Education
Ph.D. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany, 2002
Dissertation: Model Studies of the Tropical 30 to 60 Day Oscillation
Diploma (equivalent to M.S.) Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany, 1997
Thesis: Impacts of Deforestation on the Climate of the Mediterranean Region
Certificate in data processing on Unix machines, University of Hamburg, Germany, 1996
Summary of Qualifications
Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences with secondary expertise in oceanography. Research interests encompass tropical meteorology, tropical deep coonvection, and atmosphere/ocean modeling of global and regional circulations including intraseaonal oscillations, tropical cyclones, and the urban 1-km scale. Other interests include interactions of climate with land surface processes, air-sea interaction, climate change, and graph-based data mining of climate data.
Mentored and collaborated with undergraduate and graduate researchers in data processing, statistical analysis, and data visualization. Advised two graduate students who each won the best paper award at the NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Detected two new stationary wave patterns in the atmosphere with graph-based data analysis, recently published in Journal of Climate.
Teaching experience in undergraduate and graduate level courses in atmospheric science and environmental studies includes topics such as climate phenomena, climate change, synoptic meteorology, dynamics, thermodynamics, hydrology, and environmental change. These highly rated courses explore mechanisms as well as natural and societal impacts of climate variability in global and regional contexts.
Research Experience
2015-present Gibson Research Associate in Hydrogeology, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Configures, and performs high-resolution climate simulations with the regional model WRF for research efforts on the hydrologic cycle, specifically related to tropical cyclones and changes in temperature, rainfall, and glacial melting on the watershed-scale. Advises a student on performing similar simulations with the CESM general circulation model (GCM) and on analyzing multidecadal variability. Collaborates with entomologists on invasive species propagation under climate change conditions by downscaling CMIP5 scenarios with WRF. Co-advises an atmospheric sciences Ph.D. student.
2008-2015 Research Associate, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
Performed initializations with bred vectors (similar to Lyapunov vectors) for ensemble simulations with the global and regional models CESM and WRF to quantify climate change due to northward expansion of the boreal forests. Worked with computer scientists and statisticians on multiple climate-related research problems such as analyzing teleconnections, abrupt changes, hurricane counts, and ocean eddies. Helped to develop change detection algorithms for past abrupt climatic changes such as droughts and their impacts on ecosystems. Applied graph-based data mining and statistical data processing techniques to detect and characterize climate patterns. Co-advised five computer science Ph.D. students. Principal investigators: Professor Peter K. Snyder and Professor Vipin Kumar
2004-2008 Research Scientist, Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Performed statistical data analysis to quantify influences of stratospheric winds, namely the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), on tropical convective clouds and subtropical weather systems. Advised two students in statistical data analysis. Assimilated satellite data into a 2-dimensional model for realistic representation of impacts of solar forcing and volcanic eruptions on ozone depletion. Principal investigator: Professor Marvin Geller
2004-2008 Responsible Scientist, SPARC (Stratospheric Processes and Their Role in Climate) Data Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Made large volumes of data available to the scientific community, offers technical and scientific assistance. Maintained a mailing list about available data for over 100 scientists, in charge of maintaining and upgrading server soft- and hardware.
2002-2004 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Performed ensemble simulations with the ECHAM5 GCM for predictability experiments. Implemented bred vectors and used nudging techniques to improve forecasts of the tropical intraseasonal oscillation and the Asian monsoon system. Principal investigator: Professor Duane Waliser
2000-2002 Research Assistant, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
Provided ERA15 reanalysis data for the “DETECT” project (EU project EVK2-CT-1999-00048). Applied the nudging technique and analyzed the connection between volcanic aerosols and climate with GCMs. Principal investigators: Professor Lennart Bengtsson and Ingo Kirchner, Ph. D.
1997-2002 Doctoral Student, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
Analyzed the tropical 30 to 60 day oscillation and its interannual variability with ECHAM4 also coupled to an ocean model. Initialized and performed sensitivity experiments. Advised undergraduate researchers in data analysis and data visualization. Advisors: Professors Lennart Bengtsson and Hartmut Grassl
1996-1997 Research Assistant, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
Performed GCM experiments with ECHAM4 for “Land-surface processes and climate response” (EU project ENV-4950112) focusing on deforestation in the Amazonian and Mediterranean regions. Advisor: Lydia Dümenil-Gates, Ph. D.
