Teaching, Mentoring & Leadership
Teaching Experience
- Invited lecturer, University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia (2024)
Set of lectures within interdisciplinary subject Fundamentals of Environmental Science:- Lecture: Fundamentals of Meteorology I
- Content: Composition of Earth’s atmosphere (gases, aerosols, hydrometeors), vertical structure of the atmosphere, spatial and temporal scales of atmospheric motion / phenomena. Meteorological instruments and observations (thermometer, hygrometer, barometer, anemometer, rain gauge; weather balloon, radar, satellites). Cloud classification, various cloud microphysics regimes including liquid-phase, ice-phase and mixed-phase processes, common air lifting mechanisms leading to cloud formation (convective, orographic, convergent and frontal lifting).
- Lecture: Fundamentals of Meteorology II
- Content: Mesoscale shallow and deep moist convection, ordinary thunderstorms versus supercells / mesocyclones, hail, thunderstorm electrification, thunderstorm outbursts and gust front evolution, tornadoes, waterspouts. Synoptic mid-latitude weather systems (cyclones, anticyclones) and winds (geostrophic and gradient wind balance, realistic near-surface flow), weather fronts, typical cloud development along warm and cold fronts, general (planetary) circulation. Numerical weather prediction (governing equations, physical schemes, initial condition ensemble, forecast uncertainty sources), high-resolution atmospheric modeling.
- Lecture: Air Pollution and Climate Change
- Content: Air pollutants and their natural and anthropogenic sources, particulate matter, tropospheric versus stratospheric ozone, greenhouse gases. Solar and terrestrial radiation, absorption spectra of atmospheric gases, Earth’s radiative balance versus imbalance (greenhouse effect), indicators of climate and environmental change, Nobel Prize in Physics for climate science / modeling groundwork. Multiple climate system components and their interactions, impact of aerosols on clouds and climate, cloud feedbacks, climate tipping points, future climate change at global scale and in Slovenia, action to address climate crisis in Slovenia.
- Lecture: Fundamentals of Meteorology I
- Invited lecturer, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (2024)
- Lecture: Global Climate Modeling within interdisciplinary subject Climate Change (course principals: Dr. Žiga Zaplotnik, Prof. Dr. Miha Ravnik)
- Content: Climate system components and their multiscale nature, evolution of global climate models (GCMs) through various CMIP phases, basic architecture of current GCMs focusing on the atmospheric model (dynamical core, computational grids, physical parameterizations, example: radiation scheme). Standard CMIP6 experiments, shared socioeconomic pathways and emission scenarios, global climate projections and related uncertainties. Scientific and technical challenges associated with analyzing multi-model ensembles, climate model code genealogy, climate model evaluation, dynamical and statistical downscaling techniques to acquire regional climate information. Contemporary climate model development exploiting rich data stemming from field campaigns (such as EUREC4A) and high-resolution numerical modeling (large-eddy simulations, cloud-resolving models, benchmark 3D radiative transfer models).
- VIDEO, SLIDES, RESOURCES
- Invited lecturer, University of Ljubljana, virtual (2022)
- Lecture: Radiative Transfer Modeling in a Cloudy Atmosphere (audience: bachelor and master students of Meteorology and Physics, host: Dr. Žiga Zaplotnik)
- Content: The lecture covers basic principles of radiative transfer theory (absorption, scattering, emission), radiative heating rates in clear-sky versus cloudy atmosphere, three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiation modeling and Independent Column Approximation, two-stream methodology, traditional (plane-parallel) and state-of-the-art representation of subgrid cloud structure in radiation schemes of weather and climate models.
- Teaching assistant, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany (2016 — 2018)
- Lecture: Clouds: Microphysics and Convection (Meteorology master’s study course, lecturers: Prof. Dr. Markus Rapp, Dr. Tobias Zinner)
- Content: The lecture covers cloud processes from the micro- to the meso-scale. The “Microphysics” part includes topics such as droplet formation, diffusional droplet growth, coalescence, precipitation, distinguishment between the warm, cold, and mixed-phase cloud microphysics, aerosol direct/indirect effects, thunderstorm electrification and lightning. The “Convection” part covers the convective instability criteria, generation and organization of convection (single cell, multicell, supercell), tornadoes, thunderstorm outflow, downdrafts, mesoscale convective systems (squall lines, tropical cyclones).
Mentoring Experience
- Mentor, Climatematch Academy: Computational Tools For Climate Science, virtual summer academy for worldwide students (2023)
- Role: Providing guidance to students on various issues such as professional development, research strategy, computational tools for Earth system science, technical and soft skills, effective collaboration and networking, principles of scientific integrity and inclusive work environment, science communication, bridging the gap between climate research and climate action, career advice for minority groups including women in science.
Certificate of appreciation
- Role: Providing guidance to students on various issues such as professional development, research strategy, computational tools for Earth system science, technical and soft skills, effective collaboration and networking, principles of scientific integrity and inclusive work environment, science communication, bridging the gap between climate research and climate action, career advice for minority groups including women in science.
- Co-supervisor of bachelor student (together with Prof. Dr. Bernhard Mayer), Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany (2017)
- Thesis title: Modellierung von 3D solaren Erwärmungsraten in Abhängigkeit vom Aspektverhältnis der Wolken (Modelling of 3D solar heating rates as a function of cloud aspect ratio)
Leadership Experience
Co-lead of the World Climate Research Programme’s Fresh Eyes on CMIP Data Analysis working group (Aug 2023 – present)
- Role: Together with Dr. Joshua Dorrington (KIT, Germany) and Dr. Abdullah Al Fahad (NASA GSFC, USA) I’m currently leading a global team of early career researchers aiming to advance data analysis tools for the next phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Thus if you have encountered any issues or challenges when analyzing CMIP6/CMIP5 data, please reach out and share your concerns, so that we can strive for proper improvements in CMIP7.
- Task: As a first step we are striving to complete the list of Tools for using climate data including various data access platforms, programming languages and useful packages, command line operators, evaluation and benchmarking tools as well as other data analysis and visualization tools. Please feel free to explore the Tools repository and make suggestions about further practical tools that should be added to the repository.
- Upcoming event: We are organizing a webinar about CMIP / climate data analysis tools to be held in summer or early autumn. The interactive workshop will consist of both theoretical introduction and practical session with hands-on examples on how to use various climate data analysis tools at a beginner, intermediate and advanced level. More information coming soon!
Co-lead of the “RESCCCUE – REminding Slovenian authorities Climate Change Crisis requires Urgent Effort” project team, awarded European Meteorological Society Outreach and Communication Award (2020)
- Role: Together with Dr. Žiga Zaplotnik, Dr. Lina Boljka and Dr. Aljoša Slameršak I brought together over 100 leading Slovenian scientists from various disciplines comprising meteorologists, climatologists, oceanographers, physicists, biologists, chemists, geographers, and others, to advance climate literacy and science-based climate policy making in my home country Slovenia.
