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Nicole Riemer

Professor

Biography

My group develops computer simulations that describe how aerosol particles are created, transported, and transformed in the atmosphere. We use these simulations, together with observational and satellite data, to understand how aerosol particles impact human health, weather, and climate. This understanding guides us in developing effective pollution mitigation strategies and responses to global climate change.

Aerosol particles are microscopic particles suspended in the atmosphere. Some of them, for example dust, sea salt, or pollen, come from natural sources. Others are man-made, such as soot particles from diesel engines, or sulfate particles from coal-fired power plants. In a typical urban environment we inhale about 5 million particles with each breath, all of which vary greatly in size and chemical composition.

Aerosol particles impact our lives in many ways. Since they are so small, they can penetrate deep into our lungs and our bloodstream, causing respiratory and cardiac diseases. Aerosol particles have also dramatic impacts on weather and climate. For example, they block and absorb sunlight, changing the heating of the Earth, and they act as the seeds that produce water droplets in clouds.

I am always looking for new graduate students to join my group. Please contact me for questions about potential projects or about the application process at our department.

Additional Campus Affiliations

Professor, Atmospheric Sciences
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)

Recent Publications

Ghosh, S., Dey, S., Das, S., Riemer, N., Giuliani, G., Ganguly, D., Venkataraman, C., Giorgi, F., Tripathi, S. N., Ramachandran, S., Rajesh, T. A., Gadhavi, H., & Srivastava, A. K. (2023). Towards an improved representation of carbonaceous aerosols over the Indian monsoon region in a regional climate model: RegCM. Geoscientific Model Development, 16(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1-2023

Knopf, D. A., Silber, I., Riemer, N., Fridlind, A. M., & Ackerman, A. S. (2023). A 1D Model for Nucleation of Ice From Aerosol Particles: An Application to a Mixed-Phase Arctic Stratus Cloud Layer. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15(10), Article e2023MS003663. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023MS003663

Razafindrambinina, P. N., Malek, K. A., De, A., Gohil, K., Riemer, N., & Asa-Awuku, A. A. (2023). Using particle-resolved aerosol model simulations to guide the interpretations of cloud condensation nuclei experimental data. Aerosol Science and Technology, 57(7), 608-618. https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2023.2202741

Dawson, M. L., Guzman, C., Curtis, J. H., Acosta, M., Zhu, S., Dabdub, D., Conley, A., West, M., Riemer, N., & Jorba, O. (2022). Chemistry Across Multiple Phases (CAMP) version 1.0: An integrated multiphase chemistry model. Geoscientific Model Development, 15(9), 3663-3689. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3663-2022

Wang, J. L., Curtis, J. H., Riemer, N., & West, M. (2022). Learning Coagulation Processes With Combinatorial Neural Networks. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 14(12), Article e2022MS003252. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022MS003252

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