Refereed Journal Publications
(student author denoted by *)
Semazzi F. H. M., B. Liu, L. Xie, K. Smith*, M. Angus*, M. Gudoshava, R. Argent, X. Sun, S. Liess, A. Bhattacharya, 2017: The role of the Atlantic ocean in determining the recent multi-decadal drought of East Africa. J. Climate, in preparation.
Liess, S., 2017: Impact of tropical cyclones on soil moisture over East Asia. Journal of Hydrology, in preparation.
Liess, S., P. K. Snyder, A. Kumar*, and V. Kumar, 2017: A cautionary note on decadal sea level pressure projections from GCMs. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 9, 43-56.
Liess, S., S. Agrawal*, S. Chatterjee, and V. Kumar, 2017: A teleconnection between the West Siberian Plain and the ENSO region. J. Climate, 30, 301-315.
Lu, M.*, U. Lall, J. Kawale*, S. Liess, and V. Kumar, 2016: Exploring the predictability of 30-day extreme precipitation occurrence using a global SST - SLP correlation network. J. Climate, 29, 1013-1029.
Karpatne, A.* and S. Liess, 2015: A guide to Earth science data: Summary and research challenges. Computing in Science & Engineering, 17, 14-18.
Liess, S., A. Kumar*, P. K. Snyder, J. Kawale*, K. Steinhaeuser, F. H. M. Semazzi, A. R. Ganguly, N. F. Samatova, and V. Kumar, 2014: Different modes of variability over the Tasman Sea: Implications for regional climate. J. Climate, 27, 8466-8486.
Snyder, P. K. and S. Liess, 2014: The simulated atmospheric response to expansion of the Arctic boreal forest biome. Climate Dynamics, 42, 487-503.
Ganguly, A. et al.*, 2014: Toward enhanced understanding and projections of climate extremes using physics-guided data mining techniques. Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 777-795.
Gorji Sefidmazgi, M.*, M. Sayemuzzaman, A. Homaifar, M. K. Jha, and S. Liess, 2014: Trend analysis using non-stationary time series clustering based on the finite element method. Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 605-615.
Harding, K.*, P. K. Snyder, and S. Liess, 2013: Use of dynamical downscaling to improve the simulation of central U.S. warm-season precipitation in CMIP5 models. J. Geophys. Res., 118, 12,522–12,536.
Kawale, J.*, S. Liess, A. Kumar*, M. Steinbach, A. Ganguly, N. F. Samatova, F. Semazzi, P. K. Snyder, and V. Kumar, 2013: A graph based approach to find teleconnections in climate data. Stat. Anal. Data Min., 6, 158–179.
Liess, S. and M. A. Geller, 2012: On the relationship between QBO and distribution of tropical deep convection. J. Geophys. Res., 117, D03108, doi:10.1029/2011JD016317.
Liess. S., P. K. Snyder, and K. Harding*, 2012: The effects of boreal forest expansion on the summer Arctic frontal zone. Climate Dynamics, 38, 1805-1827.
Liess, S., D. E. Waliser, and S. D. Schubert, 2005: Predictability studies of the intraseasonal oscillation with the ECHAM5 GCM. J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 3320-3336.
Liess, S. and L. Bengtsson, 2004: The intraseasonal oscillation in ECHAM4. Part II: sensitivity studies. Climate Dynamics, 22, 671-688.
Liess, S., L. Bengtsson, and K. Arpe, 2004: The intraseasonal oscillation in ECHAM4. Part I: coupled to a comprehensive ocean model. Climate Dynamics, 22, 653-669.
Liess, S. and L. Dümenil-Gates, 2004: Impacts of land use changes (in German). Promet, 30, 134-140.
Dümenil-Gates, L. and S. Liess, 2001: Impacts of deforestation and afforestation in the Mediterranean region as simulated by the MPI atmospheric GCM. Global and Planetary Change, 30, 305-324.
Book Chapters
Gorji Sefidmazgi, M.*, M. Moradi Kordmahalleh, A. Homaifar, and S. Liess, 2015: Change detection in climate time series based on bounded-variation clustering. In V. Lakshmanan, E. Gilleland, A. McGovern, M. Tingley (Eds.) Machine Learning and Data Mining Approaches to Climate Science. Springer, 185-194.
