ph.D.
Senior Visiting Scientist
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chapman University
George Galanis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Section of Mathematics, Greek Naval Academy, Greece and Researcher, Atmospheric Modeling and Weather Forecasting Group, Physics Department, University of Athens, Greece
Research interests include: Statistical methods for the optimization of the results of numerical environmental prediction models; Wave modeling and marine meteorology; Data assimilation; Wind and wave energy prediction; Nonlinear Analysis with applications to Environmental Physics.
Su Jong Jeong, Ph.D.
George Kallos, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Athens, School of Physics and Director, Division of Environmental Physics – Meteorology and Senior Research Associate, SUNY/ASRC, Albany, NY and Research Professor
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chapman University
Ph.D. in Geophysical Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.A, (1985)
Research Interests include: atmospheric physics and composition, regional climatic processes, sea surface modeling, non-linear dynamics, renewable energy applications. He is teaching courses related to numerical weather prediction, numerical techniques, atmospheric and ocean dynamics. Dr. Kallos has 92 publications in scientific journals, more than 180 presentations in conferences (more than 60 as invited) and more than 200 other publications in subjects related to atmospheric physics and chemistry, renewable energy and marine applications.
Jinwon Kim, Ph.D.
Dept. Atmos. Ocean Sci. and JIFRESSE, University of California Los Angeles
Ph.D. degree in Atmospheric Sciences from Oregon State University
Research Interests include: Regional climate modeling with an emphasis on the impact of global climate change on the regional hydroclimate, water resources, and ecosystems in California, land-atmosphere interaction, and the application of spaceborne observations to regional climate and water cycle research.
David Medvigy, Ph.D.
Son Nghiem, Ph.D.
Bob Walko, Ph.D.
William Sprigg, Ph.D.
Science Advisors
Ghassem Asrar, Ph.D.
Woo-Kyun Lee, Ph.D.
Seon K. Park, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering Director, Center for Climate/Environment Change Prediction Research (CCCPR) Director, Severe Storm Research Center (SSRC) Ewha Womans University
Research Interests: Geophysics, Lithosphere-Atmosphere Coupling, Electromagnetic Studies of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, Applications of Remote Sensing for Disaster Management
Research Interests include energy, water and biogeochemical cycles in climate system Interactions among environmental systems and feedback mechanisms into regional climate change.
Coupled modeling of land surface-soil-atmosphere-ecosystem-biogeochemical processes
Numerical modeling and prediction of high-impact weather and climate
Data assimilation of mesoscale and storm-scale weather systems
Other Related Research and Collaborators
Henry P. Stapp, Ph.D
Quantum Mechanics Collaborator
- Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling & Observations
- CEESMO People+
- RS/GIS and Modeling Laboratory+