Our Team
Describe your team here.
Yelin is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He is co-advised by Jason Smerdon and Richard Seager. He is interested in studying land-atmosphere interactions using numerical models and observational data. He strives to understand the role of land-atmosphere interaction in drought development and hydrological change and is currently working on a DOE-funded project focused on the role of vegetation in past and future global hydroclimatic change.
Yelin received his B.S. and M.S. in Ecology from the School of Applied Meteorology at Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Connecticut. His Ph.D. dissertation, “Land-Atmosphere Interactions and Drought over Tropical South America”, was advised by Prof. Guiling Wang.
Shane is a Ph.D. student at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in the City of New York. He is co-advised by Jason Smerdon and Rhiannon Stephens in the Columbia History Department. Shane's research interests include using paleoclimate data and modeling to understand past climate as a means of contextualizing modern and future climate change.
Shane earned a B.A. in Atmospheric Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2022. His senior honors thesis, advised by Whendee Silver, investigated soil carbon stocks after the addition of compost and silicate-bearing mineral amendments. He received the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Hollings Scholarship, and worked at NOAA to analyze model projections of future climate and pollution across decadal and seasonal timescales. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Shane worked in environmental consulting as an air quality analyst before beginning graduate school.
Ibuki is a Ph.D. student at Columbia University in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. She is interested in the ocean’s role in past, modern, and future climates, and she is exploring the effects of ocean-atmosphere interactions on climate change and variability using both paleo and modern data. She is co-advised by Jason Smerdon and Richard Seager at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in the City of New York.
Ibuki graduated from Smith College in 2022 with a B.A. in Geosciences and Mathematics. For her honors thesis research, she reconstructed past regional temperature from lake sediments collected at Darwin Crater, Tasmania using the brGDGT biomarker proxy (Thesis advisor: Gregory de Wet).
Hunter P. Hughes is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and a recipient of the Lamont-Doherty Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research focuses on paleoclimatology, with particular expertise in using geochemical records from corals and bivalves to reconstruct past ocean conditions. Hughes develops and applies novel analytical and statistical approaches to improve estimates of sea surface temperature, seawater pH, and climate variability across the tropical Atlantic and beyond. He is co-advised by Ed Cook and Jason Smerdon.
In addition to his research, Hughes is dedicated to teaching and outreach. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his Ph.D. in Earth, Marine, and Environmental Science, he co-developed a Marine Science 101 laboratory, led a seminar on climate change and epistemology, and was recognized with multiple awards for excellence in teaching and mentorship. His work has been presented at international scientific meetings and published widely in the paleoclimate and ocean sciences literature.
Hughes received his M.S. in Earth and Ocean Sciences from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, his B.A. from Emerson College. He is also a proud graduate of the Geology Department at Northern Virginia Community College where he received the bulk of his initial training in geology and oceanography.
Hannah is a PhD student at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. She is co-advised by Jason Smerdon and Richard Seager.
Hannah graduated with a B.A. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University in 2018. Her senior thesis comprised a numerical simulation of the famous experiment in earthquake control at Rangely, Colorado. This work provided insights into the phenomenon of induced seismicity and enabled a more detailed characterization of the mechanics of this sequence of earthquakes than had previously been possible. Hannah's graduate study interests include ocean-atmosphere interactions and long-term climate variability spanning paleo to future time intervals.
Before commencing her graduate studies, Hannah worked in strategy consulting and agricultural technology, which included launching a sustainability program focused in part on the climate impacts of food production and disparities in access to fresh produce. As part of her PhD, she is interested in applying a deeper understanding of climate and climate change to pressing issues surrounding food security.
Publications
Silva, J.A., Byrne, H., Plesch, A., Shaw, J.H., & Juanes, R. (2021). Revisiting the classical experiment in earthquake control at the Rangely oil field, Colorado, 1970, using a coupled flow and geomechanical model. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 111(6): 3136-3159. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0120210020
Byrne, H., Silva, J. A., Plesch, A., Juanes, R., & Shaw, J. H. (2020). The groundbreaking experiment in earthquake control at Rangely, Colorado, revisited. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL088257. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088257
Ibarbalz, F.M., Henry, N., Brandão, M.C. … Byrne, H., … Lombard, F., & Bowler, C. (2019). Global trends in marine plankton diversity across kingdoms of life. Cell, 179(5):1084-1097. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.10.008.
Aandishah is a Ph.D. student at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in the City of New York. She is co-advised by Jason Smerdon and Richard Seager.
Aandishah earned her B.A. in Earth System Science and M.S. in Geographical Information Systems at Clark University. A geographer at heart, she used remote sensing data to analyze the negative correlation between sea ice and cloud cover in the Pacific Arctic using time series analysis. Her M.S thesis, “Understanding spatial changes in vertical atmospheric structure and sea ice in the Pacific Arctic from 1979 to 2020 using NARR reanalysis data”, was co-advised by Karen Frey and Abby Frazier. Aandishah’ s main research interests include climate change, ocean-atmosphere interactions, and applications of remote sensing. In particular, she is fascinated by the impacts of climate change on the interactions between the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and the implications for future climate risks and impacts.
Born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she is also interested in the impacts of climate change on people, especially minority communities.