Agrawal, S.*, T. Rehberger*, S. Liess, G. Atluri, and V. Kumar, 2015: Evaluation of global climate models based on global impacts of ENSO. In V. Lakshmanan, E. Gilleland, A. McGovern, M. Tingley (Eds.) Machine Learning and Data Mining Approaches to Climate Science. Springer, 101-109.
Karpatne, A.*, J. Faghmous*, J. Kawale*, L. Styles*, M. Blank*, V. Mithal*, X. Chen*, A. Khandelwal*, S. Boriah, K. Steinhaeuser, M. Steinbach, V. Kumar, and S. Liess, 2013: Earth Science Applications of Sensor Data. In C. C. Aggarwal (Ed.), Managing and Mining Sensor Data. Springer, 505-530.
Scientific Reports and Conference Proceedings
Semazzi, F., B. Liu, L. Xie, K. Smith*, M. Angus*, M. Gudoshava, R. Argent, X. Sun, S. Liess, and A. Bhattacharya, 2015: Decadal variability of the East African monsoon. CLIVAR Exchanges, 66, 15-19.
Fu, Q.*, H. Wang, A. Banerjee, S. Liess, and P. Snyder, 2012: MAP inference on million node graphical models: KL-divergence based alternating directions method. Proc. 18th Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Beijing, China.
Kawale, J.*, S. Chatterjee, D. Ormsby*, K. Steinhaeuser, S. Liess, and V. Kumar, 2012: Testing the significance of spatio-temporal teleconnection patterns. Proc. 18th Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Beijing, China.
Faghmous J. H.*, Y. Chamber*, F. Vikeboe, S. Boriah, M. d. S. Mesquita, S. Liess, and V. Kumar, 2012: A novel and scalable spatio-temporal technique for ocean eddy monitoring. Proc. 26th Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Toronto, Canada.
Liess, S., A. Kumar*, and V. Kumar, 2012: Variations in teleconnections and trends over the southern hemisphere due to anthropogenic changes in cloud cover. 24th Conference on Climate Variability and Change.
Faghmous J. H.*, L. Styles*, V. Mithal*, S. Boriah, S. Liess, V. Kumar, F. Vikeboe, and M. d. S. Mesquita, 2012: EddyScan: a physically consistent ocean eddy monitoring application. Proc. NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding, Boulder, CO, USA (best student paper).
Kawale, J.*, S. Liess, V. Kumar, U. Lall, and A. Ganguly, 2012: Mining time-lagged relationships in spatio-temporal climate data. Proc. NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding, Boulder, CO, USA.
Fu, Q.*, A. Banerjee, S. Liess, and P. Snyder, 2012: Drought detection for the last century: a MRF-based approach. Proc. SIAM International Conference on Data Mining (SDM), Anaheim, CA, USA, pp. 24-34.
Kawale, J.*, S. Liess, A. Kumar*, M. Steinbach, A. Ganguly, N. F. Samatova, F. Semazzi, P. K. Snyder, and V. Kumar, 2011: Data guided discovery of dynamic climate dipoles. Proc. NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding, Mountain View, CA, USA, pp. 30-44 (best student paper).
Kawale, J.*, S. Chatterjee, A. Kumar*, S. Liess, M. Steinbach, and V. Kumar, 2011: Anomaly con-struction in climate data: issues and challenges. Proc. NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding, Mountain View, CA, USA, pp. 189-203.
Zhou, X.*, S. Shekhar, P. Mohan*, S. Liess, and P. Snyder, 2011: Discovering interesting sub-paths in spatiotemporal datasets: a summary of results. Proc. ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems, Chicago, IL, USA, pp. 44-53.
Faghmous J. H.*, S. Liess, A. Ganguly, M. Steinbach, F. Semazzi, and V. Kumar, 2011: Understanding the sea surface temperature - tropical cyclone relationship: a data-driven approach, NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding.
Waliser, D. E., S. Liess, W. K.-M. Lau, C. Jones, and S. D. Schubert, 2004: Predictability of the MJO: GCM and surface boundary condition sensitivity. 16th Conference on Climate Variability and Change, abstract submission.
Liess, S., 2002: Model studies of the tropical 30 to 60 day oscillation. Ph.D. thesis, published as: Examensarbeit 88, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, 143 pp.
