Department: Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Faculty Adviser: V. Ramaswamy (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) Year of Study: G5 Undergraduate School: the University of Tokyo (Japan) Undergraduate Major: Earth Sciences
Hello! I was born in London and grew up in Tokyo, Japan. I got my Bachelor's degree in Earth Sciences at the University of Tokyo, where I spent a lot of time doing fieldwork. Later, I shifted into climate modeling research for my senior thesis. Back then, I was studying paleoclimate, and now I m focused on more theoretical and computational work about modern and future climates. My research methods and speciality have definitely changed over time, while the focus has been always on the Earth. If you are still unsure of what to major in, I would recommend to try out a variety of areas of interest, and I d love to help you get a feel for one of those options!
My favorite food is fish, as you can imagine since I am Japanese. I love traveling, and last year I did road trips around six National Parks in the US. For fun, I also play drums in a band.
I study climate change from a physical science perspective. I use climate modeling, which acts like a digital twin of the Earth, to understand how the Earth's climate system works. Basically, we climate modelers try to represent all weather and climate phenomena through equations and simulate past, present, and future climates. My focus is on the Earth's energy budget, which is essentially the balance between incoming solar energy and outgoing infrared radiation, affecting the whole climate system. But there s also the greenhouse effect, cloud scattering, and many other processes at play. I m working to understand how this balance change over time at different latitudes in the context of climate change. The more we study the Earth s system, the more we realize how complex and uncertain it is, and that is the most exciting part.
Not available to participate in Summer ReMatch+ program.
