Katie Wilson
Graduate Student – Modeling and Aerosol Impacts
Katie is from St. Louis, Missouri and received her Bachelors of Science in Applied Mathematics from Purdue University (Boiler up!). Like most Midwesterners, she grew up with the constant threat of severe weather, hail, and tornados. This exposure, combined with her love of math and computer science, fueled an interest in modeling atmospheric phenomena. Katie is currently in her second year of her Masters in UW-Madison’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Science program and is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Her research involves modeling the interactions between wildfire smoke aerosols and severe weather using WRF-Chem and MPAS. She is interested in how exactly biomass burning emissions impact radiative transfer and cloud microphysical processes in the development of storms, and when these impacts enhance or inhibit development. Katie also wants to understand how biomass burning aerosols are modeled in numerical weather prediction models, and how this can be improved. She has also worked with the Fu-Liou-Gu radiative transfer model and NCAR’s Community Fire Behavior model. In her free time, Katie enjoys drinking pina coladas with the lab, eating Wisconsin cheese curds, and puzzling at her desk.