Liess, S., L. Bengtsson, and K. Arpe, 2001: The Madden-Julian Oscillation in the ECHAM4/ OPYC3 CGCM. Report No. 319, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg.
Liess, S. and L. Bengtsson, 2001: Interaction of the tropical 30-60 day oscillation and ENSO in observations and a CGCM. In: H. Ritchie (Ed.), Research activities in atmospheric and oceanic modeling. Report No. 31, WMO/TD No. 1064, WMO, Geneva.
Liess, S., L. Bengtsson, and K. Arpe, 2000: Analysis of the tropical 30 to 60 day oscillation in a CGCM. In: H. Ritchie (Ed.), Research activities in atmospheric and oceanic modeling. Report No. 30, WMO/TD No. 987, WMO, Geneva.
Liess, S. and L. Dümenil, 1999: The response of ECHAM to the land-surface change. In: Polcher, J. (ed.), Final report for EU contract Land-surface processes and climate response. ENV4950112, LMD, Paris.
Dümenil Gates, L. and S. Liess, 1999: Impacts of deforestation and afforestation in the Mediterranean region as simulated by the MPI atmospheric GCM. Report No. 301, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg.
Liess, S., L. Bengtsson, and K. Arpe, 1999: The tropical 30 to 60 day oscillation in a coupled GCM. In: H. Ritchie (Ed.), Research activities in atmospheric and oceanic modeling. Report No. 28, WMO/TD No. 942, WMO, Geneva.
van Delden, A., S. Liess, B. K. Reichert, and C. Textor, 1999: Basic dynamic concepts. In: Atmospheric dynamics and tracer transport, Coach, Boekelo, Netherlands, 30-37.
Dümenil, L. and S. Liess, 1998: Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on the climate of the Mediterranean region. In: A. Staniforth (Ed.), Research activities in atmospheric and oceanic modeling. Report No. 27, WMO/TD No. 865, WMO, Geneva.
Liess, S., 1997: Impacts of deforestation and afforestation on the climate of the Mediterranean region (in German). Diploma thesis, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, 94 pp.
Conferences, Workshops, and Training Courses
December 2017 Talk: Regional teleconnection patterns: Australia, the West Siberian Plain, and the ENSO region*, Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, Germany
December 2017 Poster: A teleconnection between the West Siberian Plain and the ENSO region*, AGU - Joint Assembly, New Orleans, LA
September 2017 Program committee member: 7th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO
June 2017 Talk: A Teleconnection between the West Siberian Plain and the ENSO Region Big Data and the Earth Sciences: Grand Challenges Workshop, San Diego, CA
December 2016 Posters (3): Impact of Pacific and Atlantic SST Variability on Seasonal Precipitation in the United States*, Modeling the Role of Groundwater and Vegetation in the Hydrological Response of Tropical Glaciated Watersheds to Climate Change*, Impact of Tropical Cyclones on Soil Moisture over East Asia, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
September 2016 Program committee member: 6th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO
July 2016 Talk: The Role of Multidecadal Variability in the Atlantic Ocean for Freshwater Availability in East Africa, Australia, and the Indian Summer Monsoon*, Congress of the International Society of Limnology, Turin, Italy
January 2016 Poster: The SPARC Data Center and Stratospheric Precursors for Tropospheric Phenomena, AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA
September 2015 Posters (3): Hurricane Trajectory Prediction via a Sparse Recurrent Neural Network*, Introducing and Finding Tripoles: A New Climate Teleconnection Pattern*, Understanding Dominant Factors for Precipitation over Great Lakes Region*, 5th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO
September 2014 Posters (3): Evaluating Spatial Maps of Global Climate Models using modified Earth Mover’s Distance*, Robustness and Synthesis of Earth System Models (ESMs): A Multi-task Learning Perspective*, Change Detection in Linear Trend of Temperature over US 1900-2012*, 4th International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO
December 2013 Session convener: New Approaches for Pattern Recognition and Change Detection, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
September 2013 Posters (3): Understanding the Influence of Sea Surface Temperatures on Terrestrial Ecosystem Disturbances*, Data-driven Approach to Improve Indian Monsoon Prediction*, Analyzing Temperature Regime/Trends During 1950-2010 in North Carolina*, 3rd International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO
July 2013 Talk: Landcover Monitoring*, Hydrology of the Lake Victorian Basin (HyVic) planning workshop, Reading, U.K.
