PIRE-CREATE Summer School, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Group members

Mathias Vuille
Professor

mvuille@albany.edu
Mathias Vuille is a climate scientist in the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University at Albany. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Bern in Switzerland in 1995 and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on climate change, paleoclimate and major topics in environmental science. His research focuses on tropical paleoclimate and climate change impacts and glacier retreat in the tropical Andes. He has been involved in adaptation projects on behalf of UNESCO, the Interamerican Development Bank and the World Bank, and served as a Senior Fellow for the U.S. State Department’s Program on Energy and Climate Partnerships in the Americas (ECPA). He has served as a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as Associate Editor for Geophysical Research Letters, a member of the U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) and the Science Leadership Council of the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI). He has participated in expeditions to the Canadian Arctic (Ellesmere Island), Tanzania (Kilimanjaro), Morocco (High Atlas & Sahara Desert), Venezuela (Andes of Merida), Ecuador (Antizana Volcano), Peru (the Cordilleras Blanca and Vilcanota (Quelccaya Ice cap)), Bolivia (Nevados Sajama and Illimani), Chile (Altiplano and Atacama Desert ) and Brazil (caves in the Amazon basin, northeastern and southeastern Brazil). He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles on climate change in South America. 

Curriculum Vitae. 

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Siyao Du
AccelNet-ACCORD Project Manager

sdu4@albany.edu
Siyao Du works as the Project Manager for the AccelNet Accord project at the University of Albany. She holds an M.S. from Beijing Normal University and earned her Ph.D. in environmental microbiology from KULeuven, Belgium, where she focused on bacterial interactions involved in pesticide biodegradation in drinking water treatment processes. Before starting in her position as project manager in the Vuille Lab, Siyao worked as an Assistant Research Scientist at the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health. There, her research explored the regulatory functions of novel small proteins in cysteine biosynthesis in mycobacteria. Outside of her professional pursuits, Siyao enjoys reading, cooking, and hiking.

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Zhiqiang Lyu
Postdoctoral Research Associate

zlyu2@albany.edu
Dr. Zhiqiang Lyu is a Postdoctoral researcher at the University at Albany, working with Prof. Mathias Vuille. He earned his M.S. from Beijing Normal University (2018) and a Ph.D. from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium in October 2022 under the advisement of Prof. Hugues Goosse. Zhiqiang’s Ph.D. research focused on the reconstruction of centennial variability of Antarctic surface air temperature over the past two millennia. In February 2023 he joined the research group of Prof. Mathias Vuille at the University of Albany and is currently working in the PIRE-CREATE project to reconstruct climate variability in South America over the last millennium by combining high-resolution proxies, such stable oxygen isotopes in speleothems and isotope-enabled climate models using a data assimilation approach.

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Derick Appiah Kubi
M.S. Student

dappiahkubi@albany.edu
Derick Appiah Kubi is a graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology and Climate Science in the year 2022. His previous research focused on projections of extreme weather events in West Africa. He is currently working on an isotope-enabled data assimilation system for the last millennium over South America.

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Karen Conron Chamberlain
Ph.D. Student

kconronchamberlain@albany.edu
Karen Conron Chamberlain is new Graduate Student who is starting in the Vuille lab in the Fall of 2024. She received her B.S. in Atmospheric Science at SUNY Oneonta in the Spring 2024. Her most recent undergraduate research was an examination of atmospheric thicknesses in the South Central U.S. during the record warmth of 2023 which was completed to fulfill an undergraduate Research Methods in Dynamics course requirement. She was also selected by the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at SUNY Oneonta to receive the 2024 Academic Achievement Award. She has a prior B.S. in Accounting from UAlbany and is a former CPA.

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Cassidy Ochoa
Ph.D. Student

Originally hailing from Beaverton, Oregon, Cassidy Ochoa is a PhD student starting Fall 2025 at SUNY Albany. Holding an Honors Bachelors of Science in Climate Science and a Writing minor, her recent undergraduate thesis involved analyzing the impact orbital sunshades would have on cyclone frequency and intensity around the world, with a special focus on the Pacific Northwest. In addition, she has also written a novella based on the cultural, political, and societal implications of geoengineering called Weathermakers. Throughout her academic career, Cassidy has been involved with research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Oregon State University. For Summer 2025, Cassidy will be a part of the Eco-Hydrology and Data Science for Humanitarian Applications Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She is currently a National GEM Consortium Fellow as well as an Honorable Mention winner for the 2024-25 NSF GRFP.

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Zuhayr Shahid Ishmam
Ph.D. Student

Ishmam is an incoming graduate student in Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at SUNY Albany, starting in Fall 2025. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in February 2021 and completed MS in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Spring 2025. His master’s research focused on high-resolution simulations of historical and future climate across Louisiana-Mississippi using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. He also contributed to Louisiana State Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 2024, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). At Vuille Lab, his research will center on high-resolution climate modeling of extreme events in the South American Altiplano under present-day and future climate scenarios. He also holds a U.S. National Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) certification, effective January 2025.

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Chen Yuan
Ph.D. Student

Chen Yuan will join the Vuille lab as a new Graduate Student in Fall 2025. She holds B.S. (2021) and M.S. (2024) degrees from China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, where her research focused on aerosol-radiation interactions and Earth's radiation balance. She is currently working on global temperature and hydroclimate impacts of volcanic eruptions by combining observations and climate model simulations.

Former group members

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Rebecca Orrison
PhD 2024

 

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Zhaoxiangrui He
PhD 2023
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2023-2024)

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Tsinghua University, China

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Shelby Turner
MS 2023

Ph.D student Northern Illinois University 

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Natalia Ruiz-Menal
PIRE Project manager (2018-2022)

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Ernesto Tejedor
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2018-2022)

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at the National Museum of Natural Sciences - CSIC, Madrid -Spain

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John Hurley
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2013-2016)

Water Data Scientist [Engineering Geologist] at California State Water Resources Control Board

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Oscar Chimborazo
PhD 2018

Research Scientist, Howard University

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Christian Yarleque
PhD 2018

Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru

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Chris Colose
PhD 2016

Climate Scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York City 

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Juan Sulca
MS 2015

Senior Scientist at Peruvian Institute of Geophysics (IGP), Lima, Peru

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Eric Franquist
MS 2013

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Dana McGlone
MS 2011

Co-Owner of HydroMet Consulting LLC, Denver Colorado

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Rocio Urrutia
MS 2008

Professor at Universidad Austral, Valdivia, Chile 

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Rebecca Chan
MS 2006

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University at Albany, SUNY
ETEC Bldg. - Harriman Campus, 1220 Washington Ave., 
Albany, NY 12226, USA

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