# overview
My research interests are in the remote sensing of clouds and precipitation and their application in studying the hydrologic cycle, energy budget, and climate change. Currently my focus is on combining data from multiple satellite sensors to investigate ITCZ deep convection and the role of shallow cumulus and stratocumulus clouds in the tropics and subtropics.

# keywords[]
Closed-to-open Cell Cloud Fraction Transitions

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Colorado State University - (Fort Collins, Colorado, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Colorado State University - (Fort Collins, Colorado, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Texas A&M University - (College Station, Texas, United States)

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Association of Former Students College-Level Teaching Distinguished Achievement Award, The

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Montague Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) Scholar

# publications[].label
Radar observations of MJO and Kelvin wave interactions during DYNAMO/CINDY2011/AMIE

# publications[].label
Shedding light on the adaptive infrared iris hypothesis

# publications[].label
Synoptic conditions related to soil moisture-atmosphere interactions and unorganized convection in Oklahoma

# publications[].label
Observational evidence linking precipitation and mesoscale cloud fraction in the southeast Pacific

# publications[].label
Analysis of solar absorption derived from ARM surface and satellite measurements

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Long-term characterization of the Pacific ITCZ using TRMM, GPCP, and ERA-Interim

# publications[].label
Does Afternoon Precipitation Occur Preferentially over Dry or Wet Soils in Oklahoma?

# publications[].label
Supercooled liquid water cloud properties derived from goes: Comparisons with in-situ aircraft measurements

# publications[].label
On the Consequences of Resampling Microwave Radiometer Observations for Use in Retrieval Algorithms

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Environmental Response in Coupled Energy and Water Cloud Impact Parameters Derived from A-Train Satellites, ERA-Interim, and MERRA-2

# publications[].label
A-Train estimates of the sensitivity of the cloud-to-rainwater ratio to cloud size, relative humidity, and aerosols

# publications[].label
A New Technique to Retrieve Aerosol Vertical Profiles Using Micropulse Lidar and Ground-based Aerosol Measurements

# publications[].label
Climatology of Storm Characteristics in Costa Rica using the TRMM Precipitation Radar

# publications[].label
Soil moisture-precipitation coupling: observations from the Oklahoma Mesonet and underlying physical mechanisms

# publications[].label
Assessing the Coupled Influences of Clouds on the Atmospheric Energy and Water Cycles in Reanalyses with A-Train Observations

# publications[].label
Lightning and Associated Convection Features in the Presence of Absorbing Aerosols Over Northern Alabama

# publications[].label
Spatially distributed atmospheric boundary layer properties in Houston - A value-added observational dataset.

# publications[].label
Transport and Confinement of Plumes from Tropopause-Overshooting Convection over the Contiguous United States During the Warm Season

# publications[].label
Comparison of stratus cloud properties deduced from surface, GOES, and aircraft data during the March 2000 ARM cloud IOP

# publications[].label
A-Train estimates of the sensitivity of warm rain likelihood and efficiency to cloud size, environmental moisture, and aerosols

# publications[].label
A Combined Multisensor Optimal Estimation Retrieval Algorithm for Oceanic Warm Rain Clouds

# publications[].label
A comparison of Aqua MODIS ice and liquid water cloud physical and optical properties between collection 6 and collection 5.1: Cloud radiative effects

# publications[].label
Observed Variability in Convective Cell Characteristics and Near-Storm Environments across the Sea- and Bay-Breeze Fronts in Southeast Texas

# publications[].label
Low cloud precipitation climatology in the southeastern Pacific marine stratocumulus region using CloudSat

# publications[].label
Interactions between warm rain clouds and atmospheric preconditioning for deep convection in the tropics

# publications[].label
An evaluation of the proposed mechanism of the adaptive infrared iris hypothesis using TRMM VIRS and PR measurements

# publications[].label
Cloud responses in the AMIP simulations of CMIP5 models in the southeastern Pacific marine subsidence region

# publications[].label
Convective forcing of the North American Monsoon anticyclone at intraseasonal and interannual time scales.

# publications[].label
More Intense, Organized Deep Convection With Shrinking Tropical Ascent Regions

# publications[].label
Soil moistureprecipitation coupling: observations from the Oklahoma Mesonet and underlying physical mechanisms

# publications[].label
The impact of rain rate, raining patch size, and spacing on southeastern Pacific cloud fraction transitions

# publications[].label
Is the Awareness of the Aerosol State Useful in Predicting Enhanced Lightning for Lightning-Producing Storms over Northern Alabama?

# publications[].label
Response of the Intertropical Convergence Zone to Climate Change: Location, Width, and Strength.

# publications[].label
Impacts of Vegetation and Precipitation on Throughfall Heterogeneity in a Tropical Pre-Montane Transitional Cloud Forest

# publications[].label
The Role of Cloud Size and Environmental Moisture in Shallow Cumulus Precipitation

# publications[].label
A comparison of Aqua MODIS ice and liquid water cloud physical and optical properties between collection 6 and collection 5.1: Pixel-to-pixel comparisons

# publications[].label
Lifetimes of Overshooting Convective Events Using High-Frequency Gridded Radar Composites

# publications[].label
Variations in Precipitating Convective Feature Populations with ITCZ Width in the Pacific Ocean

# publications[].label
Increasing Frequency of Midtropospheric Dry Layers in the Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone

# publications[].label
Transport and Confinement of Plumes From Tropopause-Overshooting Convection Over the Contiguous United States During the Warm Season

# publications[].label
Environmental Controls on Deep and Overshooting Convection Over the Contiguous U.S.

# publications[].label
Regional Intensification of the Tropical Hydrological Cycle During ENSO

# publications[].label
TAMU TRACER: Targeted Mobile Measurements to Isolate the Impacts of Aerosols and Meteorology on Deep Convection

# researcherOn[].label
In Tropical and Subtropical Regions Dominated by Stratocumulus and Shallow Cumulus, Rainfall is Driven Primarily by the Warm Rain Process. Recent Estimates in these Regimes show Noticeable Differences in both precipitation occurrence and rates between act

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Constraining Cloud Feedback Responses Associated With Precipitating Cloud

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Local and remote effects of subtropical cumulus convection

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
Goddard Space Flight Center - (Greenbelt, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Rapid: Evaluation of Climate Models In the Southeast Pacific Marine Stratocumulus Region

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Science Foundation - (Arlington, Virginia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
Langley Research Center - (Hampton, Virginia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Global And Regional Water And Energy Variations Under A Changing Climate (Rapp, Anita)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Detection of precipitation onset with implications for passive microwave rainfall retrievals

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Collaborative Research: Understanding Relationships between Dual-Polarimetric In-cloud Microphysics and Satellite-Observed Cumulus Cloud Properties to Predict Lightning Character

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Science Foundation - (Arlington, Virginia, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Targeted Mobile Measurements to Isolate the Impacts of Aerosols and Meteorology on Deep Convection

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
Office of Science - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Multi-parameter diagnostics of cloud influences on the atmospheric energy and water cycle

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Constraining Drivers Of Tropical Precipitating Cloud Shield Areas Across

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Quantifying the Water and Energy Budgets of Marine Subsidence Regions

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# streetAddress
Texas A&M University; Meteorology; 3150 TAMU

# etdChairOf[].label
Zapalac, Allison (2014-12). Characteristics of a Marine Stratocumulus to Cumulus Cloud Transition. Master's Thesis.