July 2013 Talk: Statistical Analysis for Prediction of Interannual Monsoon Variability*, Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly DACA-13, Davos, Switzerland
June 2013 Talk: Detecting Climate Change from Data*, 23rd Annual Conference of The International Environmetrics Society (TIES), Anchorage, AK
January 2013 Poster: Decadal Variability in Ensemble Projections*, AMS Annual Meeting, Austin, TX
December 2012 Session convener: Advanced Methods for Pattern Recognition and Data Prospecting for Big Data, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
September 2012 Posters (2): Drought Detection on Large Scale Precipitation Datasets: A Parallel Algorithm*, Spatio-Temporal Data Mining for Scalable Ocean Eddy Monitoring*, 2nd International Workshop on Climate Informatics, Boulder, CO
January 2012 Posters (3): Variations in Teleconnections and Trends Over the Southern Hemisphere due to Anthropogenic Changes in Cloud Cover*, Graph Based Analysis of Dynamic Teleconnections*, Finding Time-Periods of Abrupt Climate Change: A Data Mining Approach*, AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA
December 2011 Posters (5): The Impact of Cloud Cover on Teleconnections and Trends over the Southern Hemisphere*, Discovery of Dynamic Dipoles Using Graph Based Representation of Climate Data*, Is Basin Averaging Enough? Understanding The Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature - Tropical Cyclone Relationship*, Finding Intervals of Abrupt Change in Earth Science Data*, and Understanding Trends: A Qualitative Approach to Trend Identification and their Statistical Significance*, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
January 2011 Talk: The Effects of Boreal Forest Expansion on the Summer Arctic Frontal Zone*, Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, Germany
December 2010 Talk: Reanalysis Data, Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
December 2010 Poster: The Effects of Boreal Forest Expansion on the Summer Arctic Frontal Zone*, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
June 2010 Poster: Intraseasonal Rainfall Predictions over India and Southeast Asia with a Hierarchy of Forecast Models. Workshop on Modelling Monsoon Intraseasonal Variability, APEC Climate Center, Busan, South Korea
December 2009 Posters (2): The Atmospheric Response to Northward Expansion of the Arctic Boreal Forest* and On the Relationship Between QBO and Distribution of Tropical Deep Convection, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
December 2008 Poster: The Atmospheric Response to Climate-Driven Arctic Boreal Forest Changes in a Coupled Atmosphere-Biosphere Model*, AGU - Joint Assembly, San Francisco, CA
September 2008 Talk: Updates on the SPARC Data Center, 16th SPARC Scientific Steering Group Meeting, Toronto, Canada
September 2007 Talk: QBO Influences on Tropical Deep Convective Systems and Updates on the SPARC Data Center, 15th SPARC Scientific Steering Group Meeting, Bremen, Germany
May 2007 Talk: QBO Influences on Tropical Deep Convection and the SPARC Data Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, Pasadena, CA
October 2006 Talk: Updates on the SPARC Data Center, 14th SPARC Scientific Steering Group Meeting, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO
June 2006 Talk: The SPARC Data Center, SPARC-IPY Meeting, Toronto, Canada
October 2005 Talk: The SPARC Data Center, Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, Germany
September 2005 Talk: The SPARC Data Center, 13th SPARC Scientific Steering Group Meeting, Oxford, U.K.
May 2005 Talk: Predictability and Prediction of the Intraseasonal Oscillation with the ECHAM5 GCM, AGU - Joint Assembly, New Orleans, LA
April 2005 Talk: Predictability of the Intraseasonal Oscillation, Atmospheric Sciences Workshop, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY
June 2004 Poster: Predictability Studies of the Intraseasonal Oscillation in the ECHAM GCM, First International CLIVAR Science Conference, Baltimore, MD
March 2004 Talk: Simulation and Forecast Issues Associated with the MJO in the ECHAM5 GCM, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY
September 2003 Talk: Simulation and Forecast Issues Associated with the MJO in ECHAM, International Conference on Earth System Modelling,
Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, Germany
June 2003 Modeling, Simulation, and Forecasting of Subseasonal Variability,
Workshop, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
April 2002 Prospects for Improved Forecasts of Weather and Short-Term Climate Variability on Subseasonal Time Scales, Workshop, NASA, Greenbelt, MD
September 2001 Talk: The 30-60 Day Oscillation in the Coupled ECHAM4/OPYC3 GCM, German-Austrian-Swiss Meteorologists Meeting, Vienna, Austria
October 2000 Poster: Effects of Deforestation on Climate, EXPO2000 World Fair, Hannover, Germany
May 2000 Numerical Methods and Adiabatic Formulation of Models, ECMWF Meteorological Training Course, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, U.K.
April 2000 Poster: The Madden-Julian Oscillation in a Coupled and a High-Resolution GCM, European Geophysical Society - XXV General Assembly, Nice, France
March 2000 MJO/ENSO Workshop, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ
October 1999 Poster: The Madden-Julian Oscillation in a Coupled GCM, COACH International Research School, Kapellerput, Netherlands
September 1999 Poster: The Madden-Julian Oscillation in a Coupled GCM, 4th International Conference on Modelling of Global Climate Change and Variability, Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, Germany
July 1999 Climate Change and Ecosystem Response in the Mediterranean Region, International Summer School on Environment, University of Girona, Spain
October 1998 Talk: Experiments with a Shallow Water Model, COACH International Research School, Boekelo, Netherlands
June 1998 Talk: The Tropical 30-60 Day Oscillation in ECMWF Reanalysis and in ECHAM4/OPYC3, Scientific Group Meeting, Salzau, Germany
January 1998 Land-Surface Processes and Climate Response, Workshop, Meteo France, Toulouse, France
October 1997 Talk: Mediterranean Deforestation Experiments using ECHAM4, Land-Surface Processes and Climate Response, Workshop, Reading, U.K.
Grants and Honors
2015-2017 NASA Grant: Scalable Analysis of Earth System Data Using Parallelized Graph-Based Approaches. V. Kumar, K. Das, G. Atluri, S. Liess (co-PI), M. Steinbach, K. Steinhaeuser, Award 14-CMAC14-0010
2012 Institute on the Environment Mini-Grant: Interdisciplinary reading group for climate science, statistics and the computational sciences. A. Banerjee, S. Chatterjee, V. Kumar, S. Liess (co-PI), K. Steinhaeuser, A. Ganguly, Award MF-0014-11
2008-2012 NSF Grant: Modeling and Observational Studies Relating to QBO Influences on Tropical Deep Convection. M. A. Geller, S. Liess (co-PI), M. Khairoutdinov, Award ATM-0836539
2006-2009 NASA Grant: The SPARC Data Center and QBO Impacts on Tropical Convective Systems. M. A. Geller, S. Liess (co-PI), Award NNL06AA02G
2005 NASA Grant: Interim Funding for the SPARC Data Center. M. A. Geller, S. Liess (co-PI), Award NNH05ZDA001N
2001-2004 NOAA Grant: Exploring the Benefits and Limits of Dynamical Predictions of the Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation. D. Waliser, S. Stern, S. Schubert, M. Latif, S. Liess (co-PI), Award NA16GP2021
2000 NOAA/NSF travel grant to the MJO-ENSO workshop at GFDL, Princeton, NJ
1997-2000 Scholarship of the Max Planck Society at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
Professional Activities and Membership
Peer reviewer for proposals to National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (also panel reviewer), U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation, and 60+ manuscripts to Biogeosciences, Climate Dynamics, Computing in Science and Engineering, Environmental Research Letters, Geophysical Research Letters, International Journal of Climatology, Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Monthly Weather Review, Pure and Applied Geophysics, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Water Resources Research.
Details at https://publons.com/author/654624/stefan-liess
Membership: American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society
Teaching Experience
2016-2017 Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, MN
ESCI 5980: Global and Regional Climate Variability
Using the latest research publications, this graduate course explores basic questions such as how one measures a single global temperature, how to get consistent long-term climate records, how to categorize regional climates, why is the Arctic warming so fast, and are there long-term changes in regional patterns of wind and rainfall among other related questions. Open to advanced undergraduate students. Class size: 10 students.
2008-2010 Lecturer, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, MN
SOIL 5480: Atmospheric Processes I and II
Thermodynamics and dynamics of the atmosphere are covered in part I of this graduate two-semester course. The second part consists of radiation, atmospheric chemistry, and climate change. Topics include thermodynamic and dynamic processes, hydrostatic stability, scale analysis, atmospheric waves, general circulation, radiation, chemical composition, planetary boundary layer, ozone depletion, and greenhouse effect. Open to advanced undergraduate students. Class size: 15 students.
ESPM 1425: The Atmosphere / Introduction to Meteorology
A general education course that introduces undergraduate students to the physical processes in the atmosphere, and natural and anthropogenic impacts on climate and air quality. Class size: 50 students.
2004-2005 Lecturer, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, NY
MAR 340: Environmental Problems and Solutions
This advanced undergraduate course explores the scientific, social, and political aspects of important environmental issues such as population growth, habitat loss, biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, energy production, air and water pollution, global climate change, ozone depletion, and waste management, as well as cultural issues that affect solutions. Class size: 70 students.
ENS 101: Prospects for Planet Earth
This general education course introduces undergraduate students to modern environmental issues and places heavy emphasis on understanding representative countries’ challenges and responses to environmental problems. Class size: 30 students.
2002-2008 Substitute Lecturer, Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, Stony Brook University, NY
MAR 594: Atmospheric Dynamics
This graduate course covers atmospheric waves, quasi-geostrophic theory, and atmospheric instability. Open to advanced undergraduate students.
ATM 346: Advanced Atmospheric Dynamics
This undergraduate course covers advanced concepts of mid-latitude and tropical atmospheric motions, wave dynamics, and numerical methods. Topics include circulation and vorticity, turbulence and boundary-layer structure, quasi-geostrophic theory, large-scale and buoyancy-driven waves, baroclinic instability and energetics, equatorial wave theory, and barotropic and primitive equation models.
ATM 345: Atmospheric Thermodynamics and Dynamics
An undergraduate course that introduces thermodynamic and dynamical processes of the atmosphere. Quantitative topics include moist and dry thermodynamic processes, hydrostatic stability, external forces of atmospheric motions on a rotating planet, coordinate transformations, and horizontal motions under balanced forces.
ATM 205: Introduction to Atmospheric Sciences
This undergraduate course explores the causes of atmospheric phenomena, along with basic physical and chemical processes and energetics. Topics include composition and structure of the atmosphere, atmospheric thermodynamics, elementary dynamics, solar and terrestrial radiation, cloud and precipitation processes.
Academic Service
2011-present Co-Advisor for five Ph.D. students and seven undergraduate researchers in NSF project Understanding Climate Change – A Data Driven Approach. Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, featured in https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=189519
2009-2011 Master’s Thesis Co-Advisor: Modeling the Impact of Irrigation on Precipitation over the Great Plains. University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
2007-2008 Collaborator, University Climates Project, The Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
2007-2008 Student Research Advisor, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Project title: Comparison of High- and Low-resolution Radiosonde Data to Determine QBO Influences on the Troposphere
2004-2008 Webmaster and System Administrator, SPARC Data Center
System Administrator (Solaris Unix, Linux cluster), Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Related Community Work
2008-2010 Invited Speaker for 2008 and 2009 Fall semesters, and 2010 Spring semester, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Title: An Introduction to Climate and Climate Change
2007-2008 Invited Speaker for Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters, City University of New York / LaGuardia, New York, NY
Title: An Introduction to Climate and Climate Change
2006 Project Advisor, Southside High School, Rockville Centre, NY
Project title: The Correlation between QBO and Deep Convection
2000 Research Exhibitor, EXPO 2000 World Fair, Hanover, Germany
Poster presentation: Effects of Deforestation on Climate
Computer Skills
Programming in Fortran, shell scripting, netCDF Operator (nco), NCAR Command Language (ncl), GrADS, Climate Data Operators (cdo), python, Matlab
Familiar with various Linux, Solaris Unix, Windows and Macintosh applications including Microsoft Office, Endnote, LaTeX, Adobe Creative Suite, ncview, ImageMagick, Gimp
Field Work
2016 Pumping Test for the Hydrogeology Field Camp of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and Deep Portage, MN
1995 Meteorological Measurement Field Campaign on the island of Fehmarn, Germany, University of Hamburg, Germany
Languages
Bilingual in German and English